The influence of social comparisons made on Facebook and sociotropy on bulimia nervosa symptoms: A revised examination of the dual pathway model

Abstract

Background

The dual pathway model (DPM) attempts to explain the processes that are etiological to the development of Bulimia Nervosa (BN) symptomology by examining both individual and sociocultural risk factors of BN. The DPM, however, is yet to incorporate the sociocultural factor Facebook, which is important given the widespread use of the social media website Facebook. In addition, research has suggested that the personality trait sociotropy may increase vulnerability to developing BN symptoms, however, there is limited evidence examining this factor in the DPM.

Objective

To test a revised DPM with the inclusions of social comparisons made on Facebook and sociotropy both (a) cross-sectionally and (b) longitudinally.

Method

Four hundred and seventy females participated at baseline (T1). Four weeks later, 274 females completed the follow-up assessment (T2), which assessed a subset of measures from the baseline assessment.

Results

An acceptable fit for both DM models was obtained through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using MPlus (See Figs. 1 and 2).

Conclusions

Prevention and early intervention efforts for both depression and BN should focus on addressing appropriate Facebook and social media use and these interventions should be tailored to individuals scoring high on sociotropy.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Fig. 1 Revised cross-sectional DPM.

Fig. 2 Revised longitudinal DPM.