Sex differences in personal, community, and societal factors associated with mukbang among adolescents: korea youth risk behavior survey.

Objectives: Mukbang refers to live-streamed videos in which hosts consume large amounts of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods while interacting with viewers. Mukbang is concerning, as it is commonly viewed by Korean adolescents and has shown to associate with adverse health outcomes. To inform efforts to prevent excessive engagement in mukbang among Korean adolescents, this study examined personal, community, and societal-level factors associated with excessive mukbang viewing (≥ 7 times/week) among Korean adolescents and the sex differences in such associations.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2022 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N=36,990, Mage=15.1±1.7, girls=48.6%, 53.2% attending middle-school). Self-reported data included personal (e.g., perceived health, weight, stress, depression, anxiety), community (e.g., living arrangement), and societal-level factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) and mukbang viewing. Logistic and modified Poisson regressions were used to examine associations of factors associated with excessive mukbang viewing among Korean adolescents and how it differs by sex.

Results: Intrapersonal factors-specifically perceived health, weight, stress, depression, and anxiety- were associated with excessive mukbang viewing among adolescents (aPR range=1.18-1.44) and were more pronounced among girls. A community level factor-living arrangement-was associated with mukbang in boys but not in girls. Boys living on campus had 1.42 times the prevalence of mukbang viewing than boys living with family members (95% CI=1.08-1.88) after adjustments. Further mutual adjustment attenuated point estimates toward the null. Societal-level factors were not associated with mukbang among adolescents.

Conclusion: Personal and community-level factors were associated with excessive mukbang viewing. Future research should explore the underlying mechanisms of these associations.