Study Finds Overweight Youth Are Twice As Likely To Have Overweight Friends
July 18, 2009
Researchers from the Institute of Prevention Research at the
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found in
a recent study that overweight youth were twice as likely to have overweight
friends.
"Although this link between obesity
and social networks was expected, it was surprising how strong the peer effect
is and how early in life it starts," says lead author Thomas Valente,
Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine.
The study appears in the August issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health,
available online July 20.
Previous data had shown a connection between overweight adults and their social
peers. However, the USC study used more advanced statistical modeling techniques
than previous research and the association remained strong, Valente says.
"The findings certainly raise health concerns because when kids start
associating only with others who have a similar weight status it can reinforce
the negative behaviors that cause obesity," he says.
In-school surveys were conducted among 617 students ages 11-13 from the greater
Los Angeles area. In addition to finding that overweight adolescents were more
likely to have overweight friends than their normal-weight peers, the
researchers also found that overweight girls were more likely to name more
friends, but less likely to be named as a friend than normal-weight girls.
"Researchers tend to focus mainly on health consequences when talking about
weight with adolescents," Valente says. "But we also need to be
sensitive to the reality that there can be a social cost for overweight youth as
well."
Interventions should take these peer constructs into account, he says. For
parents and educators, this may mean being conscious of potential social
consequences that children may suffer as a result of being overweight; and
acknowledge that many of the behaviors which contribute to obesity are social in
nature."
He pointed out that more longitudinal studies are needed for further
recommendations on the relationship between being overweight and social status
among adolescents.
Funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of
Health and Daiichi-Sankyo Co. Ltd. supported this research.
Source:
Meghan Lewit
University of Southern California: http://uscnews.usc.edu/