TikTok and disordered eating: Delineating temporal associations and effects of a ban

Extensive research has documented the impact of social media use on risk for eating disorders. The present study used a longitudinal design to test the hypotheses that greater disordered eating prospectively predicts increased engagement with content promoting restrictive eating on TikTok. After data collection began, the university initiated a TikTok ban, adding a quasi-experimental design to explore the impact of the ban on engagement with restrictive eating content.

Female college students (N = 252) between the ages of 18 and 24 years (M = 19.60, SD = 1.26) completed measures of eating pathology and TikTok engagement with restrictive eating content at baseline and at 9-week follow-up.

Higher disordered eating at baseline prospectively predicted greater engagement with restrictive eating content on TikTok at follow-up, but social media engagement did not predict disordered eating. The university ban on TikTok had no impact on engagement with restrictive eating content. Engagement with restrictive eating content and disordered eating increased over time.

Individuals with eating pathology may be drawn to portrayals of restrictive diets by creators with idealized body types, prompting algorithms to push this content and creating a harmful cycle between exposure and risk. Interventions embedded within social media may prove more effective in reducing risk for eating disorders than institutional bans attempting to limit social media access.