Unhealthy app use and dietary restraint among young adults: The moderating role of body appreciation

Objective

Health and fitness apps that integrate wearable-device data have increased in popularity for self-monitoring of body appearance and weight goals. However, limited research has explored their potential to promote unhealthy eating behaviors. This study assessed body appreciation as a moderator of the relationship between health and fitness app use and dietary restraint.

Methods

A total of 126 young adults ($M_{\mathrm{age}}$ = 20.8 $\pm$ 2.2 years, 65.9 % women) completed an online survey incorporating the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) and frequency of app usage.

Results

Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that app use significantly and positively predicted dietary restraint, explaining 33.2 % of the variance ($R^2$= 0.33, p < .001), with a combined large effect ($f^2$ = 0.50). Body appreciation moderated this relationship, accounting for an additional 3.2 % of the variance (p = .018). Further analysis indicated for individuals with higher levels of body appreciation (above 2.95; 70.6 % of the sample), app use was significantly associated with dietary restraint.

Conclusions

Results indicate that dietary restraint was associated with one-third of young adults who use health and fitness apps. Unexpectedly, young adults with high body appreciation who actively engage with these apps report intentions to restrict food intake. It remains unclear whether app-related goal-setting features influence caloric restriction. Incorporating health warnings in apps and personalizing app interactions to discourage extreme goal setting may help protect those individuals at risk of developing eating disorders.