The Analysis of Correlation between Depression Symptoms and Their Attitudes towards Addictive Substances of High School Students Who Participate in Regular Exercise and Students Who Do Not Participate in Regular Exercise

In this study, it is aimed to analyze the correlation between depression levels and the attitudes towards addictive substances of the students participating and not participating in sports who live in Hendek district of Sakarya province and to determine if sports have an effect on depression and attitudes towards addictive substances. Also by using Vocational and Technical High schools and Anatolian High schools, it became possible to see the effect of school type. Furthermore, the effect of sociodemographic variables such as sex, grades, marital status of parents, and branch of sports, duration and frequency of participation in sports, income level, and number of siblings was researched. The study group consists of 326 students and “Demographic Information Form†developed by the researcher, “Beck Depression Inventory†and “Attitude towards Addictive Substances Scale†were used as data collection tools. The obtained data was statistically analyzed by using SPSS 25.00 program. While no difference was observed in depression symptoms for the individuals participating and not participating in sports in the general frame, it is determined that the individuals participating in sports has a higher interest in addictive substances when compared to their peers who do not participate in sports. Moreover, this negative attitude towards addictive substances is higher in male students and in the students who study at Vocational and Technical High schools.