Adolescent affiliations and adiposity: a social network analysis of friendships and obesity.
Friendship choices and BMI were measured for 617 adolescents 11-15 years of age. Overweight youth were twice as likely to have overweight friends. There was a weak association between social position and weight status. Overweight youth nominated more friends but were nominated as friends less frequently than their normal weight peers.
Valente
Thomas W
TW
Institute for Prevention Research, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Alhambra, California 91803, USA. tvalente@usc.edu
Fujimoto
Kayo
K
Chou
Chih-Ping
CP
Spruijt-Metz
Donna
D
D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D010379:Peer Group; D012944:Social Support