{"id":106122,"date":"2025-11-24T13:10:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=106122"},"modified":"2025-11-24T16:14:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T21:14:57","slug":"how-social-media-may-shape-teens-eating-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/11\/how-social-media-may-shape-teens-eating-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"How social media may shape teens\u2019 eating habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

While breakfast is often said to be the most important meal of the day, a Brock researcher says many teens are skipping it altogether \u2014 and their behaviour may be linked to increased social media use.<\/p>\n

Applied Health Sciences PhD student Rita Kocsis\u2019\u00a0(BPH \u201923, MSc \u201825) explored\u00a0how\u00a0social media\u00a0may\u00a0shape\u00a0the morning\u00a0eating habits of young Canadians in her master\u2019s thesis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdolescents spend an increasing amount\u00a0of time on social\u00a0media,\u00a0and this stage of life is so influential. They\u2019re developing habits that\u00a0might persist\u00a0into adulthood,\u201d\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

\"A

Applied Health Sciences PhD student Rita Kocsis (BPH \u201923, MSc \u201925)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kocsis first became interested in adolescent health research after meeting Associate Professor of Health Sciences Karen Patte, who is also Brock\u2019s Canada Research Chair in Child Health Equity and Inclusion, while completing her Bachelor of Public Health degree.<\/p>\n

Under the co-supervision of\u00a0Patte and Professor of Applied Health\u00a0 Sciences\u00a0William\u00a0Pickett,\u00a0with\u00a0additional\u00a0guidance\u00a0of\u00a0Assistant Professor of Health Sciences\u00a0Samantha Hajna,\u00a0Kocsis analyzed data from two major studies that examine youth health\u00a0behaviours\u00a0in\u00a0Canada for her master\u2019s research:<\/p>\n

The Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol, Smoking, Sedentary\u00a0behaviour\u00a0(COMPASS)<\/a> study co-led by Patte, which collects data on Grade 7 to 12 students across Canada.<\/p>\n

The cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)<\/a> study, for which Pickett is the co-investigator, that\u00a0is collecting data on the health, well-being and social contexts of young people aged 11 to 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that\u00a064\u00a0per cent\u00a0of young\u00a0Canadians reported skipping breakfast at least once per week,\u00a0and 40 per cent\u00a0said they have followed a diet promoted on social media\u00a0in the last 12 months,\u201d\u00a0she says.\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0then\u00a0looked at social media use and how it affects\u00a0adolescents\u2019\u00a0breakfast skipping\u00a0behaviours.\u00a0The more time adolescents spent on social media, the more\u00a0often\u00a0they\u00a0skipped\u00a0breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

When looking at the link between social media use and breakfast skipping, she says that following diets promoted on social media partly explained this relationship among cisgender girls<\/p>\n

\u201cGirls\u00a0may\u00a0be\u00a0more affected by weight-centric content and body image pressures online. When you start looking at diets on\u00a0social media, the algorithm keeps feeding you more\u00a0diet-related content,\u00a0which\u00a0may influence how you see yourself and your\u00a0dietary\u00a0habits,\u201d\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

Kocsis\u2019\u00a0findings underscore social media\u2019s powerful influence on\u00a0adolescent\u00a0health\u00a0behaviours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important to pay attention to how these platforms affect\u00a0adolescent\u00a0health\u00a0behaviours,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen adolescents are\u00a0at such an\u00a0influenceable\u00a0stage of life, we need to understand what they\u2019re being exposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Kocsis, the findings provide epidemiological evidence that could support critical evaluation of social media literacy initiatives, school-based programs and educational campaigns focusing on proper nutrition and healthy eating behaviours. They may also inform policies that regulate unhealthy food advertising and the types of content individuals post and share on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0very important time to look at these things,\u201d she says. \u201cIf we can\u00a0draw attention\u00a0to this\u00a0public health\u00a0issue, maybe we can\u00a0help\u00a0young Canadians\u00a0build better habits for life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While breakfast is often said to be the most important meal of the day, a Brock researcher says many teens are skipping it altogether \u2014 and their behaviour may be linked to increased social media use.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":106241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,188,55,1,5],"tags":[1696,7488,12849,884,348,5541,5505,3335,3330,14651,7310,3328,3325,14829,2721,9764,489,2150],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106122"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106258,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106122\/revisions\/106258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}