The effect of mukbang watching on eating attitudes mediated uncontrolled eating, cognitive restriction, and emotional eating.

Abstract

Purpose: Mukbang, defined as an audio-visual broadcast in which broadcasters commonly eat large portions of tasty food, is a sociocultural trend that can be associated with eating disorders. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of watching mukbang on eating attitudes through uncontrolled eating, cognitive restriction, and emotional eating.

Methods: Questionnaire was included the mukbang addiction scale to assess problematic mukbang viewing, the eating attitude test (EAT-26) to assess eating attitudes, and the three-factor eating scale to assess eating behaviours. The direct and indirect effects of mukbang addiction on eating attitudes were evaluated by meditation analysis. Statistical analyses of the data were conducted using IBM SPSS version 24 and PROCESS v4.0 by Andrew Hayes.

Results: This study was carried out with a total of 329 university students. Mukbang addiction scale, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating factor scores were found to be significantly higher in those with disordered eating attitudes than those with normal eating attitudes (p < 0.05). Mukbang addiction score had a significant direct effect on the eating attitudes score (β = 0.772, p < 0.001), but "uncontrolled eating" and "emotional eating" factors did not have a significant mediator role in this effect. An increase of a one-unit in the mukbang addiction score causes an increase of 0.82 units in the eating attitudes score (p < 0.001). There was no significant relationship between the "cognitive restriction" factor and the scales used (p > 0.05); therefore, it is not included in the mediator variable analysis.

Conclusions: These findings suggest an association between problematic mukbang viewing and eating attitudes; however, it remains unclear whether this relationship is causal or a consequence of underlying conditions. The absence of significant mediation of uncontrolled and emotional eating in this effect suggests that further studies are needed to understand the possible mechanisms. This study is based on a cross-sectional design and is classified as level of evidence 4.