Previous research has indicated that exposure to pro-eating disorder websites might increase eating pathology; however, the magnitude of this effect is unknown. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effect of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology. Studies examining the relationship between exposure to pro-eating disorder websites and eating pathology-related outcomes were included. The systematic review identified nine studies. Findings revealed significant effect sizes of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image dissatisfaction (five studies), d = .41, p = .003; dieting (six studies), d = .68, p < .001, and negative affect (three studies), d = 1.00, p < .001. No effect emerged for bulimic symptoms (four studies), d = .22, p = .73. Findings confirmed the effect of pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology, highlighting the need for enforceable regulation of these websites.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/erv.2390 | DOI Listing |
Psychol Res Behav Manag
July 2024
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Social media has negative effects on adolescent body image and disordered eating behaviors, yet adolescents are unlikely to discontinue engaging with these platforms. Thus, it is important to identify strategies that can reduce the harms of social media on adolescent mental health. This article reviews research on social media and adolescent body image, and discusses strategies to reduce risks associated with social media use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQual Health Res
October 2024
School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK.
Healthy eating (HE) and pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) websites are popular sources of dietary and weight loss information, social support, and lifestyle inspiration. However, the discursive styles and language used by authors/moderators and users of these two site genres have not been widely studied or compared. Forty-three HE websites and twenty-four pro-ED websites were analysed using Fairclough's model of critical discourse analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChild Adolesc Ment Health
February 2024
Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Most social media platforms censor and moderate content related to mental illness to protect users from harm, though this may be at the expense of potential positive outcomes for youth mental health. Current evidence does not offer strong support for the relationship between censoring mental health content and preventing harm. In fact, existing moderation strategies can perpetuate negative consequences for mental health by creating isolated and polarized communities where at-risk youth remain exposed to harmful content, such as pro-eating disorder communities that use lexical variants to evade censorship.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAMA Netw Open
April 2023
Department of Statistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Importance: Social media is simultaneously home to communities of users who promote eating disorders as a lifestyle and users who advocate for recovery. As studies have confirmed an association between exposure to pro-eating disorder content and engaging in disordered eating behaviors, an examination of the accuracy of and interactions with information shared in these complex and contradictory communities can provide insights into content available to users at risk.
Objective: To determine the associations among themes, accuracy of information, and user engagement of eating disorder content on a short video-sharing social media platform.
Eur Eat Disord Rev
September 2023
School of Community Health Sciences, Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA.
Objective: Eating disorders (EDs) impact multiple domains in a person's life including interpersonal interactions. Although a considerable amount of literature has evaluated social comparison and ED pathology, less has focussed on the influence of competitiveness on eating behaviours within ED and community samples. To address this, a systematic scoping review was conducted to evaluate current knowledge on this topic.
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