An Examination of Middle School Students’ Digital Game Addiction and School Engagement Levels Based on the Variable of Participation in School Sports

The purpose of this study is to examine the levels of digital game addiction and school engagement of middle school students in terms of participation in school sports. The descriptive survey model was used in the study. The population consisted of middle school students aged 10–14 studying in the city center of Kastamonu province during the 2024–2025 academic year. Due to the difficulty of reaching the entire population, purposive and convenience sampling methods were used together. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Digital Game Addiction Scale for Children (DGAC) developed by Hazar and Hazar (2017), and the School Engagement Scale (SES) developed by Fredricks et al. (2005) and adapted into Turkish by Çengel et al. (2017). The data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software. The findings revealed that students participating in school sports scored significantly lower on all subdimensions of the DGAC compared to those who did not participate. In contrast, non-participating students demonstrated higher levels of school engagement compared to student-athletes. Regarding gender, female students scored lower than male students in digital game addiction, while differences in school engagement were limited to certain subdimensions. In terms of grade level, 8th-grade students had the lowest mean scores on both scales. Furthermore, a positive and statistically significant relationship was found between all subdimensions of school engagement and digital game addiction. These findings suggest that sports participation may reduce time spent on digital games by promoting healthier and more structured use of leisure time. It can be suggested that the gains provided by sport play a regulatory role in students’ gaming behavior. However, in terms of school engagement, it was determined that students who did not participate in school sports had significantly higher levels of engagement. This situation may be explained by the possibility that the athletic identity of student-athletes takes precedence over their student identity.