Relationship between social media addiction level and nutritional status in students of the faculty of health sciences

Abstract

Aims: University students widely use social media applications to acquire a social environment and access/share information. However, more time spent on social media may put individuals at risk of addiction and indirectly affect their nutritional status. This study investigated the relationship between social media addiction and the nutritional habits of university students. Methods: We enrolled volunteers using an online questionnaire. The Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMA-SF) and the Attitude Scale for Healthy Nutrition (ASHN) were administered online. The primary outcomes were the SMA-SF and ASHN total scores and their correlation. Results: The study included 957 subjects (mean age: 19.8±1.4; 91.3% female). A low but significant negative correlation was found between SMA-SF and ASHN scores (r=-0.245, p=0.001). Concerning the time spent daily on social media, we identified that taking less than 1 hour/day as the reference, spending 1 to 3 or above 3 hours/day on social media was significantly associated with higher SMA-SF scores [beta=0.387, t(956)=12.951, p<0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI): 8.814 to 11.962]. Similarly, taking less than 1 hour/day as the reference, spending 1 to 3 or above 3 hours/day on social media was significantly associated with a lower ASHN scale for healthy nutrition scores [beta=-0.173, t(956)=-5.437, p<0.001, 95% CI: -3.725 to -1.749]. Conclusions: Our findings show that increasing time spent on social media during university may increase social media addiction and negatively affect attitudes toward healthy eating.

Keywords

• social media
• addiction
• nutrition
• body mass index