Investigation of 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students' internetaddiction and social skill levels according to their sportsengagement situations (A sample of Kirşehir province)

The aim of this study is to investigate the internet addiction levels and social skill levels of high school students (10th, 11th, and 12th grades) based on their sports engagement situations. A total of 421 students attending schools in the central and district areas of Kırşehir province, under the Ministry of National Education, were included in the study by using convenience sampling. A Personal Information Form, created by the researcher, was used to collect participants' personal information. The Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) was employed to assess internet addiction levels, while the Short Form of Social Skills Inventory (SSI) was utilized to measure social skills levels. Parametric tests were employed for data analysis, including independent t-tests for binary variables and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for analysis involving three or more variables. Additionally, the Post Hoc LSD test was used to identify the source of significant differences. The effect size coefficient, n2, was calculated to determine the effect size of significant differences in the independent t-test results. Simple linear regression analysis was conducted to predict the social skills levels of high school students based on their internet addiction levels. The responses to items in the IAS and SSI by high school students were evaluated on a five-point likert scale. The determination of the evaluation scale group value range was based on the formula a = Range / Number of Groups. The analysis of the obtained data revealed that the average internet addiction level of participating high school students was determined to be at the "Rarely" level (x=34.82). The average social skills level of participating high school students was found to be (x=3.09), indicating a "Like me" level. In our study, it was observed that students from sports high schools and Anatolian high schools had higher social skills levels compared to vocational high school students (F(2:418):3.543; p<0.05). Non-sports students (x̅=40.92) had higher internet addiction levels compared to sports students (x̅=29.84), while sports students (x̅=3.17) had higher social skills levels compared to non-sports students (x̅=2.99). Moreover, students with 1-3 years of sports experience (x̅=33.24) had higher internet addiction levels compared to students with 5-8 years of sports experience (x̅=27.19). Upon examining the participants' responses, it was observed that there was a moderate negative relationship between internet addiction and social skills levels (r: -0.462; p<0.001), indicating that as internet addiction increased, social skills levels decreased. Overall, it was found that 21.3% of the total variance in social skills was explained by students' internet addiction, and internet addiction strongly negatively influenced social skills levels. June 2023, 81 Pages Key Words: Sport, Physical Education, Social Skill, Internet Addiction