Ask and you shall receive: desire and receipt of feedback via Facebook predicts disordered eating concerns

The current study examined whether certain types of Facebook content (i.e., status updates, comments) relate to eating concerns and attitudes.

We examined the effects of seeking and receiving negative feedback via Facebook on disordered eating concerns in a sample of 185 undergraduate students followed for approximately 4 weeks.

Results indicated that individuals with a negative feedback seeking style who received a high number of comments on Facebook were more likely to report disordered eating attitudes four weeks later. Additionally, individuals who received extremely negative comments in response to their personally revealing status updates were more likely to report disordered eating concerns four weeks later.

Results of the current study provide preliminary evidence that seeking and receiving negative feedback via social networking sites can increase risk for disordered eating attitudes, and suggest that reducing maladaptive social networking usage may be an important target for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing disordered eating attitudes.