Examination Of The Nutritional Habits And Attention Levels Of Secodary schol Students Who Do End Do Not Do Sport

The aim of this study was to examine the nutritional habits and attention levels of 250 secondary school students in Konya, divided into groups of those who participate in sports and those who do not. A personal information form created by the researcher was used to gather socio-demographic data. To assess the participants' healthy eating attitudes, the Attitude Scale Towards Healthy Eating (ASHE), whose validity and reliability study was conducted by Tekkurşun Demir and Cicioğlu (2019), was employed. Participants' attention levels were determined using the letter form of the Bourdon Attention Test, developed by Benjamin Bourdan in 1955. Before analysis, the variance and homogeneity of the data were tested. Appropriate statistical techniques were then applied based on the nature and distribution of the data. By determining that the data were normally distributed, Independent Samples t-test was used in paired comparisons, One-WayAnova test was used in multiple comparisons, and Tukey HSD test was used to determine the source of difference. In addition, the Paired-Samples t test was used to compare the attention test scores at the beginning and end of the study. The results showed a significant positive difference in attention levels for students who engaged in sports across all branches compared to those who did not. Furthermore, regarding attitudes towards healthy eating and its sub-dimensions (excluding the "unhealthy nutrition" sub-dimension), a significant positive difference was found in the sportsgroups compared to the non-sports groups. The scores for the unhealthy nutrition dimension were lower in the sports groups than in the non-sports groups, and these results were statistically significant. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that secondary school students who participate in sports exhibit more positive nutritional habits and higher attention levels than their non-sporting peers.