The association between social media use and eating disorders in young adults: a systematic review

Social media has become an integral part of everyday life and has been suggested as a contributing factor in the development and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). This systematic review aimed to summarise current evidence on the association between social media use and eating disorders in young adults aged 18–30 years. Only studies in which the authors explicitly declare that they focus on eating disorders as diagnostic entities in relation to social media use were included. A systematic literature search was performed in March 2025 using Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. In total, 630 records were identified, of which seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies employed cross-sectional designs, with one experimental study. Six out of seven studies reported a positive association between social media use and eating disorder symptomatology or diagnoses, while one study reported no significant association between social media use and eating disorder outcomes. Evidence consistently pointed to the role of appearance-focused content (e.g., thinspiration, fitspiration) and problematic social media use as factors associated with greater symptom severity and related psychological outcomes. Overall, social media use may represent a relevant factor in the development and maintenance of eating disorders in young adults. The findings may contribute to understanding potential risk and protective factors and inform future research directions. However, given the limited number and heterogeneity of studies, further research is needed. Until now, only a limited number of research reviews have focused specifically on social media use and eating disorders as diagnostic entities in young adults. This review summarizes previous research on this relationship in people aged 18 to 30 years. The available evidence suggests that social media use may play a role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders in young adults. More specifically, appearance-focused content, such as thinspiration and fitspiration, and problematic social media use may be linked to more severe eating disorder symptoms. However, only a small number of studies were available, and the studies differed in their methods and measures. More research is therefore needed to better understand this relationship.