Internet addiction and Facebook addiction in Spanish women with eating disorders.

AIM

We aim to investigate the association between the presence of eating disorders and both Internet addiction (IA) and Facebook addiction (FA) in women suffering from eating disorders.

METHODS

A total of 124 women completed three instruments: the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) and a sociodemographic questionnaire.

RESULTS

The proportion of FA was 37.9%. The distribution of risk of IA was 21.8%. When the risk of Internet or Facebook addiction was compared with respect to eating disorders, no significant differences were found between groups (P = 0.146 and P = 0.086, respectively). Age and Body Mass Index (BMI) were predictors of BFAS scores; the standardized beta coefficient (β) for age was -0.463 (P ≤ 0.001), while for BMI it was 3.44; (P = 0.001) being a positive predictor of BFAS scores. For IAT scores, β age (negatively) = -0.415; (P < 0.001) and β for weight (positively) 3.657; (P < 0.001) were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of an eating disorder does not seem to be a factor that characterizes the risk of Internet or Facebook addiction in our sample. As information regarding the potential association between Internet and Facebook addiction and the presence of eating disorders is limited, we encourage further studies on this topic.