The Relationship between Obligatory Exercise and Eating Attitudes, and the Mediating Role of Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

A strong sociocultural context could affect an individual’s aesthetic standards. In order to achieve a socially recognized ideal appearance, obligatory exercisers might increase dieting behavior when exercise actions are disturbed, thereby placing the individual at risk of eating disorders. The current study mainly examined the relationship between obligatory exercise and eating attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considered the mediating role of externalized sociocultural attitudes towards appearance between the two. A total of 342 participants (175 females, 167 males) from various regions of China were invited to fill out the questionnaires including the Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire, the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3, and the Eating Attitudes Test. In total, 51.5% of the participants presented symptoms of an obligatory exercise behavior. Among them, males, young adults, and the participants with lower BMI had higher OEQ scores, whereas females and young adults had higher EAT-26 scores. Meanwhile, 9.4% of the participants might have had an eating disorder. The OEQ score was positively correlated with the EAT-26 total score as well as SATAQ-3 ‘Pressures’ and ‘Information’ subscales. In addition, the EAT-26 total score was positively correlated with the SATAQ-3 ‘Pressures’ and ‘Information’ subscales. Externalized sociocultural attitudes towards appearance served as a mediator between obligatory exercise behavior and eating attitudes, and the mediation effect accounted for 56.82% of the total effect. Obligatory exercise behavior may have an indirect effect on eating attitudes through sociocultural attitudes towards appearance. Given the sociocultural information and pressures, in order to maintain or pursue an ideal appearance, many people tend to keep a pathological diet. Thus, forming a positive and healthy social aesthetic orientation is beneficial in helping obligatory exercisers to develop reasonable eating habits.

The Mediating Role of Eating Attitudes in Sociocultural Attitudes toward the Body in Predicting Obligatory Exercise among Young People: A Polish and Chinese Comparison

“…Although no comparative studies on obligatory exercise between Polish and Chinese young people were found, a study on the physical activity of French and Japanese adults confirmed that adult physical activity varies by gender and culture and that the global wave of Western sports and physical culture has not turned Japanese sports into an exact replica of Western sports [ 55 ]. Some studies also demonstrated that a solid sociocultural background influences obligatory exercise through body ideals [ 14 , 16 , 56 ]. The differences in obligatory exercise exhibited by young Polish and Chinese men and women in this study may be due to differences in their sociocultural attitudes toward the body.…”

“…[ 10 , 11 ]. From a global public health perspective, obligatory exercise is more prominent among emerging adults aged 18 to 30 and is becoming a threat to young people’s health in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including Poland and China [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Sociocultural factors have been shown to play a crucial role in developing obligatory exercise [ 15 ].…”

Obligatory exercise in young adults

“…Although the initial version of the OEQ has some limitations regarding unidimensionality, the revised version shows that this questionnaire is justifiably multidimensional. The OEQ by itself does not have the cutoff value, but some authors used a relatively high cutoff of two standard deviations above the mean 11 or the middle of the total score 13,30 for identifying those at risk and obligatory exercisers. Further, this instrument is used for clustering groups of pathological obligatory exercisers and well-adjusted exercisers.…”

“…As in this study, other authors also confirm the findings that young men express more obligatory exercise behaviour. 13 There are different reasons why men and women engage in obligatory exercise. Pritchard and Beaver 31 state that body tone improvement, enjoyment, and attractiveness were the main reasons predicting obligatory exercise for men.…”

“…12 Also, in some studies, more than 50% of the participants express symptoms of obligatory exercise. 13 Another reason for such great differences lies in a comparison of behavioural and psychological features of the nature of selective groups -marathoners, gender, individuals with eating disorders, elite athletes, and cultural differences. However, there is greater susceptibility for kinesiology students to develop exercise addiction than exercisers more generally.…”