Disordered eating in a digital age: eating behaviors, health, and quality of life in users of websites with pro-eating disorder content

Disordered eating in a digital age: eating behaviors, health, and quality of life in users of websites with pro-eating disorder content

Much concern has been raised over pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) website communities, but little quantitative research has been conducted on these websites and their users. To examine associations between levels of pro-ED website usage, disordered eating behaviors, and quality of life. We conducted a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical Internet research Vol. 14; no. 5; p. e148
Main Authors: Peebles, Rebecka, Wilson, Jenny L, Litt, Iris F, Hardy, Kristina K, Lock, James D, Mann, Julia R, Borzekowski, Dina L G
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Canada Gunther Eysenbach 25-10-2012
JMIR Publications
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Body Weight
Diseases
Eating behaviour
Eating Disorders
Feeding and Eating Disorders - physiopathology
Feeding and Eating Disorders - psychology
Female
Females
Health Care Utilization
Health Status
Humans
Internet
Laxatives
Male
Mental health
Middle Aged
Obesity
Original Paper
Quality of Life
Social networks
Surveys and Questionnaires
User behaviour
Web sites
Young Adult
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Summary:Much concern has been raised over pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) website communities, but little quantitative research has been conducted on these websites and their users. To examine associations between levels of pro-ED website usage, disordered eating behaviors, and quality of life. We conducted a cross-sectional, Internet-based survey of adult pro-ED website users. Main outcomes were Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and Eating Disorder Quality of Life (EDQOL) scores. We included responses from 1291 participants; 1254 (97.13%) participants were female. Participants had an average age of 22.0 years and a mean body mass index of 22.1 kg/m(2); 24.83% (296/1192) were underweight; 20.89% (249/1192) were overweight or obese. Over 70% of participants had purged, binged, or used laxatives to control their weight; only 12.91% (163/1263) were in treatment. Mean EDE-Q scores were above the 90th percentile and mean EDQOL scores were in the severely impaired range. When compared with moderate and light usage, heavy pro-ED website usage was associated with higher EDE-Q global (4.89 vs 4.56 for medium and 4.0 for light usage, P < .001) and EDQOL total scores (1.64 vs 1.45 for medium and 1.25 for light usage, P < .001), and more extreme weight loss behaviors and harmful post-website usage activities. In a multivariate model, the level of pro-ED website usage remained a significant predictor of EDE-Q scores. Pro-ED website visitors reported many disordered eating behaviors, although few had been treated. Heavy users reported poorer quality of life and more disordered eating behaviors.
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content type line 23
ISSN:1438-8871
1439-4456
1438-8871
DOI:10.2196/jmir.2023