Addiction to athletics in master athletes: A study with psychological variables and training habits

Abstract

The main objective of the study was, on the one hand, to evaluate which variables of intrinsic satisfaction, perception and beliefs about the causes of success in sports influenced in having a profile of high or low sports addiction and, on the other hand, to analyze the differences in the degree of addiction and its subscales according to various training variables. The tests were administered to a volunteer sample of 401 veteran athletes participating in track athletics. It was hypothesized that veterans with higher scores in pleasure and relaxation would normally also obtain positive correlations and high values in the most positive and desirable constructs (task orientation, effort and fun), while veterans with scores higher in tolerance, lack of control and in abstinence and anxiety, they would obtain positive correlations and higher scores in less positive and desirable constructs (use of deception techniques and boredom). The results confirmed the hypothesis and it was concluded that it would be advisable to train in a small group of colleagues who collaborate with each other, without the competitive requirement of a trainer, focusing on the task of skillfully executing the complex movements of their specialty to be able to return to achieve a brand that had not achieved.