Do Social Media Sites Influence Eating Disorders?

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Recommended: Social media and its effect on body image

Media is a major factor in driving the increased incidence of anorexia nervosa: according to a 2000 study by Tiggemann et al., “the factor exerting the strongest pressure to be thin was the media.” Social media in particular has led to the anorexia epidemic amongst young women. A study done by Field et al. (2001) claimed that the media is responsible for encouraging girls to pursue the idea of achieving an unrealistically thin body type. People are bombarded constantly with advertisements and posts from the various social media sites of which they are members; some posts found on these sites evoke negative feelings and perceptions in regards to body image. Such emotions may lead to a variety of behaviors to alter ones’ appearance, such as excessive dieting and exercise. Taken to the extreme, such behaviors are diagnostic of Anorexia Nervosa, considered one of the deadliest mental illnesses (Birmingham et al. 2005). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSMV), anorexia has two subtypes, and its diagnostic criteria include three elements. The two subtypes are the restricting subtype, when one fails to eat, and the binge eating/purging subtype, when one eats excessive amounts and then purges. The purging may be provoked by laxatives or through inducing vomiting with either a finger or an object.
According to the most recent edition of the DSM (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa is split up into three parts: the first is the refusal to maintain body weight at a normal level (the calculated weight for your age and height), or the failure to make the expected weight gain mark for a period of growth. The second is the intense fear of wei...

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...behaviors in
Pinterest. Proceedings of ICWSM.

Tiggemann, M., Gardiner, M., & Slater, A. M. Y. (2000). “I would rather be size 10 than have straight A's”: A focus group study of adolescent girls' wish to be thinner. Journal of
Adolescence, 23(6), 645-659.

Teufel, M., Hofer, E., Junne, F., Sauer, H., Zipfel, S., & Giel, K. E. (2013). A comparative analysis of anorexia nervosa groups on Facebook. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 18(4), 413-420.

Wack, J. T., & Rodin, J. (1982). Smoking and its effects on body weight and the systems of caloric regulation. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 35(2), 366-380.

Wingfield, N., Kelly, N., Serdar, K., Shivy, V. A., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2011). College students' perceptions of individuals with anorexia and bulimia nervosa.International Journal of
Eating Disorders, 44(4), 369-375.

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