Investigation of the Effect of Social Media Addiction on Social Appearance Anxiety and Orthorexia Nervosa in College Students

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between social media addiction, social appearance anxiety, and orthorexia nervosa among university students. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted with 1000 students (429 male, 571 female) enrolled at Cappadocia University during the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. Social media addiction was assessed with the "Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) (Adult Form); social appearance anxiety was assessed with the "Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS)"; and orthorexia nervosa was assessed with the "ORTO-11" question scale. Additionally, the participants' anthropometric measurements were assessed. Results: It was found that social appearance anxiety was higher, and orthorexic symptoms were more common in males compared to females (p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively). A positive, weak correlation was found between the scores obtained from SMAS and SAAS in both sexes (r=0.269, p<0.001; r=0.238, p<0.001, respectively). Only in males was a positive, very weak correlation found between the score obtained from the SMAS and the ORTO-11 (r=0.093, p<0.001). Conclusion: Social appearance anxiety and orthorexia nervosa symptoms were found to be higher in males than in females. A weak positive correlation was found between social media addiction and social appearance anxiety in both genders, while only a very weak positive correlation was found between social media addiction and orthorexic tendencies in males. The findings suggest that social media addiction may have negative effects on young people's body image and healthy eating behaviours. Educational and awareness-raising initiatives targeting young people should be implemented to reduce this addiction, which negatively impacts the health of the younger generation and lays the groundwork for eating disorders. Keywords: Addiction, anxiety, college students, eating behavior disorders, orthorexia nervosa.