The Effect of Exposure to Social Media Images of Food on Eating Behaviour Intentions and Motivations

Objective: The current study examined the effects of exposure to social media food images on young womens intentions and motivations to eat healthily and intentions to engage in dieting behaviours. Method: Female undergraduate students (N = 221) were randomly assigned to view one of three sets of Instagram images: 1) healthy snacks and meals, 2) unhealthy snacks and meals, and 3) photos without food or people. All participants completed trait measures of orthorexia nervosa (ON) and dietary restraint, along with pre-post measures of intention and motivation to eat healthily, intention to diet, and post-exposure measures of inspiration and state eating comparison. Results: There was no difference between conditions on intention to eat healthily, motivation to eat healthily or intention to diet, overall. However, women with more symptoms of ON (versus fewer symptoms of ON) reported greater state eating comparison tendencies following exposure to unhealthy food images. Furthermore, restrained eaters (but not unrestrained eaters) showed greater intent to diet on some measures following exposure to healthy food images. Clinical implications are discussed.