Examination of the relationship between exercise addiction and physical activity motivation in football players

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between exercise addiction levels and motivation for physical activity among football players, and to analyze whether these variables differ according to various demographic characteristics. The research was conducted with quantitative method and data were obtained from 150 soccer players, 138 men and 12 women.. The Exercise Addiction Scale and the Motivation for Participation in Physical Activity Scale were used as data collection tools. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 software, and independent samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analyses were conducted.The analyses revealed a positive and significant correlation between physical activity motivation and exercise addiction (r = .592, p < .001). While the variable of years of sports experience had a significant effect on physical activity level, no statistically significant differences were found in terms of gender, age, educational background, occupation, league level, or exercise duration.In conclusion, it was determined that motivation for exercise plays an important role in the development of exercise addiction among football players. Therefore, it is recommended to promote healthy exercise habits in athletes and to identify and guide individuals at risk of developing exercise addiction at an early stage.