Impulsiveness as potential moderators of the relation between social media dependence and eating disorders risk

Problematic social media use and inhibitory control among post-secondary students

INTRODUCTION

Problematic social media use (PSMU) parallels traditional characteristics of substance use disorders, including salience, functional impairment, and tolerance. An excessive focus on social reward and engaging in negative behaviors on social media may decrease certain executive functions. However, the role of how inhibitory control processes manifest in PSMU are not well understood. The current study aims to explore both the presence of inhibitory control impairments and harmful online behaviors, such as negative social comparison, in problematic social media use.

METHODS

A population of emerging adults (undergraduate university students; N = 503) completed several online questionnaires assessing problematic social media use, trait impulsivity, and negative social comparison on social media. An online Go-Nogo and Iowa Gambling Task were administered to further evaluate inhibitory control.

RESULTS

Higher problematic social media use was significantly positively correlated with trait impulsivity, but not Go-Nogo or Iowa Gambling task performance. Negative social comparison on social media was a stronger predictor of PSMU, compared to inhibitory control measures. However, social comparison did not significantly interact with inhibitory control measures when predicting PSMU. When exploring subtypes of impulsivity, the strongest correlation with PSMU was observed with cognitive instability and attentional impulsivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that aspects of impaired inhibitory control-namely, cognitive instability and attentional impulsivity-are present in problematic social media use. Understanding the interplay between features of addiction and the unique context of online socialization, such as negative social comparison, is central to defining problematic social media use as a potential behavioral addiction.

The Relationship between Social Media Addiction and Eating Disorders among Followers of Social Media Influencers

Background

We aimed to evaluate the relationship between social media addiction and eating disorders in the followers of social media influencer.

Method

The study (n=561) was conducted with 112 men and 449 women, who follow a social media influencer and volunteered to participate in the study. Social media addiction scale for adults form (SMAS-AF) was used to evaluate the social media addiction, and ORTO-15 scale was used to determine the eating disorders.

Results

80.9% of the participants had orthorexia nervosa and 19.1% were normal. BMI and social media addiction scale total score were significantly higher than optimal rates and ORTO-15 total score was significantly low (P<0.05). Age, anthropometric measurements, sub-scores of SMAS-AF and clinical domain sub-score of orthorexia nervosa were significantly different between the groups (P<0.05). It was significantly found that the emotional domain sub-score increased as the virtual tolerance score and virtual communication score increased (P<0.05). A relationship was found between the total score of the social media addiction scale and the emotional domain sub-score (P<0.05).

Conclusion

Social media use may negatively affect individuals' eating behaviors and contribute to body image dissatisfaction.

Validation of an adapted Italian-language version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3), within a female population: the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire - Social Media (SATAQ-SM)

Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-Social Media (SATAQ-SM) is a self-administered questionnaire for the evaluation of social media pressure and internalization of beauty standards. This study aims to validate the SATAQ-SM an adapted Italian version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire third version (SATAQ-3). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate whether the empirical data fitted the four-factor structure of SATAQ-3. Assessment of goodness-of-fit was based on standard model fit criteria: relative χ2 value (χ2/df), Root Mean-Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI). Internal consistency was assessed using McDonald's omega. Criterion validity was calculated by correlating the SATAQ-SM factors scores with the total score of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). Four-hundred and eighty-five females agreed to participate in the study. The four-factor model appears to be confirmed by the fit indices: χ2/df = 3.73, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.99 and TLI = 0.99. All the items defining the four factors had a factor loading of ≥0.40. McDonald's omega of the entire questionnaire was equal to 0.95 and for the four subscales it did not assume values lower than 0.81. The correlations between the factor score of SATAQ-SM and the RSES were all negative and statistically relevant (p < 0.001); the correlations between the scores of the SATAQ-SM subscales and the total score of the EAT-26 are all positive and statistically significant. SATAQ-SM demonstrated good psychometric properties to assess the influence of social media on body image perception related to social media.

The cost of the perfect body: influence mechanism of internalization of media appearance ideals on eating disorder tendencies in adolescents

BACKGROUND

Some studies have examined the relationship between internalization of media appearance ideals and eating disorders. However, few have discussed the relationship between eating disorder tendencies. To fill this research gap, this study was to explore the influencing mechanisms of internalization of media appearance ideals on adolescents' eating disorder tendencies in Chinese cultural context.

METHOD

The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire, Eating Attitude Test-26, Physical Self-Description Questionnaire, Body Image Depression Questionnaire and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were employed in this study to investigate 1523 adolescents. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0.

RESULT

The results showed that: (1) internalization of media appearance ideals had a significant positive predictive effect on adolescents' eating disorder tendencies; (2) internalization of media appearance ideals significantly influenced adolescents' eating disorder tendencies through the mediating role of body esteem and body image disturbance respectively, and also influenced eating disorder tendencies through the chain mediating of both; and (3) social support played a moderating role between body image disturbance and eating disorder tendency.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest distinct pathways through which internalization of media appearance ideals may influence adolescents' eating disorder tendencies. It is suggested that reducing body image disturbance and enhancing social support can help reducing eating disorder tendency.

Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Their Association with Social Media Addiction among Youths

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.