Adolescent Weight Gain and Social Networks: Is There a Contagion Effect?

32 Pages Posted: 10 Mar 2011

See all articles by Mir M. Ali

Mir M. Ali

Government of the United States of America - Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation

Aliaksandr Amialchuk

University of Toledo - Department of Economics

Song Gao

Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE)

Frank Heiland

City University of New York (CUNY) - School of Public Affairs

Date Written: March 10, 2011

Abstract

Previous studies on the spread of obesity in social networks have focused on the contemporaneous effect of peer weight outcomes on individuals. The present paper is the first to investigate the longer term effects, within adolescence and from adolescence into early adulthood, of peers on individual weight outcomes. Using data from the first three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, and accounting for correlated effects using a number of empirical strategies including school-level fixed effects and accounting for neighborhood preferences, we show that BMI and overweight status in a person’s friendship network influence their BMI and likelihood of being overweight. The evidence suggests that there is some persistence of the effects of past peer weight experiences on individual weight outcomes during adolescence and into early adulthood. The findings are consistent with adolescence being an important formative period of individuals’ preference for ideal physique and own body weight aspirations. We conclude that policy makers should be particularly concerned with interventions during childhood and adolescence, in order to slow the spread of obesity by promoting a healthy body image and positive health behaviors.

Keywords: Peer Effects, Obesity, Adolescence

JEL Classification: I10, Z13

Suggested Citation

Ali, Mir M. and Amialchuk, Aliaksandr and Gao, Song and Heiland, Frank, Adolescent Weight Gain and Social Networks: Is There a Contagion Effect? (March 10, 2011). Applied Economics, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1782820

Mir M. Ali (Contact Author)

Government of the United States of America - Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation ( email )

200 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20201
United States

Aliaksandr Amialchuk

University of Toledo - Department of Economics ( email )

Toledo, OH 43606
United States
(419) 530-5147 (Phone)
(419) 530-7844 (Fax)

Song Gao

Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) ( email )

Beijing

Frank Heiland

City University of New York (CUNY) - School of Public Affairs ( email )

135 E 22nd St
New York, NY 10010
United States

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