Risk of Disordered Eating Among a Sample of Indian Adolescents: The Role of Online Activity, Social Anxiety and Social Support

Abstract

Background: Although the concept of a slim body was first introduced in Western societies, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating became a globalized issue, and appeared in India and other Asian cultures as well. However, we know much less about the background variables in this region. Aim: To further examine potential risk and protective factors for disordered eating, we aimed to detect the role of online activity (smartphone addiction, time spent online), social anxiety and social support as well as Body Mass Index (BMI), academic performance, and sociodemographics in elevating the risk of disordered eating among a sample of Indian adolescents. Methods: This study employed 112 high school students (aged between 14–18 years; mean age = 16.01 years; SD = 1.08; 47.3% females) from a private high school located in Vadodara, India. Besides sociodemographics, weight and height (Body Mass Index, BMI), academic performance, and average screen time on weekdays/weekends) were asked. We used four different instruments for exploring the psychological variables: Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Smartphone Addiction Scale – Short Version (SAS-SV), The Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (K-GSADS-A), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Results: Using a cut-off score of 20 points, 9.8% of the students were evaluated as being at risk for disordered eating. Besides time spent online on weekdays, smartphone addiction, social anxiety and avoidance, and higher BMI scores elevated the risk of disordered eating in bivariate logistic regressions, while social support served as a protection. In the final multivariate model, only two factors remained significant contributors: being online on weekdays (risk) and being online on weekends (protection). Conclusion: These findings highlight the different roles of Internet use in the risk of disordered eating (weekdays: risky, weekend: protective) among this sample of Indian adolescents which can be explained by a possible shift in students’ social connections (from peers to family) during the different period of the week.