Eating‐Disorder and Exercise Addiction Symptoms Among Recreational Exercisers: Differentiated Patterns of Attachment and Emotion Regulation

OBJECTIVE: Eating-disorder symptoms and exercise addiction symptoms frequently co-occur, yet it remains unclear whether they reflect the same psychological risk profile or partly distinct configurations. This study examined whether attachment insecurity and emotion-regulation difficulties show shared and differentiated associations with eating-disorder symptoms and exercise addiction symptoms among recreational exercisers. METHOD: A cross-sectional community-based sample of recreational exercisers completed self-report measures assessing eating-disorder symptoms, exercise addiction symptoms, adult attachment anxiety and avoidance, and multidimensional emotion-regulation difficulties. Zero-order correlations, simultaneous regression models, and exploratory path models with bootstrapped indirect associations were used to examine shared and outcome-specific patterns across symptom domains. RESULTS: Eating-disorder symptoms and exercise addiction symptoms were positively associated at the zero-order level. In simultaneous models, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were associated with both outcomes, although the pattern suggested partial differentiation. Eating-disorder symptoms showed a stronger pattern of association with attachment anxiety and lack of emotional awareness, whereas exercise addiction symptoms showed a more differentiated pattern involving attachment avoidance and nonacceptance of emotional responses. Exploratory analyses of eating-disorder dimensions further showed that exercise addiction symptoms were associated with dieting, bulimic symptoms, and food preoccupation, and oral control, with oral control showing the strongest unique association. DISCUSSION: The findings provide preliminary support for partially differentiated psychological patterns of eating-disorder symptoms and exercise addiction symptoms. Eating-disorder symptoms may be more closely linked to anxious attachment and difficulties noticing or differentiating emotional states, whereas exercise addiction symptoms may reflect a more avoidant, self-reliant regulatory pattern in which distress is managed through movement, discipline, and bodily control. These cross-sectional findings should be interpreted cautiously and require replication in longitudinal and clinical samples.