Published online December 1, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 6 December 2006, pp. e1635-e1643 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1133)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wilson, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by Litt, I. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wilson, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by Litt, I. F.
Related Collections
Right arrow Nutrition & Metabolism
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Surfing for Thinness: A Pilot Study of Pro–Eating Disorder Web Site Usage in Adolescents With Eating Disorders

Jenny L. Wilson, BAa, Rebecka Peebles, MDa, Kristina K. Hardy, PhDb and Iris F. Litt, MDa,c

a Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Mountain View, California
b Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
c Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Stanford, California

OBJECTIVE. Pro–eating disorder Web sites are communities of individuals who engage in disordered eating and use the Internet to discuss their activities. Pro-recovery sites, which are less numerous, express a recovery-oriented perspective. This pilot study investigated the awareness and usage of pro–eating disorder Web sites among adolescents with eating disorders and their parents and explored associations with health and quality of life.

PATIENTS AND METHODS. This was a cross-sectional study of 698 families of patients (aged 10–22 years) diagnosed with an eating disorder at Stanford between 1997 and 2004. Anonymous surveys were mailed and offered in clinic. Survey content included questions about disease severity, health outcomes, Web site usage, and parental knowledge of eating disorder Web site usage.

RESULTS. Surveys were returned by 182 individuals: 76 patients and 106 parents. Parents frequently (52.8%) were aware of pro–eating disorder sites, but an equal number did not know whether their child visited these sites, and only 27.6% had discussed them with their child. Most (62.5%) parents, however, did not know about pro-recovery sites. Forty-one percent of patients visited pro-recovery sites, 35.5% visited pro–eating disorder sites, 25.0% visited both, and 48.7% visited neither. While visiting pro–eating disorder sites, 96.0% reported learning new weight loss or purging techniques. However, 46.4% of pro-recovery site visitors also learned new techniques. Pro–eating disorder site users did not differ from nonusers in health outcomes but reported spending less time on school or schoolwork and had a longer duration of illness. Users of both pro–eating disorder and pro-recovery sites were hospitalized more than users of neither site.

CONCLUSIONS. Pro–eating disorder site usage was prevalent among adolescents with eating disorders, yet parents had little knowledge of this. Although use of these sites was not associated with other health outcomes, usage may have a negative impact on quality of life and result in adolescents’ learning about and adopting disordered eating behaviors.

Key Words: adolescents • Internet • eating disorders • pro–eating disorder • pro-anorexia

Abbreviations: ED—eating disorder

Accepted Jun 15, 2006.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?