Background
There is currently a lack of research on the prevalence of anorexia in young men and the role that social media may play in this. This is partly because men are underrepresented in research and studies done around eating disorders as they are seen as gendered in society and that only women suffer from them.
Methods
A rapid evidence review was conducted to look at the existing secondary research on how social media may be a contributing factor for young men developing anorexia. Seven databases were used to conduct this research looking at peer reviewed articles within a twelve-year time frame from 2011-2023.
Results
Before a search string was created, 38,540 different articles were identified then after using a search string and keywords, this then went down to 11,206. This figure then reduced even more as the search was more refined using truncations, brackets and boolean operators.
Conclusion
Social media seems to be a contributing factor for the prevalence of anorexia and other eating disorders in young men but it is not a proven causal factor of the condition, therefore more research needs to be done in this area. In addition, more studies on eating disorders need to be done on men and other minority groups so that a bigger picture of the prevalence, other contributing factors and causes can be determined and more understood.
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