The Association between Physical Activity Levels and Social Media Addiction among Adolescents: A Descriptive Correlational Study

Year 2023, Volume: 25 Issue: 3, 499 - 507, 31.12.2023

Dursun Alper Yılmaz , Gökhan Dege , İbrahim Hakkı Çağıran

https://doi.org/10.15314/tsed.1318092

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between physical activity levels and social media addiction in adolescents. The study was designed as a descriptive correlational study, and the research group consisted of 160 volunteer students (90 female, 70 male) residing in Agri, Turkey. Two scales were used to collect data: the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The results of the study showed that there was no significant relationship between the physical activity levels of the participants and their social media addiction (p>0.05). However, a strong positive correlation was found between the genders of the participants and their moderate physical activity and total physical activity levels (p<0.01). Similarly, a positive correlation was found between the gender of the individuals, their walking score, and vigorous physical activity (p< 0.05). Furthermore, there was no difference in the mean score distributions of the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents by gender (p > 0.05), but a weak positive correlation was found between social media addiction and the age of the students (p < 0.05). The study concludes that there is no significant relationship between social media addiction and physical activity levels in adolescents. However, there is a positive correlation between the genders of the participants and their physical activity levels. These findings may be useful in developing interventions to promote physical activity and reduce social media addiction in adolescents.

Keywords

Adolescent, Physical activity, Social media addiction

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