EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUNG ADULT’S FOOD CHOICES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Background The etiology of eating concerns is multifactorial, and exposure to social media is considered to be a contributor. Although traditional media, such as television and magazines, have been examined extensively in relation to eating concerns risk, the influence of social media has received relatively more attention and trends in the contemporary world. Objective To assess the effects of social media on young adults food choices among university students and to find out the association between social media and the food choices among university students. Materials and methods This was a cross- sectional study carried among university students of Rawalpindi. The tool of the study was self-administered questionnaire a validated the scale of effects of social media on eating behavior Results The sample of the study was 292 university students, among them 61.5% were females. About 93.6% of the individuals were living in cities and 42 % of the respondents were influenced to use social media for food choices because of peer pressure. The use of social media and food choices shows significant relation with health awareness, peer pressure, duration of social media usage and frequency of usage with a significant p-value < 0.05. Conclusion The results from this study illustrates the fact that more use of social media by university students effects their eating habits and this is serious topic to be looked for with respect to public health as it may lead to incidence of chronic diseases related to un healthy eating. Keywords: eating habits, social media, obesity,