Eating Disorders through Facebook Usage?

Eating Disorders through Facebook Usage? According to a study, girls tend to disturbed eating habits like anorexia when they use Facebook extensively.

08/02/2011

Young girls who spend a lot of time with Facebook are increasingly prone to eating disorders. Israeli scientists have found this out in a study of Internet and television habits, as well as dietary practices, attitudes to eating and body weight of young girls.

According to the Israeli scientists, the likelihood of eating disorders in young girls is rising alongside the time girls spend on Facebook. Comparable developments have been observed in the consumption of TV programs and online media, the contents of which mainly revolve around fashion and reports about pop stars and the music scene. However, the use of these media as part of the investigation had significantly less influence on the eating habits of girls than the activities in the social network, said the researchers of the Department of Social Welfare and Health Sciences of the University of Haifa .

Eating disorders are increasing in parallel with Facebook activities
In their study, Israeli researchers interviewed 248 girls between the ages of 12 and 19 about their consumption of Internet content and TV programs, as well as their dietary habits, diet and diet. In addition, the girls should also answer information about body weight, self-image and their personality in general. Overall, the average age of study participants was just under 15 years. The Israeli scientists have found that in parallel with the occupation with Facebook, the probability of an eating disorder increases. The longer the subjects in the social network, the more they suffer from bulimia, anorexia (anorexia) and the compulsion to lose weight. Dissatisfaction with one's own body as well as a negative attitude to eating in general are increasing, according to the Israeli scientists, with the time spent on Facebook activities.

Also other media consumption harmful to the girls
The researchers conclude that even the consumption of fashion and music programs online and on television is harmful to the self-esteem of young people, but less often leads to eating disorders. However, the surveyed girls also showed increasing negative attitudes to diet and their own body as media consumption increased. Overall, however, the link between Facebook activity, self-image and girl eating practices was much higher than for other media activities, researchers from Haifa University report. However, according to the scientists, the probability of an eating disorder with intensive Facebook use has not risen for all girls. The researchers found a connection with the parental care accompanying the media consumption.

Parental care as a shield against media influence
The more intensively parents dealt with the girls as well as their media consumption and talked with their daughters about the media activities, the greater was the study results, the self-empowerment („personal empowerment“) of the girls to deal with the appropriate media. This self-empowerment, according to the Israeli researchers, acts as a kind „shield“ to eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and over-the-top diets, which were particularly common among Facebook users between the ages of twelve and 19 years. Girls whose parents are hardly interested in the media consumption of their daughters suffer significantly more frequently from eating disorders, the researchers at the University of Haifa continue. According to the scientists, the behavior of the parents could therefore be a key to the understanding of dangerous behavioral disorders and their prevention.

Eating disorders among adolescents relatively common
German experts, such as the director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Münster, Prof. Dr. med. Tilman Fürniss, have long pointed out that the prevalence of eating disorders among adolescents has reached alarming levels. Thus, according to the expert in every fifth adolescent between the ages of eleven and 17 is suspected of having an eating disorder. „The number and severity of eating disorders has been increasing for some time“, warned dr. Fürniss end of last year. According to the expert, it can also be observed that those affected on average get younger and younger. Nine-year-olds today are already suffering from eating disorders, whereas only a few decades ago predominantly adolescent patients between the ages of 14 and 16 were affected. Fürniss. According to the expert, the accumulation of eating disorders in girls between the ages of 14 and 17 is particularly problematic during puberty - every third girl (every seventh boy) is a doctor. According to Fürniss affected in this phase of life. (Fp)

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Picture: Alexander Klaus