"I just want to be skinny.": A content analysis of tweets expressing eating disorder symptoms.

ABSTRACT: There is increasing concern about online communities that promote eating disorder (ED) behaviors through messages and/or images that encourage a "thin ideal" (i.e., promotion of thinness as attractive) and harmful weight loss/weight control practices. The purpose of this paper is to assess the content of body image and ED-related content on Twitter and provide a deeper understanding of EDs that may be used for future studies and online-based interventions. Tweets containing ED or body image-related keywords were collected from January 1-January 31, 2015 (N = 28,642). A random sample (n = 3000) was assessed for expressions of behaviors that align with subscales of the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) 16.0. Demographic characteristics were inferred using a social media analytics company. Th

SUBMITTER: Cavazos-Rehg PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6334988 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature