Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College for Community Health

Department/Program

Nutrition and Food Studies

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Lauren Dinour

Committee Member

Adrian Kerrihard

Committee Member

Jessica Bihuniak

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of social media in shaping adolescent weight perceptions, weight behaviors, and dietary behaviors. Given the influence of social media on mental health and physical well-being especially among adolescents, understanding the associations on weight-related behaviors is crucial. The first manuscript analyzes secondary data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to examine the relationship between social media use and adolescents’ weight perceptions and weight behaviors. The analysis found no significant relationship between social media exposure and weight perceptions or weight behaviors when accounting for covariates that include health behaviors and demographic characteristics. The second manuscript also uses secondary data from the YRBS to explore the relationship between social media and breakfast eating, vegetable consumption, and soda drinking. It found no significant relationship between social media use and breakfast eating or vegetable consumption, but a significant association with soda drinking (OR 1.43, 95% CI [1.276-1.603], p< 0.001) when controlling for the same covariates. These findings suggest that while social media may have some influence on soda drinking, its impact on weight perceptions, weight behaviors, breakfast eating, and vegetable consumption is less clear when considering other factors. The results underscore the need for further research to explore the complexities of social media’s effects on adolescent health, particularly on the type of content adolescents are viewing and how it is correlated with specific health behaviors mentioned in this study and should consider using objective measures for dietary behaviors.

File Format

PDF

Available for download on Friday, May 21, 2027

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