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Social Media and Eating and Body Image Concerns Among Men and Boys

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Eating Disorders in Boys and Men

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) are a ubiquitous form of communication across age and cultural groups. Compared to women, investigation into the relationship between SNS and eating and body image concerns among men is limited. Men and boys tend to engage with SNS that provide information, such as YouTube and Twitter. However, they also engage in appearance-based behaviors, such as editing and posting images to Instagram, often in the form of “selfies.” They may also seek out muscularity-related content and engage in SNS behaviors related to this preoccupation. Appearance-based SNS behaviors appear to confer the greatest risk for muscularity concerns and disordered eating. Those who engage in social comparison with other users in their network and seek out muscularity- and diet-related SNS content may be particularly vulnerable. Developers of SNS literacy interventions may consider adapting existing programs to better target the experience of eating and body image concerns as they present among boys and men. Clinicians may also assess how men and boys engage with SNS and appearance-based behaviors and whether these factors contribute or maintain eating disorder symptoms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Alexandra Rhodes Lonergan, Deborah Mitchison, Kay Bussey & Jasmine Fardouly

  2. Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Deborah Mitchison

Authors
  1. Alexandra Rhodes Lonergan
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  2. Deborah Mitchison
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  3. Kay Bussey
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  4. Jasmine Fardouly
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah Mitchison .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jason M. Nagata

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Tiffany A. Brown

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USC Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Stuart B. Murray

  4. Department of Medicine, Military Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (MiCOR) Program, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The Metis Foundation, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jason M. Lavender

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Lonergan, A.R., Mitchison, D., Bussey, K., Fardouly, J. (2021). Social Media and Eating and Body Image Concerns Among Men and Boys. In: Nagata, J.M., Brown, T.A., Murray, S.B., Lavender, J.M. (eds) Eating Disorders in Boys and Men. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67127-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67127-3_20

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