Examination of the relationship between social media use, body perception and eating attitude in university students

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the use of social media and body image and eating attitude of university students between the ages of 18-30 covering the adulthood period. The research was carried out on the internet with the survey method. In the collection of data, the 'Social Media Addiction Scale' developed by Şahin and Yağcı (2017) and the 'Body Perception Scale', the validity and reliability study of which was conducted in Turkey by Hovardaoğlu (1993), and the 'Eating Attitude Scale' which was validated and reliable by Savaşır and Erol (1989). test' was used. The study group of the research consists of 250 volunteer university students, 165 women and 85 men. After the data obtained in the internet environment were collected, it was analyzed with a computer data-based analysis program (SPSS-22). In order to determine whether the scales used in the research are reliable, the internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's Alpha) was examined. At the same time, skewness and kurtosis values were determined to determine whether the inventories used had a normal distribution curve.According to the findings of the research; A moderately positive relationship was found between social media use and eating attitudes. At the same time, a negative low-level significant relationship was found between body image and eating attitude. According to the results obtained from the research, the scores obtained from the eating attitudes scale increase as the use of social media increases in university students. This shows that the participants who use more social media have more negative eating attitudes. At the same time, as body image increases in university students, negative eating attitudes decrease. This finding indicates that as positive attitude towards body image increases, eating attitudes become healthier. However, no significant relationship was found between social media use and body image.