Assessing the Role of Sports Participation as Protecting Factor against Tiktok Addiction among University Students

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between Sports participation and Tiktok addiction among early adults at the university level. A cross-sectional survey was conducted, involving 165 university student-athletes and 165 university students-non-athletes from five universities. International Physical Activity Questionnaire short version, Bergen's Social Media Addiction Scale and demographic variables were used for data collection. Independent samples T-test analysis revealed that the mean Tiktok addiction score for non-athletes was significantly higher than that of their athletes’ counterparts. The results suggested that sports participation can help to reduce Tiktok addiction among university students. It further likely to suggest that interventions focusing on enhancing sports participation may serve as protecting factor against addictive behavior related to social media such as Tiktok addiction in early adults studying in universities.