Investigation of the relationship between digital game addiction and nutrition, exercise and sleep deprivation in middle school students (the case of Ağrı province)

In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between digital game addiction and nutrition, exercise and sleep deprivation of secondary school students. In this study, which was designed according to the quantitative research model, relational screening method was used. The population of the study was secondary school 5 covering the 10-14 age group in Ağrı province. Grade, 6. Grade, 7. Grade and 8. It consists of students studying at grade levels. The sample of the study consists of 1323 students selected according to the Maximum Diversity Sampling and stratified sampling method (female: 709-male: 614). In the study, the Digital Game Addiction Scale for Children developed by Hazar and Hazar, the Nutritional Exercise Behavior Evaluation Scale for Adolescents developed by Yurt et al., and the Sleep Deprivation Scale for Children and Adolescents developed by Kandemir et al. were used. The obtained datawere analyzed in SPSS 22 package program. Descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA tests were used to analyze the data. In addition, pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between variables. The findings were evaluated according to the p<.05 significance level. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that the relationship between the digital game addiction scores of the participants and the total scores of psychologically dependent eating behaviors, unhealthy eating and exercise habits, and sleep deprivation was statistically positive and significant. In addition, it has been determined that the relationship between healthy eating and exercise behaviors and digital game addiction is negative and moderate. Similarly, it was determined that the relationship between meal pattern and digital game addiction was negative and moderate. The findings of the study revealed that the difference between male and female participants was significant in terms of total scores of digital game addiction, hyper-focus and conflict, tolerance development, task procrastination tendencies, withdrawal experiences, psychologically dependent eating behaviors, and unhealthy eating-exercise habits. In this context, it was determined that male participants had high scores in these variables compared to female participants, and this situation was statistically significant. In addition, no significant difference was observed between genders in healthy eating and exercise behaviors, meal pattern sub-factor scores and sleep deprivation total scores. Keywords: Digital Game, Digital Game Addiction, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep