Abstract
Physical exercises are beneficial practices for health and active aging, but excessive practice, characterized as exercise dependence, can have harmful effects on the health of practitioners. Exercise dependence occurs when the individual prioritizes the systematic practice of exercises of any nature to the detriment of other daily activities. One of the challenges is measuring this dependence on exercise. Therefore, the objective of the study is to seek evidence of the validity of the Exercise Dependence Scale (EDS-R) for the elderly population. The sample was composed of 87 elderly people who participated in the study (mean age = 65.89; SD = 4.79 years). The recruitment of elderly people was carried out via social networks, and the instrument was applied online. For evidence of internal structure, confirmatory factor analysis was used with a maximum likelihood estimator. The reliability was measured using alpha and omega. The results show the adequacy of the factor structure, with factor loadings ranging between 0.51 and 0.91 and the items' predictive values ranging from 0.26 to 0.83. Adequate reliability with alpha = 0.90 and omega =0.91. The results pointed to evidence of the validity of the internal structure of the EDS-R and the feasibility of its use for older people.
Publisher
Psicologia e Saude em Debate