Parental awareness of adolescents’ online activities and its association with eating behaviours in Canadian youth

Purpose: The high use of social media among youth poses a risk for disordered eating behaviours. Although parental involvement may play a protective role against the development of these behaviours, research to date has primarily focused on adolescent girls or relied on a single informant. This study examined whether lower parental awareness of adolescents’ online activities is associated with higher odds of disordered eating behaviours, using both parent- and youth-reported measures of parental awareness.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY), a cross-sectional and nationally representative survey. The sample included youth aged 12 to 17 years and their parent or the person most knowledgeable. Logistic regression analyses examined the associations between parental awareness of adolescents’ online activities and three disordered eating indicators experienced by youth in the past 12 months: desire to be thinner, vomiting to lose weight, and changes in eating habits to manage weight.

Results: The final sample included 8919 youth. Low or no parental awareness of adolescents’ online activities was significantly associated with increased odds of desiring to be thinner and modifying eating habits to manage weight in both boys and girls, compared to youth whose parents reported always being aware.

Discussion: The adverse effects of social media on body dissatisfaction may be mitigated through a combination of interventions and parental awareness. Digital service providers could explore a safety-by-design approach that enables parental shared oversight through features that facilitate co-viewing and mediation of online content.