The Relationship between Social Media Addiction and Eating Disorders among Followers of Social Media Influencers

Abstract

Background: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between social media addiction and eating disorders in the followers of social media influencer. Method: The study (n=561) was conducted with 112 men and 449 women, who follow a social media influencer and volunteered to participate in the study. Social media addiction scale for adults form (SMAS-AF) was used to evaluate the social media addiction, and ORTO-15 scale was used to determine the eating disorders. Results: 80.9% of the participants had orthorexia nervosa and 19.1% were normal. BMI and social media addiction scale total score were significantly higher than optimal rates and ORTO-15 total score was significantly low (P<0.05). Age, anthropometric measurements, sub-scores of SMAS-AF and clinical domain sub-score of orthorexia nervosa were significantly different between the groups (P<0.05). It was significantly found that the emotional domain sub-score increased as the virtual tolerance score and virtual communication score increased (P<0.05). A relationship was found between the total score of the social media addiction scale and the emotional domain sub-score (P<0.05). Conclusion: Social media use may negatively affect individuals’ eating behaviors and contribute to body image dissatisfaction. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.