Exercise addiction (EA) affects a considerable number of individuals who regularly perform exercise-sport activities. The co-occurrence of EA manifestations and the continuum of disordered eating-eating disorders (EDs) is so common in sports that a deeper understanding of them as comorbidities is warranted. The aim of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview and synthesis of the research on the relationship between maladaptive exercise and dysfunctional eating in the sport context. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 22 empirical studies (23 articles) with young and adult female and male athletes from several sports and competition levels was included. EA in conjunction with eating disturbances is frequent among athletes, yet the prevalence rates are inconsistent. Existing evidence suggests that EA is a relevant outcome of ED pathology among athletes, supporting the classical secondary type of EA. However, research also reveals that excessive exercising plays a central role in the psychopathology of disordered eating. There is a need for further quantitative research addressing the features and correlates of the EA-EDs dyad, qualitative research on the subjective experiences of athletes with disordered exercise and eating, longitudinal and experimental research to establish possible causal paths and attempts to develop comprehensive conceptual models of EA and its co-occurrence with EDs, in order to improve the identification, prevention, and management of this dyadic condition in the sport context.

The objective of this study was to evaluate gender differences in the pain threshold, considering the type of pressure point, its location and the repetition of the assessment. The pressure pain threshold was evaluated in 30 healthy volunteers (12 men and 18 women) in three assessment sessions separated by 15 min and 7 days, respectively. Each assessment session was in turn composed of two trials in each of which 24 different pressure points (symmetrically located), representing the 18 tender points for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and six control points, were assessed. Gender differences were found in the pain threshold for all of the points and the measures taken, women showing a lower pain threshold in comparison to men and being these differences more pronounced for control points than for tender points, the former reaching statistical significance in all cases. The analysis of the influence of repeated measures on gender differences in the pain threshold showed a distinct pattern of recuperation in men than in women, although only one difference in pain threshold was significant. The utility of the tender point concept to study gender differences in pain threshold and the mechanisms that may explain different patterns of recuperation between genders are discussed.

We explored possible paths from physical and mental health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, optimism, and social support to happiness in older adults, considering hedonic balance and life satisfaction as mediators. A total of 154 Spanish male and female (50%) older adults (65–96 years old, M = 77.44, SD = 8.03; 64% noninstitutionalized elderly) voluntarily participated in this correlational, cross-sectional study. The participants completed self-reports on their perceived health status, self-efficacy, social support, optimism, and global subjective well-being (SWB) as well as its dimensions. Path analysis was used to examine direct and indirect relationships. The final model had an excellent fit with the data (χ2(10) = 11.837, p = 0.296, χ2/df = 1.184; SRMR = 0.050, CFI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.035), revealing the unique causal effects of all the included predictors on happiness. With the exception of self-efficacy, the psychosocial resources predicted older adults’ current happiness, and this relationship was fully mediated by hedonic balance and life satisfaction, which were found to be putative intermediary factors for SWB. Self-efficacy in turn predicted the remaining psychosocial resources. Our findings extend the existing evidence on the influences of health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, optimism, and social support on SWB. Furthermore, they support the proposal of hedonic balance and life satisfaction as dimensions of SWB, thus supporting the tripartite hierarchical model of happiness. These results may inform future interventions seeking to improve happiness in late adulthood.

We examined the role of self-efficacy, social support, optimism, and mental health in the prediction of happiness in the elderly. Moderated mediation analyses confirmed a full mediation in which self-efficacy, through perceived mental health and moderated by social support, predicts happiness moderated, in turn, by optimism. When an elder is self-efficacious, his or her mental well-being seems more likely to be improved and translated into enhanced happiness when social support and optimism are moderate to high. We provide preliminary results on the interplay of these psychosocial resources in improving subjective well-being that may help in designing tailored interventions for promoting happiness in late adulthood.