Food porn in social media and eating behaviors

Abstract

Background: Sharing photos of food, labelled "Food Porn" is a prevalent activity. The study examined whether external eating and food craving, associated with overeating and obesity, are also associated with indicators of using social networks (SNs) and whether this association varies by gender. Method: Participants included 179 women and men aged 14-79 in a convenience sample. Measures included use of social networks and amount of use, food-related use in SNs, external eating and food craving trait. Design - cross sectional. Results: There were no gender differences in external eating and food craving. Across gender, there was no significant association between having SN accounts and external eating and food craving; there was a low positive significant correlation between the amount of SN’s use and external eating and food craving (r = 0.16 and r = 0.15, respectively, p’s <0.05); there was a positive moderate-high significant association between food-related SN’s use , on the one hand, and external eating and food craving (r = 0.39 and r = 0.49, respectively; p’s <0.01), on the other hand. Lastly, no interaction between gender and the use of SNs in predicting external eating and food craving emerged. Conclusions: Having a SN account is unrelated to problematic eating patterns; amount of SN’s use and amount of food-related activity is indeed associated with the ill-adjusted eating patterns in the same way across gender. Men have become as vulnerable as women in levels of external eating and food craving and their association with SNs use.