Psychometric Properties of Persian Version of Exercise Dependence, Prevalence of it and some Related Factors in Male and Female Athletes Clubs of Urmia

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of Persian version of exercise dependence scale, prevalence of exercise dependence and some related factors in male and female athletes clubs of Urmia. Subjects of this research were 325 athletes in the sample (206 males; 119 females, mean age 28.06±8 years) various team and individual sports (team sports N= 195, individual sports N=130) in the form of voluntary and available attend in this study. Hausenblas and Downs (2002) exercise dependence scale 21 with seven subscale was the instruments of the study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine validity of questionnaire, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine internal consistency. The results showed that the validity of exercise dependence scale 21 is desirable. Also the results showed that in this study the prevalence of exercise dependence between men and women population is not very different from each other and exercise dependence in individual sports is twice to team sports. Since exercise dependence may exist among a wide range of athletes, therefore, in order to address the adverse effects of this factor, it is necessary to examine the underlying causes and trying to modify it. 1. Leily Alizadeh, (Ph. D) Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.