Awareness of exercise addiction and exercise motivation attitudes: a cross-sectional study

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 η 2 ) 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 η 2 = 0.041; AFEAS total: F (2, 412) = 11.30, p < 0.001, partial η 2 = 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 η 2 = 0.067; AFEAS total: F (3, 411) = 8.10, p < 0.001, partial η 2 = 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.