ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological dimensions of sport and active living: Impacts on health and performanceView all 10 articles
Awareness of Exercise Addiction and Exercise Motivation Attitudes: A Cross-Sectional Study in Türkiye
Provisionally accepted
- 1Istanbul Aydin Universitesi, Istanbul, Türkiye
- 2The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
- 3Bandirma Onyedi Eylul Universitesi, Bandirma, Türkiye
- 4Tekirdag Namik Kemal Universitesi, Tekirdağ, Türkiye
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Background: Awareness of exercise addiction insight into warning signs such as loss of control, withdrawal, and continuation despite harm may be associated with exercise-motivation profiles, yet demographic moderators remain understudied in Türkiye. Methods: A cross-sectional, relational survey of 415 adults in Türkiye (mean age = 24.02 ± 5.93 years; range = 18–51) was conducted. Recruitment used an online convenience sample. Participants completed the Exercise Motivation Attitude Scale (EMAS; 20 items; subscales: Negative Attitudes and Thoughts [NAT], Positive Perspective and Health [PPH], Physical Appearance and Health [PAH]) and the Awareness for Exercise Addiction Scale (AFEAS), plus demographics and weekly activity frequency. Analyses employed Pearson correlations, independent-samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs (Welch with Games–Howell post-hoc when assumptions were violated; otherwise, Tukey HSD), reporting effect sizes (Cohen's d, partial η²) and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Overall motivation correlated positively with awareness (r = 0.36, 95% CI [0.27, 0.44], p < 0.001). At the subscale level, PPH and PAH correlated positively with awareness, whereas NAT was near-null. Group comparisons showed no gender differences in overall motivation or awareness (AES borderline at p = 0.05). Education: non-monotonic differences (EMAS total: F(2, 412) = 8.74, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.041; AFEAS total: F(2, 412) = 11.30, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.052). Frequency: motivation was highest at ≥5 days/week and awareness peaked at 1–2 days/week (EMAS total: F(3, 411) = 9.91, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.067; AFEAS total: F(3, 411) = 8.10, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.056). Reliability was acceptable (EMAS total α ≈ 0.91 in this sample; AFEAS showed adequate internal consistency here and in prior validation). Conclusions: Health-and appearance-oriented motivational attitudes are associated with greater awareness of exercise-addiction risk, whereas negative attitudes are not. Findings are associational and limited by the cross-sectional design and convenience sampling online; potential confounders (age, sex, activity level) were examined in group models. Post-hoc procedures controlled pairwise error (Games–Howell/Tukey); no additional global multiplicity correction was applied (limitation). Implications: Prevention programs should promote health-oriented motivation and screen for addiction risk, integrating brief psychoeducation into university and community counselling activities.
Keywords: physical activity, behavioural health, addiction awareness, exercise addiction awareness, Exercise motivation
Received: 22 Aug 2025; Accepted: 11 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Orhan, Alkasasbeh, Karaçam, Canlı and AMAWI. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Adam Tawfiq AMAWI, a.amawi@ju.edu.jo
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