Facebook Use and Disordered Eating in College-Aged Women.

Abstract

Disordered eating behavior-dieting, laxative use, fasting, binge eating-is common in college-aged women (11%-20%). A documented increase in the number of young women experiencing eating psychopathology has been blamed on the rise of engagement with social media sites such as Facebook. We predicted that college-aged women's Facebook intensity (e.g., the amount of time spent on Facebook, number of Facebook friends, and integration of Facebook into daily life), online physical appearance comparison (i.e., comparing one's appearance to others' on social media), and online "fat talk" (i.e., talking negatively about one's body) would be positively associated with their disordered eating behavior.