The association between internet addiction and disordered eating attitudes among Turkish high school students

The aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes (DEAs) and internet addiction (IA) among a non-clinical sample of adolescents and to investigate the relationship between IA, DEAs, and selected socio-demographic characteristics.

A total of 584 adolescents (34.8% n = 203 males and 65.2% n = 381 females) completed three instruments: the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and a socio-demographic questionnaire.

It was found that 15.2% (n = 89) of the participants have DEAs, and IA was detected in 10.1% (n = 59) of the participants. There was a statistically significant difference between the IA and non-IA groups in terms of body mass index (χ (2) = 10.31, p < 0.01). We found a significant positive correlation between the IAT and EAT-26 scores (r = 0.34, p < 0.01). The presence of DEAs, male gender, and high BMI were found to be the strongest predictor variables of IA.

IA and DEAs are relatively frequent phenomena among young students in Turkey. Future studies should attempt to determine the predictive factors by identifying the causal relations between IA and DEAs.