Exercise-dependence in bodybuilders: antecedents and reliability of measurement

The purposes of this study were: a) to examine social and psychological antecedents of bodybuilding dependence (life satisfaction, socio-economic status, marital status and parental status) and b) to examine the test-retest reliability of the Bodybuilding Dependence Scale (BDS).

One hundred and eighty-one male bodybuilders agreed to participate in the study. Nineteen of these failed to complete the questionnaire on the second occasion, resulting in a sample size of 162. Each participant completed the BDS on two occasions 3 weeks apart, together with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and items relating to occupation, marital status and parental status.

Pearson correlations revealed high test-retest reliability for all three subscales (r=0.94, 0.96 and 0.94 for social-dependence, training-dependence and mastery-dependence, respectively). Pearson correlations also revealed significant negative correlations between all three BDS subscales and SWLS scores (r=-0.66 in all cases). A MANOVA revealed that working class participants scored significantly higher on all three BDS subscales than intermediate class participants who, in turn, scored significantly higher than professional class participants. Participants who were not currently involved in a romantic relationship scored significantly higher on all BDS subscales than those who were romantically involved. Parents scored significantly higher than non-parents on social and mastery-dependence, but not on training-dependence.

These results show acceptable test-retest reliability for all three BDS subscales. They also demonstrate that life satisfaction, socio-economic status, marital status and parental status can successfully predict BDS scores.