Examining of High School Students’ Internet Addiction Levels in Terms of Sports Participation and Various Variables

The purpose of this study is to investigate the internet addiction levels of high school students with respect to the variables of sports participation, gender, grade level, and type of school. A total of 804 students (n=387 female, n=417 male) from various high schools in Düzce Province voluntarily participated in the research during the spring semester of the 2023–2024 academic year. Data were collected using a Personal Information Form developed by the researchers and the Young Internet Addiction Test Short Form, originally developed by Young (1998), shortened by Pawlikowski, Altstötter-Gleich, and Brand (2013), and adapted to Turkish by Kutlu, Savcı, Demir, and Aysan (2016). The SPSS program was used for data analysis, including mean, percentage, and frequency calculations. As the data showed normal distribution, independent samples t-test was used for two-group comparisons, and One-Way ANOVA was used for comparisons among more than two groups. Results showed that no significant differences were found based on gender, grade level, or school type (p>0.05). However, a significant difference was found in favor of students who participate in sports (p<0.05), indicating that students engaged in sports have lower levels of internet addiction. Therefore, it can be suggested that sports may serve as an effective tool in reducing internet addiction. Future studies could experimentally test this effect at primary and secondary school levels.