New technologies as risk factor for eating disorders

Abstract

Introduction

Eating disorders (ED) have a significant prevalence in children and adolescents. The use of new technologies allows to access to a big amount of information. Excessive use of these technologies at this stage of life decreases social and family relationships and provides access to online content in favor of these disorders, which can affect to the development of an ED. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the use of new technologies and the risk of developing an ED.

Material and method

We have selected a sample of 500 patients who were in the 2nd year of secondary school to which has been applied a battery of scales, including the EAT-26 scale for ED; and has been collected socio-demographic data, including the use of internet and mobile phone. We used SPSS to analyze the relationship between these variables.

Results

We have analyzed clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of the sample. In relation to the risk of developing an eating disorder we have found that high frequencies of use of the Internet and high frequencies of use of mobile phones (especially more than 4 hours a day) increases significantly the score in EAT-26 scale for ED (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Regarding the results, we can say that, in our sample, the use of Internet and/or mobile phone more than 4 hours a day significantly increases the probability of having a high score on the scale for ED. This data can be essential when planning treatment or establishing a preventive strategy.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.