Impact of Social Media Influencers on Dietary Choices Among Adolescents in Secondary Schools, Ilorin South L.g.a, Kwara State

ABSTRACT
Social media influencers are individuals who have gained significant followers on social media platforms and can affect their audience's purchasing decisions through their content. Adolescents are impacted by these influencers, mainly regarding their diets, which often turn out to be unhealthy due to the influencers' lack of expertise in food-related issues. Most social media influencers focus on the aesthetic appeal of meals rather than their nutritional value. It's observed that parents often leave the responsibility of overseeing adolescents' nutritional health to teachers, while teachers assume parents will handle it, resulting in a lack of balanced responsibility, this makes adolescents vulnerable to misinformation on social media. This study investigates the impact of social media influencers on dietary choices among adolescents (ages 11-19) in secondary schools in Ilorin South L.G.A, Kwara State. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) Assess the influence of social media influencers on adolescents' dietary choices. (2) Determine the types of dietary choices on social media that attract adolescents. (3) Assess the relationship between adolescents' exposure to social media influencers and their dietary choices. (4) Investigate the potential impacts of social media influencers on adolescents' overall health and nutrition. (5) Analyze the role of social media platforms in shaping adolescents' dietary choices. Five research questions guided the study. The findings are expected to be significant for parents, guardians, adolescents, social media influencers, policy makers, researchers, and society. This study used a descriptive survey research design, with a population of 1,510 secondary school adolescents. A proportionate sampling technique selected 200 respondents (13.3% of the population). The data collection instrument was a questionnaire titled "Impact of Social Media Influencers on Dietary Choices of Adolescents" (ISMIODCA). Responses were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). Descriptive and inferential statistics (frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviation) were used for analysis. The results showed that all respondents agreed that social media influencers influence adolescents' dietary choices. The study recommends that adolescents should critically evaluate diets promoted on social media.