Anxiety as a mediating factor of perfectionism and needs thwarting in relation to exercise dependence in team sports

Sammanfattning: The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between exercise dependence, basic psychological needs, perfectionism and anxiety. Specifically, the purpose was to examine if the relationship between psychological needs thwarting and exercise dependence as well as socially prescribed perfectionism and exercise dependence was mediated by anxiety. Participants were 59 team sport athletes with the mean age 20.36 years from twelve different team sport clubs in Sweden. Data were analysed using PROCESS tool in the program Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The PROCESS analysis indicated that anxiety did not mediate the relationship between psychological needs thwarting and exercise dependence or socially prescribed perfectionism and exercise dependence. Further, the results showed that needs thwarting and perfectionism had a direct effect on exercise dependence. This indicates that needs thwarting and socially prescribed perfectionism should be considered risk factors for exercise dependence in team sports. Anxiety did not predict exercise dependence. Based on the findings, exercise dependence is a complex process where different personal and social factors interact. Further research is recommended to increase the understanding about potential risk factors and mediating mechanisms that can explain how exercise dependence develop in team sports.