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Social media engagement moderates the relationship between mindful eating and orthorexia nervosa

nutrition
psychiatry-and-psychology
mental-health

Abstract

Orthorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by compulsions of clean eating resulting in physical and mental harm. Mindful eating comprises disinhibition, distraction, external cues, emotional response, and awareness. As mindful eating is an effective treatment for other eating disorders, it may also be effective for orthorexia. We hypothesized that mindful eating aspects have negative relationships with orthorexic behaviors, and that social media engagement moderates these relationships. University students (N=335) aged 18–84 years (M=29.5, SD=11.9, 81.8% female, 16.2% male, and 2% non-binary) completed the orthorexic behaviors revised scale, the mindful eating scale, and the Bergen social media addiction scale. Results showed that orthorexic behaviors significantly decreased as inhibition increased. In contrast to the hypotheses, orthorexic behaviors significantly increased as attention increased. No other aspects of mindful eating significantly predicted orthorexic behavior. Social media engagement only significantly moderated the relationship between orthorexic behaviors and attention, where greater social media use showed stronger positive relationships. Findings suggest that inhibition is associated with decreased orthorexic behaviors. However, attention may be associated with increased orthorexia due to a focus on food consumption, and this may be exacerbated by social media use or social comparison.
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