Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2026
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Laura Dixon
Second Advisor
Kristin Austin
Third Advisor
Julia Phillips
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Exercise addiction is a pattern of behavior that involves a compulsion and dependence towards physical activity, leading to distress or impairment across a wide variety of domains (e.g., injury, distress, social impairment, withdrawal symptoms). The development and maintenance of exercise addiction have been theorized to involve numerous components, notably the use of exercise as a maladaptive coping response to stressors or negative affect. An important transdiagnostic component of psychological distress response is emotion regulation, a process defined as one’s ability to control their emotions. This study aimed to situate emotion regulation within the current model of exercise addiction as a maladaptive response to stress using a sample of physically active emerging adults. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate the unique role of emotion regulation in predicting exercise addiction, after controlling for eating disorder symptoms and body image, both of which are typically conceptualized alongside exercise addiction symptoms. Consistent with hypotheses, emotion regulation difficulties were a unique predictor of exercise addiction. Particularly, goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, and lack of emotional clarity related to exercise addiction symptoms. The exploratory mediation analysis found that emotion dysregulation played a significant role in the relationship between depressive symptoms and exercise addiction, after controlling for covariates. Results suggest that emotion dysregulation plays a complex role in the development and maintenance of exercise addiction, and understanding this relationship requires further study. Clinicians and researchers should consider implementing transdiagnostic interventions to target symptoms of emotion dysregulation in order to reduce symptoms of exercise addiction and distress in this population.
Recommended Citation
Beloate, Philip F., "Exercise Addiction and Emotion Regulation in a Sample of Physically Active Emerging Adults" (2026). Honors Theses. 3443.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3443
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