In a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers investigated the prevalence of body weight dissatisfaction among youth from several (n = 6) countries and its association with social media use and sociodemographics.
The study sample comprised 21,277 youth (ages = 10-17) cross-sectionally evaluated during the International Food Policy Study Youth Survey (2019-2020).
Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that 45% of participants were satisfied with their body size, while 35% of participants believed they were "larger than ideal," and 20% thought they were "thinner than ideal," with Chile (42%) and Mexico (22%) representing the worst affected, respectively.
Notably, screen time (social media) was positively associated with a greater likelihood of mild to severe perceived body weight dissatisfaction, with YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitch contributing most to these outcomes.
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