The Direct and Indirect Effects of Online Social Support, Neuroticism, and Web Content Internalization on the Drive for Thinness among Women Visiting Health-Oriented Websites.

Nikol Kvardova,David Smahel,Hana Machackova

doi:10.3390/ijerph17072416

Abstract

One of the debates about media usage is the potential harmful effect that it has on body image and related eating disturbances because of its representations of the “ideal body”. This study focuses on the drive for thinness among the visitors of various health-oriented websites and online platforms because neither has yet been sufficiently studied in this context. Specifically, this study aims to bring more insight to the risk factors which can increase the drive for thinness in the users of these websites. We tested the presumption that web content internalization is a key factor in this process, and we considered the effects of selected individual factors, specifically the perceived online social support and neuroticism. We utilized survey data from 445 Czech women (aged 18–29, M = 23.5, SD = 3.1) who visited nutrition, weight loss, and exercise websites. The results showed a positive indirect link between both perceived online social support and neuroticism to the drive for thinness via web content internalization. The results are discussed with regard to the dual role of online support as both risk and protective factor. Moreover, we consider the practical implications for eating behavior and weight-related problems with regard to prevention and intervention.

Highlights

Considering Western culture and its orientation toward appearance, young girls and women are susceptible to the desire to be thin so they would achieve an ideal body shape [1,2]
We examined the correlations among the variables (Table 1): perceived online social support, neuroticism, web content internalization, and the drive for thinness
According to the theory and the available data, we propose the following processes: online social support from the visitors of health-oriented websites and neuroticism affect the drive for thinness, and these links are mediated by the internalization of body appearance standards

Summary

Introduction

Considering Western culture and its orientation toward appearance, young girls and women are susceptible to the desire to be thin so they would achieve an ideal body shape [1,2]. According to the Tripartite Influence Model [3], women internalize idealized thin body shapes from the media, which includes traditional mass media and the internet, including health-oriented websites. We focus on the drive for thinness, which is motivation for a thin or thinner body and the desire to lose weight [1,6]. It is considered a risk factor for well-being because it is associated with decreased psychological health and the later development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa [7,8]. Our aim is to enrich this model, which posits socio-cultural influences on eating disturbances, by including the role of the

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Conclusion