Date of Award

8-1-2022

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Clinical Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (iii, 32 pages)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Drew A Anderson

Committee Members

Mitchell E. Earleywine

Keywords

Binge eating, Body dissatisfaction, COVID-19, Eating disorder symptoms, Restriction, Video Chatting, Internet videoconferencing, Body image, Eating disorders

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Objective: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic video chatting has been widely used in work, education, and social gatherings. When individuals are video chatting, they can see themselves and see how their looks compare to others. Furthermore, video chatting platforms have features that may enhance an individual’s appearance. Thus, this study sought to investigate if (1) where one’s attention was focused during video chatting was uniquely associated with elevated eating disorder psychopathology and (2) if certain video chatting features were uniquely associated with elevated eating disorder psychopathology. Method: Participants were undergraduates (N=391, Mage=19.19, 58.2% female, and 48.8% White) who completed the self-report Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory to assess eating disorder psychopathology. Participants also completed self-report questions to assess where their attention was focused during video chatting and what features of video chatting individuals used. Results: Linear regression analyses demonstrated that more time spent looking at oneself during video chatting and more time looking at things that weren’t pertaining to the video chat call (i.e., surfing the web or doing other work) were uniquely associated with elevated eating disorder psychopathology. More frequent use of speaker view was uniquely associated with elevated restricting. More frequent use of hide-self view and touch-up appearance features were associated with elevated body dissatisfaction, binge-eating, and purging. Discussion: Results from this study indicate that video chatting may have implications for eating disorder psychopathology. Specifically, spending more time looking at oneself more time looking at things not pertaining to the video call, more use of hide-self view, and touch-up appearance feature may be a risk factor for increased eating disorder psychopathology.

Download

Share

COinS