Contemporary screen use and symptoms of muscle dysmorphia among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults

Abstract

Purpose Screen time has been previously linked to body dissatisfaction and eating disorder behaviors. However, less is known about whether use of common forms of screen technology is associated with symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD), which was the aim of this study. Methods Data from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors (N = 2538) were analyzed. Associations between hours of use of six contemporary forms of recreational screen time, as well as total screen time, and symptoms of MD were determined using multiple linear regression models, stratified by gender, and adjusting for potential confounders. Results Among both men and women, greater total screen time and texting were associated with greater symptoms of MD; however, differences emerged across the screen time modalities by gender. Among women, video chatting was most strongly associated with symptoms of MD, while social media use was most strongly associated with symptoms of MD among men. Conclusion Findings add to the growing literature documenting the potentially harmful correlates of screen time by including MD symptomatology. Findings have important implications for health care, public health, and policymaking professionals. Level of evidence Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Screen use while eating is associated with lower intuitive eating and higher disordered eating in Chinese adult men and women

“…Thus, as emotional eating is the opposite of a core facet of intuitive eating (i.e., Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons; Tylka & Kroon Van Diest, 2013) and also a well‐recognized risk factor of eating disorders (Lindeman & Stark, 2001), the links between screen use while eating and eating behaviors may also be explained by the evoked emotions and emotional eating. In addition, more screen use could also lead to more exposure to media or advertising content reflecting unattainable body ideals, which may promote body dissatisfaction (Ganson et al, 2023; Tang et al, 2022). Given the robust relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating (Lantz et al, 2018), the links between screen use while eating and eating behaviors (e.g., intuitive eating, disordered eating) may be further explained by body dissatisfaction.…”