Examination of the relationship between hedonic eating behavior and social media in adolescents

The adolescence period is the basic cycle of life in which individuals grow and develop physically and mentally, and form the foundations of adulthood with habits and behaviors. Hedonic hunger is defined as the increase in appetite due to the taste, smell and other sensory properties of foods without physiological hunger, and the pleasure received while consuming food, the pleasure of eating and the urge to eat. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of social media use on hedonic eating behavior in adolescents. In the first part of the questionnaire, the demographic characteristics of the participants, in the second part, the nutritional habits and 2-day food consumption with the 24-hour reminder method were evaluated, anthropometric measurements were made, physical activity status was questioned, and in the last part, the Social Media Scale for Adolescents and Hedonic Eating Scale were applied. The average age of the 107 adolescent individuals included in the study, 43 male and 64 female students, was 16.24±1.05 years. The body mass index (BMI) percentile values of adolescent individuals were evaluated in two groups as normal male (n=13, BMI ≥ 15%-< 85%) and slightly obese and/or obese male (n=30, BMI ≥ 85%) and normal female (n=39, BMI ≥ 15%-< 85%) and slightly obese and/or obese female (n=25, BMI ≥ 85%). According to Pearson Correlation Analysis, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between the fat-free body mass (%) values of adolescents and the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents (r=-0.264, p<0.001) scores. On the other hand, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the AHE (Hedonic Eating Scale for Adolescents) scores of the adolescents and their BMI values (r=0.216, p<0.005) and fat mass (kg) values (r=0.266, p<0.01). According to Pearson Correlation Analysis, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the AHE and AHE scores of the participants with high BMI percentile values (r=0.530, p<0.001). In this study, it was found that 21% of the AHE scores of the adolescents evaluated were explained by age, total education period, physical activity value and AHE scores at a statistically significant level (F=6.67, p<0.001). Keywords: Adolescent, Hedonic Eating, Social Media