Version 1
: Received: 20 September 2024 / Approved: 20 September 2024 / Online: 20 September 2024 (15:03:41 CEST)
How to cite:
Malloy, J. A.; Kazenbroot-Phillips, H.; Roy, R. The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behaviors and Diet Quality in Young Women: The Impact of Social Media. Preprints2024, 2024091640. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1640.v1
Malloy, J. A.; Kazenbroot-Phillips, H.; Roy, R. The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behaviors and Diet Quality in Young Women: The Impact of Social Media. Preprints 2024, 2024091640. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1640.v1
Malloy, J. A.; Kazenbroot-Phillips, H.; Roy, R. The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behaviors and Diet Quality in Young Women: The Impact of Social Media. Preprints2024, 2024091640. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1640.v1
APA Style
Malloy, J. A., Kazenbroot-Phillips, H., & Roy, R. (2024). The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behaviors and Diet Quality in Young Women: The Impact of Social Media. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1640.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Malloy, J. A., Hugo Kazenbroot-Phillips and Rajshri Roy. 2024 "The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behaviors and Diet Quality in Young Women: The Impact of Social Media" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.1640.v1
Abstract
Background/Objectives: This study investigates the relationship between diet quality and body image disturbance among young women aged 18-24, a crucial period for establishing lifelong health behaviors. Given the increasing exposure to social media, which often promotes unrealistic beauty standards, this research aims to explore how eating behaviors and diet quality, correlates with body image disturbance; Methods: A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining qualitative focus group discussions with quantitative analysis. Focus groups (n=19) explored themes of body image dissatisfaction. The Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ) was administered to 50 participants (young women aged 18-24) to quantitatively assess body image disturbance, while diet quality was evaluated using the Australian Recommended Food Scores (ARFS). The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R18) was also used to assess eating be-haviors, including cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating. A social in-fluence questionnaire (SIQ) was administered to measure the effect of social influence. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between ARFS, BIDQ, and TFEQ-R18 scores; Results: Qualitative findings revealed persistent dissatisfaction with body shape, largely influenced by social media. Quantitatively, 65% of participants scored above the clinical threshold for body image disturbance (mean BIDQ score = 4.2, SD = 0.8). The correlation between ARFS scores and BIDQ scores was weak and not statistically significant (r = 0.057, p = 0.711). However, a sig-nificant positive correlation was found between time spent on social media and body image disturbance (r = 0.58, p < 0.01). Additionally, TFEQ-R18 results indicated that 45% of participants displayed moderate levels of uncontrolled eating, and 36.5% demonstrated moderate levels of emotional eating; Conclusions: While social media significantly influences body image concerns, its effect on eating behaviours and diet quality shows weak correlations, suggesting that other factors may mediate these outcomes. These results highlight the complexity of the relationship between body image, eating behaviors, and diet quality, indicating that interventions should address the psychological drivers behind these concerns, rather than solely focusing on reducing social media exposure.
Keywords
body image; diet quality; eating behaviors; young women; social media
Subject
Social Sciences, Behavior Sciences
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
