Examining the Relationship Between Attitudes Toward E-Sports, Loneliness and Happines in High School Students

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between high school students' attitudes towards e-sports and their loneliness and happiness levels. The research group consists of 360 high school students studying in high schools in Yozgat province in 2024. 175 (48.6%) of the participants were male and 185 (51.4%) were female. E-sports Attitude Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale Short Form, Oxfort Happiness Scale Short Form were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used. According to the findings, a low level positive significant relationship was found between cognitive attitude, which is one of the attitudes towards e-sports, and loneliness and happiness. A moderate positive significant relationship was found between affective attitude and loneliness, and a low positive significant relationship was found with happiness. There was a moderate positive significant relationship between behavioral attitude and loneliness and a low positive significant relationship with happiness. It was concluded that affective and behavioral attitudes affect loneliness by 12%. As a result, it was observed that as high school students' attitudes towards e-sports increased, their feeling of loneliness increased and their happiness levels increased at a low level. Especially affective and behavioral attitudes were found to have an effect on loneliness by 12%. These findings suggest that e-sports may increase social isolation for some students, but it provides a low level increase in happiness levels.