Behavior
The Associations of Partner Cyber Abuse with Disordered Eating Behaviors and Intuitive Eating among College Students Cynthia Yoon* Cynthia Yoon
Background: Abuse encompasses sexual, physical, emotional, and cyber abuse. While the associations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse with eating behaviors are well established, the relationships between cyber abuse and eating behaviors remain unclear.
Purpose: To examine associations of cyber abuse with intuitive eating and disordered eating behaviors among college students.
Methods: Data were derived from a cross-sectional study of college students (N=1493; 58.9% women, Mage 20.4±3.3yrs in 2022-2023). Partner Cyber Abuse (e.g., partner changed my password which limited my access to bank accounts) was assessed with the Partner Cyber-Abuse Questionnaire. Intuitive eating was assessed with the Intuitive Eating Scale-2. Six disordered eating behaviors (e.g., overeating and binge eating) were assessed with the Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns-5. Linear regressions and Modified Poisson regressions were used to examine associations of partner cyber abuse with intuitive eating and disordered eating behaviors, respectively.
Results: Cyber abuse was cumulatively associated with lower intuitive eating scores and greater prevalence of all disordered eating behaviors except for binge eating (p for trend < .04). Among the nine cyber abuse items, “partner changed my password which limited my access to bank accounts” emerged as a factor associated with both lower intuitive eating scores (β=-6.93, 95% CI= -11.77, -2.08) and a heightened prevalence of disordered eating behaviors (aPR range= 1.28-2.48) after adjustment for sociodemographic variables.
Conclusion: Partner cyber abuse was cumulatively and individually associated with eating behaviors. To enhance eating behaviors, cyber abuse should be addressed, and the underlying mechanism of such associations should be explored.