Examination on psychological needs and exercise addiction levels of high school students

The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between the psychological needs and exercise addiction levels among students studying at high schools examining students in terms of various variables. The relational screening model, which is one of the general survey models, is used in the study. The sample group of the research consists of 299 high-school students including 159 females (53.2%) and 140 males (46.8%), studying at Çamlık Anatolian High School and Abdülhamithan Anatolian High School located in Gaziantep. In the research, the data collection tool fall into 3 categories and online survey collection method is used. In the first category, "Personal Information Form" is presented. In the second category, the "Exercise Addiction Scale" developed by Tekkurşun, Demir et al. (2018) is used. In the third category, the "Basic Psychological Needs Scale in Exercise" developed by Vlachopoulos and Michailidou (2006) is presented. SPSS software is used for data analysis. Paired Samples t-Test is used to examine the differences in binary variables, One Way ANOVA is used for multiple comparisons and one-way analysis of variance, and, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient is used for relationship comparisons. In light of the results obtained and when gender variable is taken into consideration, A significant difference is found within the postponing individual-social needs and conflict sub-dimensions in EAS; and in relationality sub-dimension and tolerance development and passion sub-dimensions in Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES) according to class variable; and significant difference is also found between postponing individual-social needs and conflict in Exercise Addiction Scale (EAS) according to the school average variable. A significant difference is found in the sub-dimension of postponing individual-social needs and conflict in EAS according to the residential location variable, and in all sub-dimensions of BPNES and EAS according to the exercise status variable. In addition, when the sub-dimensions of BPNES and EAS were compared, a significant, positive, moderate and, high-level relationship is found. Keywords: Exercise, exercise addiction, basic psychological needs,