A influência das redes sociais no comportamento alimentar e aceitação da imagem corporal relacionada com o índice de massa corporal em acadêmicos de um centro universitário de Foz do Iguaçu – PR

Abstract

Introduction: Young people constantly suffer from pressures imposed by society, one of which is the body pattern, reinforced daily by the media and social networks. This ends up having a direct impact on the way this young person sees themselves, their body acceptance and food choices. Objective: To identify the influence of social networks on the eating pattern, relationship with food and body acceptance of students at a private university center in Foz do Iguaçu-PR. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational and quantitative study. For data collection, sociodemographic questionnaires, EAT-26 and SATAQ-4 were applied and statistical analyzes were performed with BioEstat 5.0. Results: In total, 211 academics participated in the research, and their answers brought important results, such as: the significant pressure of the media on the body perception of these university students, being greater than the pressure of family and friends (p. 0.0001); the greatest impact on females for the thin body and males for the athletic body (p. 0.006), (p. 0.0004); the highest risk of developing ED in women in courses in the health area (p. 0.0025), (p. 0.0249); and higher risk of developing ED in eutrophic students and in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Conclusion: The impact caused by the media on the perception and body acceptance of university students is evident, causing body dissatisfaction and influencing their food choices. Women are more susceptible to these pressures and are also more likely to develop some form of ED. And men feel more pressure to keep their bodies muscular.