The relationship between social media usage and happiness levels of individuals engaged in recreational fitness exercises

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between social media use and happiness levels of individuals who do recreational fitness exercises. The universe of the research consisted of adult individuals who are members of fitness centers in Mersin province and its districts in 2023. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 566 participants, 190 women and 457 men, who were members of some fitness centers selected by simple random probability sampling method based on population ratios in Mersin province and its districts. "Personal Information Form", "Oxford Happiness Scale Short Form" and "Social Media Usage Scale" developed by the researchers were used as data collection tools. In order to compare the scores obtained from the scales according to the categorical variables, independent samples t-test was used for categorical variables containing two groups, and analysis of variance was used for categorical variables containing three or more groups. Tukey test, one of the multiple comparison tests, was used to determine the difference between groups as a result of variance analysis. The relationships between the sub-dimensions of the scales were examined by Pearson correlation analysis. Analyzes were carried out with the help of SPSS program. It has been determined that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between the participants' social media use scale sub-dimensions, continuity and competence. As a result, it was determined that the participants' social media usage continuity sub-dimension and competence sub-dimension scores were moderate and their happiness scale scores were high, and it was determined that as the participants' social media usage continuity increased, their happiness scores decreased and their happiness scores increased as their social media use competency scores increased.