This study aimed at testing, in a sample of Brazilian marathon runners, the Brazilian adaptation of the Negative Addiction Scale (Haley & Bailey, 1982). Methods: 59 marathon runners of a team from São Paulo were asked to fill out the Brazilian version of the Negative Addiction Scale. Most of the sample was made up by men (72%) aged 34 ± 7; 77% of whom had been running four to five times a week (42.5%) for two to eight years; 81% spent one to two hours a day training. The average score in the Negative Addiction Scale was 5.2 ± 2.5 (the scale scores from 0 to 14). The correlation between total score in the scale and each of the 23 questions was significant in 10 of them. The positive answers which presented higher sensitivity were: "I feel something is missing when I don't run" (r = 0.61); "Running has influenced my lifestyle" (r = 0.58), and "I experience a great pleasure when I run" (r = 0.56). Conclusion: The mean score in the Brazilian sample was similar to that described by the authors of the original instrument, suggesting that the translation did not affect the sensitivity of the instrument and that it can be useful in the study of running or physical activity dependence in Brazilian athletes.
Dependence; Marathon runners; Negative addiction scale; Physical exercise
