Working out measurement overlap in the assessment of maladaptive exercise
Elizabeth W. Lampe MS
Center for Weight Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center), Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKatherine Schaumberg PhD
Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDavid Kolar PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKathryn Coniglio PhD
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorMarita Cooper PhD
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDanielle A. N. Chapa PhD
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Sasha Gorrell PhD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Correspondence
Sasha Gorrell, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorElizabeth W. Lampe MS
Center for Weight Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center), Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKatherine Schaumberg PhD
Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDavid Kolar PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorKathryn Coniglio PhD
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorMarita Cooper PhD
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorDanielle A. N. Chapa PhD
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Contribution: Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Sasha Gorrell PhD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Correspondence
Sasha Gorrell, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, 675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Objective
Although exercise is generally considered healthy, many individuals engage in maladaptive exercise (e.g., compulsive in nature). Several definitions of maladaptive exercise exist, leading to multiple, varied assessment tools; assuming homogeneity across these assessments contributes to low consensus in etiological models.
Method
We used a Jaccard Index to quantify content overlap among 15 commonly-used self-report instruments measuring maladaptive exercise, with 31 features identified across 224 items.
Results
The most common features were exercise to control weight/shape and to avoid negative affect (both included in 9/15 instruments), or compensate for calories consumed (8/15 instruments). Overlap among instruments was low (.206) and no features were common across all instruments.
Conclusions
Findings generally support theoretical models of exercise in eating pathology. However, instruments most commonly used to assess maladaptive exercise measure heterogenous content. Careful consideration should be taken when comparing findings derived from differing instruments, when synthesizing literature on maladaptive exercise, and when selecting instruments to measure specific maladaptive exercise features.
Public Significance
Many, varied, tools exist for the assessment of maladaptive exercise (e.g., compulsive or compensatory) in the context of eating disorders. Assuming homogeneity across tools contributes to low consensus in the field. We used a Jaccard Index to quantify content overlap among 15 self-report instruments measuring maladaptive exercise. The most commonly used instruments measure heterogenous content. Careful consideration should be taken when synthesizing literature and selecting instruments to use in research.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data, code, and preregistered analytic plan that support the findings of this study are openly available in Open Science Foundation (OSF) at osf.io/q65v4/.
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