Personality traits and exercise addiction symptoms among university students: The role of perfectionism

Abstract

Exercise addiction is a proposed behavioral addiction characterized by impaired control over exercise and continued engagement despite harm. Personality traits and perfectionism have been linked to exercise addiction symptoms, but less is known about dark personality traits and sex-specific pathways. This cross-sectional study examined direct and indirect associations of Big Five traits and five dark traits with exercise addiction symptoms through perfectionism. Participants were 461 Turkish university students who had exercised during the previous week (225 men, 236 women; Mage = 22.00 years, SD = 2.39). They completed the Exercise Addiction Inventory, a positive perfectionism measure, and single-item descriptors of Big Five and dark traits. Bootstrapped path analyses were conducted in the total sample and separately by sex. Agreeableness had a small direct positive association with exercise addiction symptoms in the total sample and among men. Openness showed a positive indirect association through perfectionism in the total sample, whereas conscientiousness showed positive indirect associations in the total sample and among men. Psychopathy had a positive direct association in the total sample and among women. Perfectionism was positively associated with symptoms in the total sample and among men, but not among women. The models explained 15%, 25%, and 12% of the variance in symptoms in the total sample, men, and women, respectively. The findings suggest modest, trait-specific associations and indicate that perfectionistic striving may be particularly relevant among men. Because the study was cross-sectional and most personality traits were measured with single items, the indirect associations should not be interpreted as causal.

Keywords: Big Five, dark personality, exercise addiction, perfectionism, psychopathy, university students

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/16-2-03

Publication date: July 28^th 2026