The Association Between Body Image, Body Mass Index and Social Media Addiction Among Female Students at a Saudi Arabia Public University

ABSTRACT

@#Introduction: The internet revolution raised a new type of addiction, which is social media addiction. Social media advertisements are mostly targeting women. Therefore, the excessive use of social networking sites could influence females’ body image perception. However, obesity can either be a risk factor or a cause of negative body image. The aims of this study were to assess perceived body image and social media addiction among Princess Nourah University students and to determine the association between them. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 307 female students at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University at KSA using a multistage systematic random sampling technique whereas every 9th student was included if she is eligible. Data collected through survey includes socio-demographic characteristics, social media addiction scale adapted from Young K. Internet Addiction Test (IAT), body image questionnaire in addition to measuring their weight and height. Results: The findings revealed that 73% of the study participants perceived negative body image and 50.1% of them were moderately addicted to social media. On assessing the association using chi-square test, body image and social media addiction was not significantly associated (p=022). While on assessing the association between social media addiction and BMI, they were significantly associated (p=0.001). Conclusion: A statistically significant association was found between social media addiction and BMI. No significant association was found between body image and social media addiction. Thus it is recommended that future research try to investigate the main cause for social media addiction and identify the ways to avoid its potential negative consequences.