Disordered eating and media exposure among adolescent girls: the role of parental involvement and sense of empowerment

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to explore relations between disordered eating pathology (DEP), exposure to media messages and sense of empowerment in female adolescents. Additionally, it aimed to investigate parental involvement as related to their daughters' sense of empowerment. Method: Participants were 248 girls aged 12–19 who completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographic data, DEP, body image, exposure to media, sense of empowerment and parental involvement type. Results: Main results showed that greater DEP and poorer body image both correlated significantly with higher media message exposure, particularly to Facebook and YouTube. Moreover, girls' lower sense of empowerment correlated with greater DEP and with lower parental involvement. Discussion: Findings highlight the harmful influence of social media on DEP, emphasising the importance of parenting style for adolescents' sense of empowerment and underscoring the need for parental involvement in prevention programmes.