How do Artificial Intelligence chatbots respond to questions from adolescent personas about their eating, body weight or appearance?
Framings around eating, weight and/or appearance may be problematic for adolescents with eating disorder symptomatology. A lack of prompting for further information or signposting to regulated support means vulnerable adolescents may receive unhelpful information or not reach adequate support. Understanding how AI could be supportive and/or unhelpful to adolescent users presenting with eating, body or appearance-related concerns is important. Findings can inform policy regulating AI chatbots' communications with adolescents.
Authors
- Marie‐Christine Opitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7518-7733)
- Gemma L. Witcomb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4668-2441)
- Ellen Maloney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2206-0909)
- Florence Sheen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6256-4395)
- Saffron Baldoza
- Hannah J. White (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7937-5988)
- Bethany Mullarkey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3448-0452)
Institutions
- Loughborough University (GB)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Leicester College (GB)
- Loughborough College (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Published
- 2025-12-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.70047
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.54