Examining the association between Internet activities, body positive content, and eating disorder symptomatology in a college population

The researcher examined how Internet use, social media use, and body positive content relate to eating disorder symptomatology (i.e., drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, and binge eating). Based on the available literature, it was hypothesized that Internet use and social media use would positively correlate with eating disorder symptomatology and body positive content would negatively correlate with eating disorder symptomatology. The researcher also examined the relationship between Internet addiction and binge eating disorder. Data was collected from 296 university students who completed a one-time online questionnaire. While a statistically significant relationship was found between compulsive Internet use and binge eating, the statistical relationship between compulsive social media use and binge eating was found only to be approaching significance. Additionally, statistically significant positive correlations were found between Internet use and eating disorder symptomatology. The positive correlations between social media use and eating disorder symptomatology were less strong. Statistically significant negative correlations were found between body positive content and eating disorder symptomatology. Overall, the results suggest a comorbidity between Internet addiction and BED. Results also suggest that social media use is not as important to the relationship between online media exposure and disordered eating as overall Internet use is. Future research should examine if body positive content has a moderating effect on the relationship between Internet use and disordered eating symptomatology. Further research should also examine how the type of media representation of stigmatized groups and minorities impacts self-esteem