Perceived health outcomes of recreation and exercise addiction: A study on individuals exercising for recreational purposes

In this study, it was aimed to investigate exercise dependencies according to perceived health levels from participation in recreational activities. In the study, the “Exercise Addiction Scale” developed by Tekkurşun-Demir, Hazar and Cicioğlu (2018) and “The Scale of Perceived Health Outcomes in Recreation” developed by Gómez et al. (2016) and adapted to Turkish by Yerlisu-Lapa et al. (2017) were used. Convenience sampling method was used for sample selection, and face-to-face survey method was preferred for data collection. Independent Sample t-test and One-way ANOVA were used in examining the differences between variables and descriptive analysis were conducted by using the SPSS package program. In addition, Hierarchical and Non-Hierarchical Clustering analysis was used to group the participants according to perceived health outcome levels. A total of 241, including 114 male (47.3%) and 127 female (52.7%), who participated in the activities within the Sport Istanbul Inc., participated in the study voluntarily. When the findings of the research were examined, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference in the “Over Focus and Emotional Change” sub-dimensions of exercise dependence according to the perceived health level. As a result, it was found that individuals with high health perception had a higher level of over-focus and emotional change than those with low health perception.