TY - JOUR
T1 - Problematic usage of the internet and eating disorder and related psychopathology: a multifaceted, systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Ioannidis, Konstantinos
AU - Taylor, Charlotte
AU - Holt, Leah
AU - Brown, Kate
AU - Lochner, Christine
AU - Fineberg, Naomi
AU - Corazza, Ornella
AU - Chamberlain, Samuel R
AU - Roman-Urrestarazu, Andres
AU - Czabanowska, Katarzyna
N1 - © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - Eating disorders are widespread illnesses with significant impact. There is growing concern about how those at risk of eating disorders overuse online resources to their detriment. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining Problematic Usage of the Internet (PUI) and eating disorder and related psychopathology. The meta-analysis comprised n = 32,295 participants, in which PUI was correlated with significant eating disorder general psychopathology Pearson r = 0.22 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001), body dissatisfaction r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.02, p < 0.001), drive-for-thinness r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001) and dietary restraint r = 0.18 (s.e. = 0.03). Effects were not moderated by gender, PUI facet or study quality. Results are in support of PUI impacting on eating disorder symptoms; males may be equally vulnerable to these potential effects. Prospective and experimental studies in the field suggest that small but significant effects exist and may have accumulative influence over time and across all age groups. Those findings are important to expand our understanding of PUI as a multifaceted concept and its impact on multiple levels of ascertainment of eating disorder and related psychopathology.
AB - Eating disorders are widespread illnesses with significant impact. There is growing concern about how those at risk of eating disorders overuse online resources to their detriment. We conducted a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining Problematic Usage of the Internet (PUI) and eating disorder and related psychopathology. The meta-analysis comprised n = 32,295 participants, in which PUI was correlated with significant eating disorder general psychopathology Pearson r = 0.22 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001), body dissatisfaction r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.02, p < 0.001), drive-for-thinness r = 0.16 (s.e. = 0.04, p < 0.001) and dietary restraint r = 0.18 (s.e. = 0.03). Effects were not moderated by gender, PUI facet or study quality. Results are in support of PUI impacting on eating disorder symptoms; males may be equally vulnerable to these potential effects. Prospective and experimental studies in the field suggest that small but significant effects exist and may have accumulative influence over time and across all age groups. Those findings are important to expand our understanding of PUI as a multifaceted concept and its impact on multiple levels of ascertainment of eating disorder and related psychopathology.
KW - BMI
KW - Body dissatisfaction
KW - Cyberbullying
KW - Drive for thinness
KW - Eating disorder
KW - Exercise addiction
KW - Internet addiction
KW - Problematic internet use
KW - Restrained eating
KW - Thinspiration
KW - Weight
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102364436&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.03.005
M3 - Article
SN - 0149-7634
VL - 125
SP - 569
EP - 581
JO - Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
JF - Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
ER -