Surfing for Thinness: A Pilot Study of Pro–Eating Disorder Web Site Usage in Adolescents With Eating Disorders

Abstract

Pro-eating disorder site usage was prevalent among adolescents with eating disorders, yet parents had little knowledge of this. Although use of these sites was not associated with other health outcomes, usage may have a negative impact on quality of life and result in adolescents' learning about and adopting disordered eating behaviors.

Doing weight: Pro‐ana and recovery identities in cyberspace

“…Understanding patterns of talk on these different sites can inform our understanding of their differences and similarities. Previous work has suggested that talk on recovery and pro-ana sites may not reflect their apparent oppositional ideologies (Giles, 2006;Wilson et al, 2006). In this paper we examine body-talk on one pro-ana and one recovery web site to explore this contradiction, and specifically to discover how identities associated with weight and body management are negotiated, managed and developed within the context of online eating 'disorder' related self help/lifestyle websites.…”

“…Winzelberg (1997) suggests that support and discussion groups can provide a medium through which to progress from coping individually to seeking professional help. However, a recent study showed that patients at an eating disorder clinic had learnt new techniques from these sites that moved them away from recovery (Wilson, Peebles, Hardy, & Litt, 2006).…”

“…The potential for these sites to encourage or produce dangerous behaviours has been a notable concern amongst health practitioners (e.g. Bardone-Cone & Cass, 2006;Wilson et al, 2006), feminists (e.g. Pollack, 2003) and the general public (Ferreday, 2003).…”

Risks and threats of social media websites: Twitter and the pro-Ana movement

“…However, considering the harmfulness of these topics, especially for the youngsters, parents and caregivers must be aware of these online contents. On the contrary, Wilson et al in their survey highlighted the lack of awareness of most of the interviewed parents about proanorexia websites [17].Moreover, our analysis highlighted how some of the accounts shared other dangerous contents such as those self-harm related.…”

“…In recent years, different studies outlined the growing popularity of "pro-anorexia" websites and even their potential harmful effects [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Our study aimed to investigate the spread and the topics of the "pro-anorexia" accounts on Twitter.…”