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British Journal of Sports Medicine 2005;39:e30; doi:10.1136/bjsm.2004.017020
Copyright © 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine.

SHORT REPORT

The exercise addiction inventory: a quick and easy screening tool for health practitioners

M D Griffiths, A Szabo, A Terry

Nottingham Trent University, Psychology Division, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Griffiths
Nottingham Trent University, Psychology Division, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK; mark.griffiths{at}ntu.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

Background: Exercise addiction is not routinely screened for probably because available instruments take a long time to administer, their scoring may be complicated, and their interpretation is not always obvious. A new psychometric instrument has been developed that is capable of identifying people affected by, or at risk of, exercise addiction: the exercise addiction inventory (EAI). A preliminary report showed the EAI had good reliability and validity.

Objectives: To test further the EAI’s psychometric properties and show that it would be quick and simple to administer by general practitioners.

Methods: A sample of 200 habitual exercisers were given the EAI and two existing exercise addiction scales (obligatory exercise questionnaire; exercise dependence scale). Two weeks later, another sample of 79 exercisers were administered the EAI to determine the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire.

Results: The original data from the preliminary report were reanalysed to determine the split half correlation of the EAI. This was found to be 0.84 (Guttman split-half coefficient). A correlation between weekly frequency of exercising and EAI scores was also determined, and it was found that the two variables shared 29% of the variance (r2 = 0.29). The test-retest reliability of the scale was found to be very good (0.85).

Conclusions: The EAI is a valid and reliable tool which would be capable of helping general practitioners to quickly and easily identify people affected by, or at risk of, exercise addiction.

Keywords: exercise; addiction; exercise dependence; exercise Addiction Inventory


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