| Research has shown that engaging in physical exercise provides both physiological and psychological benefits. Within the past ten years, however, a potentially maladaptive syndrome has been identified, labeled obligatory exercise. Obligatory exercise involves engaging in inordinate amounts of exercise at the expense of one's physical and psychological well-being, while denying any adverse effects.;The researchers who have focused on obligatory exercise can be organized into three schools of thought. The first group proposes that obligatory exercise may be a disorder unrelated to eating disorders or obsessive-compulsive disorders and that obligatory exercise can be adaptive and is not inherently pathological. The second major hypothesis is "the eating disorder hypothesis," which postulates that obligatory exercise may represent a new genre of disturbed dieting behaviors. Finally, "the obsessive-compulsive hypothesis" suggests that obligatory exercise represents compulsive behavior related to obsessive thoughts about physical appearance induced by society's pressure for thinness.;In order to understand the degree of pathology of obligatory exercise, and the underlying components of the disorder, it would be helpful to determine with which disorder, if any, obligatory exercise is associated. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of obligatory exercise in the female college population to eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders as well as to investigate the presence of pathology in obligatory exercisers.;Results revealed that while obligatory exercise was related to some aspects of anorexia nervosa traits, women who engaged in obligatory exercise did not display the maladaptive qualities found in the women who were identified as possessing anorectic tendencies. More specifically, while anorectic traits accounted for some of the variance in obligatory exercise, obligatory exercise was not related to body image distortion, bulimia nervosa, binge eat disorder, or psychological dysfunction. In addition, no support was found for the theory that obligatory exercise is a manifestation of obsessive-compulsive tendencies.;These findings suggest that obligatory exercise should not be characterized as a new genre of eating disorders nor as an obsessive-compulsive behavior pattern. Rather, obligatory exercise traits should be viewed independently on a continuum ranging from healthy to maladaptive. |
