Downloading appetite? Investigating the role of parasocial relationship with favorite social media food influencer in followers’ disordered eating behaviors

Although a number of investigations have been carried out on the marketing outcomes of parasocial relationships (PSR) with food influencers on social media, little attention has been paid to the potential contribution of these one-sided emotional bonds to followers’ eating attitudes and habits. Drawing on the Parasocial Theory, the role of parasocial attachment with food influencers was investigated in predicting eating disorders, food addiction, and grazing. To increase the accuracy of PSR measurement, a brief self-report scale was developed to gauge social media users’ feelings of mutual awareness, attention, and adjustment with their favorite food influencer at a distance through social media. Participants were a convenience sample of 405 Iranian social media users (231women; Mage = 28.16, SDage = 9.40), who followed a favorite food influencer on social media. The 8-item Parasocial Relationship with Favorite Food Influencer Scale (PSRFFIS) revealed a unidimensional structure with excellent content and construct validity and internal consistency. Regarding gender differences, men showed stronger parasocial attachment to their favorite food influencers. Adjusting age, gender, and subjective social status as control variables, PSR with favorite food influencers partially contributed to the explanation of eating disorder symptom severity, food addiction, and grazing. These findings show that PSR with favorite food influencers appears to be associated with followers’ craving for food, which, in turn, may contribute to maladaptive eating habits. This highlights media-related factors, such as PSR with food influencers, as potential drivers of dysfunctional eating habits in the digital age, particularly in countries like Iran where disordered eating is prevalent. Level V—based on cross-sectional data (correlational study; scale development)