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- Title
Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Their Association with Social Media Addiction among Youths.
- Authors
Mushtaq, Tehreem; Ashraf, Seemab; Hameed, Huma; Irfan, Ali; Shahid, Maria; Kanwal, Rabbia; Aslam, Muhammad Arslan; Shahid, Hijab; Koh-E-Noor; Shazly, Gamal A.; Khan, Mahtab Ahmad; Jardan, Yousef A. Bin
- Abstract
Eating disorders and excessive attachment to social media are a matter of great concern among youths. This study assessed the prevalence of eating disorders and their association with social media addiction among youths. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 participants aged 14–25 years. Two pre-validated tools were used, i.e., the Eating Attitude Test and the Social Networking Addiction Scale. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Out of the 350 students, 42% had probable eating disorders, and 41.7% had social media addictions. The findings revealed that the chances of having eating disorders were significantly higher among youths who lived in separate places, smoked, and had a family history of eating disorders (p ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the dieting domain displayed notably higher scores for youths living separately (p ≤ 0.05) and smokers (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, the scores for bulimia and food preoccupation were significantly higher among participants who were married (p = 0.038), were smokers (p = 0.027), and had a family history of eating disorders (p = 0.001). Higher scores in the oral control domain were reported by females (p ≤ 0.05) and severely obese youths (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, social media addiction was significantly higher among students aged 18–21 (p ≤ 0.01). Spearman's correlation revealed that social media addiction has a weak positive relationship with eating disorders (r = 0.133, p ≤ 0.01), particularly bulimia and food preoccupation (r = 0.173, p ≤ 0.001). This reflects the need to address the harmful consequences of social media addiction that might raise the likelihood of developing eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa.
- Subjects
PAKISTAN; OBESITY; STATISTICS; SOCIAL media; RESEARCH methodology; CROSS-sectional method; AGE distribution; RISK assessment; COMPARATIVE studies; BULIMIA; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; RESEARCH funding; INTERNET addiction; DATA analysis software; SMOKING; ANOREXIA nervosa; DATA analysis; EATING disorders; DISEASE risk factors; ADULTS; ADOLESCENCE
- Publication
Nutrients, 2023, Vol 15, Issue 21, p4687
- ISSN
2072-6643
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/nu15214687