Abstract
The relationship between positive and negative running addiction and psychological characteristics of runners: junior high school students, high school students, university students, and working people were investigated. Participants, (n = 318, 12-70 years old) completed three questionnaires designed to evaluate positive and negative running addiction, type-A behavior pattern, and compulsiveness. Results of the Running Addiction Questionnaire indicated that university students were characterized by high positive addiction and high negative addiction. Working people were characterized by high positive addiction. Junior high school students (13%) and high school students (23%) exhibited high negative addiction. Working people who experienced the runners' high scored high on running addiction and commitment. Compulsiveness was more strongly correlated with negative addiction in males than type-A behavior. Although negative addiction had been investigated in a number of former studies, these results indicate the need to investigate positive addiction more closely.
