The Exercise Addiction Inventory: A New Brief Screening Tool

Abstract

Many attempts have been made to define and measure problem exercising but there has not been any successful attempt to produce a psychometrically sound assessment instrument. The aim of the present study was to develop a psychometric instrument (the Exercise Addiction Inventory, EAI) capable of identifying people at risk from exercise addiction. The intention was to develop a short form inventory that would be quick and simple to administer. The EAI was operationalised using the components of behavioural addiction proposed by Griffiths (Griffiths, M.D. (1996). Behavioural addiction: an issue for everybody? Journal of Workplace Learning, 8(3), 19–25). The study presents the psychometric properties of the EAI, which are manifested in very good internal reliability, content validity, concurrent validity, and construct validity. It is concluded that the EAI could be a valid and reliable instrument capable of quickly and easily identifying individuals at risk from exercise addiction.