Association of Social Networking Sites Use with Actual and Ideal Body Shapes, and Eating Behaviors in Healthy Young Japanese Women

Nutrients · 5 authors, 4 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

POPULATION196 healthy Japanese women aged 20–29 years (mean BMI 20.3 kg/m²) without weight-related medical conditions

INTERVENTIONDuration of daily SNS use (long group: ≥3 h/day; short group: <1 h/day)

COMPARISONShort SNS use group (<1 h/day) vs. long SNS use group (≥3 h/day)

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AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

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TL;DR

This study of 196 healthy Japanese women aged 20–29 found that longer daily social networking site (SNS) use was associated with lower BMI, thinner ideal body image, and less frequent use of nutrition labels and consumption of milk/dairy products. Women who used SNS for 3+ hours/day had significantly lower BMI and ideal body image scores compared to those using SNS for less than 1 hour/day. These findings suggest that excessive SNS use may promote thinness and reduce access to reliable health information and healthy foods in young women.

Full summary

4,238 CHARS

**Background:** Underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m²) is prevalent in approximately 20% of young Japanese women, and the drive for thinness is enhanced by social comparison. Social networking sites (SNS) provide constant opportunities for appearance comparison, but their impact on actual body shape and eating behaviors (EB) in non-obese young women remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the association between SNS use and actual/ideal body shapes and EB in healthy young Japanese women.

**Methods:** A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between December 2020 and February 2021. Participants were 196 healthy Japanese women aged 20–29 years (mean age 21.1 ± 1.8 years, mean BMI 20.3 ± 2.3 kg/m²) who had SNS accounts. Exclusion criteria included pregnancy, breastfeeding, and weight-related medical conditions (cancer, eating disorders, diabetes, endocrine disorders) within the past 5 years. Participants self-reported SNS use (daily duration, frequency of checking, viewing others' photos, selfie taking/posting), anthropometrics (height, weight), body image (using a validated 10-silhouette scale for current body image [CBI] and ideal body image [IBI]), objectified body consciousness (24-item scale with subscales: body surveillance, body shame, appearance control), subjective health (4-point scale), subjective happiness (7-point scale), and eating behaviors (breakfast skipping, late-night eating, snack after dinner, nutrition label use, and frequency of fruit, fish, milk/dairy, and alcohol consumption). Spearman correlation was used to assess associations between SNS duration and variables. Participants were divided into quartiles based on daily SNS duration: long group (≥75th percentile, ≥3 h/day, n = 52) and short group (<25th percentile, <1 h/day, n = 54). Group comparisons used Mann–Whitney U or chi-squared tests. Missing data (only for objectified body consciousness items) were tested with Little's MCAR test (χ² = 0.09, p = 0.768).

**Key Results:** Most participants (88.8%) checked SNS at least 3–5 times/day; 51.0% used SNS ≥2 h/day; 69.9% looked at others' photos often/almost every time. Correlation analysis showed that longer daily SNS use was significantly associated with lower BMI (r = −0.149, p = 0.037), less frequent nutrition label use (r = −0.159, p = 0.026), and lower frequency of milk/dairy consumption (r = −0.195, p = 0.006). No significant correlations were found for fruit, fish, or alcohol consumption. Comparing long vs. short groups: the long group had significantly lower BMI (p = 0.027), lower IBI (p = 0.026), higher total objectified body consciousness (p = 0.032), higher body surveillance (p = 0.002), and higher subjective health score (p = 0.038). No significant differences were found for CBI, body dissatisfaction, body perception, body image distortion, body shame, appearance control, or subjective happiness. For eating behaviors, the long group had significantly lower frequency of fruit consumption (p = 0.017), milk/dairy consumption (p = 0.045), and alcohol consumption (p = 0.043). No differences were observed for breakfast skipping, late-night eating, or snack after dinner.

**Clinical Implications:** This study suggests that prolonged SNS use (≥3 h/day) in young women is associated with thinner actual and ideal body shapes and poorer dietary habits, including reduced use of nutrition labels and lower intake of milk/dairy products. These behaviors may contribute to the high prevalence of underweight in young Japanese women and could have long-term health consequences, including potential intergenerational effects via the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework. Clinicians and public health professionals should consider SNS use as a potential modifiable factor when addressing thinness and unhealthy eating behaviors in young women. Interventions may need to focus on reducing SNS time and promoting critical evaluation of online health information. Limitations include the cross-sectional design (causality cannot be inferred), self-reported SNS use and dietary data, and lack of detailed dietary intake or content analysis of SNS use. Future longitudinal or interventional studies are needed to confirm these findings.

PICO

PPOPULATION

196 healthy Japanese women aged 20–29 years (mean BMI 20.3 kg/m²) without weight-related medical conditions

IINTERVENTION

Duration of daily SNS use (long group: ≥3 h/day; short group: <1 h/day)

OOUTCOME

BMI, current body image (CBI), ideal body image (IBI), body dissatisfaction, objectified body consciousness, eating behaviors (nutrition label use, food consumption frequencies)

STUDY TYPE

cross-sectional

SPECIALTY

nutrition

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10097007

Association of Social Networking Sites Use with Actual and Ideal Body Shapes, and Eating Behaviors in Healthy Young Japanese Women

Nutrients

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

Recent reports have associated the use of social networking sites (SNS) with the drive for thinness in young women; however, its influence on their actual body shape and eating behaviors (EB) remains unclear. We aimed to examine the effect of SNS use on body mass index (BMI), body image (BI), and EB in young women. Participants included 196 healthy women (20–29 years) who answered questions about their SNS use, height, weight, BI and EB via a web-based survey. First, the correlation between time spent on SNS and each variable was determined. Participants were then divided into quartiles according to the duration of daily SNS use as long (≥3 h, n = 52) and short (<1 h, n = 54), and the data were then compared between the groups. Correlation analysis showed that the longer the duration of daily SNS use, the significantly lower the BMI, the use of nutrition labels, and the frequency of consumption of milk and dairy products. The long group had significantly lower BMI and ideal BI than the short group. The results suggest that spending more time on SNS in young women may be associated with thinner actual and ideal body shapes and poorer access to health information and healthy foods.

CITATION EXPORT

Yukina Yumen, Yumi Takayama, Fumiaki Hanzawa et al.. Association of Social Networking Sites Use with Actual and Ideal Body Shapes, and Eating Behaviors in Healthy Young Japanese Women. Nutrients. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071589

AUTHORS

5 · 4 CENTRES

Yukina Yumen, Yumi Takayama, Fumiaki Hanzawa, Naoki Sakane, Narumi Nagai

1Laboratory of Nutritional Physiology, Graduate School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Himeji City 670-0092, Hyogo, [email protected] (N.N.)
2Kyoto College of Nutritional and Medical Sciences, Kyoto 616-8376, Kyoto, Japan
3Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Himeji City 670-0092, Hyogo, Japan; [email protected]
4Division of Preventive Medicine, Clinical Research Institute for Endocrine and Metabolic Disease, National Hospital Organization, Kyoto Medical Center, Kyoto 612-8555, Kyoto, Japan; [email protected]

EDITOR / REVIEWER

Hubertus Himmerich, Leslie D. Frazier