Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia

Background: Disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and social media use are increasingly common among university students. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare social media use, body image, and body weight status between disordered eating (DE) and non-disordered eating (NDE) university stud...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Eow, Shiang Yen, Gan, Wan Ying
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Community Health Society Malaysia 2018
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/73916/1/Social%20media%20use%2C%20body%20image%2C%20and%20body%20weight%20status%20comparison%20between%20university%20students%20with%20and%20without%20disordered%20eating%20in%20Universiti%20Putra%20Malaysia.pdf
_version_ 1796979655517929472
author Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
author_facet Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
author_sort Eow, Shiang Yen
collection UPM
description Background: Disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and social media use are increasingly common among university students. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare social media use, body image, and body weight status between disordered eating (DE) and non-disordered eating (NDE) university students. Materials and Methods: There were two phases of data collection. In Phase I, a total of 505 university students (22.6% males and 77.4% females) with a mean age of 21.26 ± 1.41 years from three randomly selected faculties in UPM were screened for disordered eating using the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26). Sociodemographic background and anthropometric measurements including weight, height, waist circumference, and body fat percentage of respondents were measured. In Phase II, those respondents with DE were matched with those without DE by sex, age, and ethnicity. They answered an online survey on body image and social media use. Result: Out of 505 university students in Phase I, 21.8% were engaged in DE with no sex difference observed (χ2=0.738, p=0.390). In Phase II, 106 DE respondents were matched with 106 NDE respondents. No significant differences were found in body image, social media use (duration, volume, frequency, engagement, selfie sharing, photo investment, and photo manipulation) and body weight status between DE and NDE groups. However, DE respondents reported to have a significantly higher frequency of selfie-taking as compared to NDE respondents (t=-2.338, p=0.020). Conclusion: High prevalence of disordered eating was observed in this study. The contribution of social media use to disordered eating needs to be further studied.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T10:12:06Z
format Article
id upm.eprints-73916
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T10:12:06Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Community Health Society Malaysia
record_format dspace
spelling upm.eprints-739162020-05-14T14:33:51Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/73916/ Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia Eow, Shiang Yen Gan, Wan Ying Background: Disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and social media use are increasingly common among university students. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare social media use, body image, and body weight status between disordered eating (DE) and non-disordered eating (NDE) university students. Materials and Methods: There were two phases of data collection. In Phase I, a total of 505 university students (22.6% males and 77.4% females) with a mean age of 21.26 ± 1.41 years from three randomly selected faculties in UPM were screened for disordered eating using the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26). Sociodemographic background and anthropometric measurements including weight, height, waist circumference, and body fat percentage of respondents were measured. In Phase II, those respondents with DE were matched with those without DE by sex, age, and ethnicity. They answered an online survey on body image and social media use. Result: Out of 505 university students in Phase I, 21.8% were engaged in DE with no sex difference observed (χ2=0.738, p=0.390). In Phase II, 106 DE respondents were matched with 106 NDE respondents. No significant differences were found in body image, social media use (duration, volume, frequency, engagement, selfie sharing, photo investment, and photo manipulation) and body weight status between DE and NDE groups. However, DE respondents reported to have a significantly higher frequency of selfie-taking as compared to NDE respondents (t=-2.338, p=0.020). Conclusion: High prevalence of disordered eating was observed in this study. The contribution of social media use to disordered eating needs to be further studied. Community Health Society Malaysia 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/73916/1/Social%20media%20use%2C%20body%20image%2C%20and%20body%20weight%20status%20comparison%20between%20university%20students%20with%20and%20without%20disordered%20eating%20in%20Universiti%20Putra%20Malaysia.pdf Eow, Shiang Yen and Gan, Wan Ying (2018) Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia. International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences, 5 (1). 129 - 145. ISSN 2289-7577 http://publichealthmy.org/ejournal/ojs2/index.php/ijphcs/article/view/537
spellingShingle Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title_full Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title_fullStr Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title_short Social media use, body image, and body weight status: comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in Universiti Putra Malaysia
title_sort social media use body image and body weight status comparison between university students with and without disordered eating in universiti putra malaysia
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/73916/1/Social%20media%20use%2C%20body%20image%2C%20and%20body%20weight%20status%20comparison%20between%20university%20students%20with%20and%20without%20disordered%20eating%20in%20Universiti%20Putra%20Malaysia.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT eowshiangyen socialmediausebodyimageandbodyweightstatuscomparisonbetweenuniversitystudentswithandwithoutdisorderedeatinginuniversitiputramalaysia
AT ganwanying socialmediausebodyimageandbodyweightstatuscomparisonbetweenuniversitystudentswithandwithoutdisorderedeatinginuniversitiputramalaysia