ArticlePloS one2012
An actor-based model of social network influence on adolescent body size, screen time, and playing sports.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Modeling obesity in complex food systems: Systematic review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- First-year college students' weight change is influenced by their randomly assigned roommates' BMI.PloS one · 2020Trial
- Friendship as a social mechanism influencing body mass index (BMI) among emerging adults.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Assessing the Impact of De Novo Social Ties within Health Intervention Settings: New Questions for Health Behavior Intervention Research.Clinical and translational science · 2015Trial
- Rationale, design, and methodology of My Body Is Fit and Fabulous at school (MyBFF@school) study: a multi-pronged intervention program to combat obesity among Malaysian schoolchildren.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Disentangling associations between pubertal development, healthy activity behaviors, and sex in adolescent social networks.PloS one · 2024Article
- Adolescent Body Mass Index and Exposure to Peers with Overweight and Obesity: A Structural Equation Model Approach to Longitudinal Network Data.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2022Article
- A scoping review of systems approaches for increasing physical activity in populations.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Use of Focus Groups to Inform a New Community-Based Youth Diabetes Prevention Program.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The Influence of a School Social Network Intervention on Adolescent's Health Behaviors: A Gender-Specific Agent-Based Model.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Insight into Selecting Adolescents for Drinking Intervention Programs: a Simulation Based on Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2022Article
- Article
- The Moderating Role of Context: Relationships between Individual Behaviors and Social Networks.Sociological focus · 2022Article
- Agent-Based Models for Assessing Complex Statistical Models: An Example Evaluating Selection and Social Influence Estimates from SIENA.Sociological methods & research · 2021Article
- Article
- Article
- Youth Peer Led Lifestyle Modification Interventions: A Narrative Literature Review.Evaluation and program planning · 2020Review
- Examining the Role of Weight Status and Individual Attributes on Adolescent Social Relations.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2020Article
- Applying concepts of life course theory and life course epidemiology to the study of bladder health and lower urinary tract symptoms among girls and women.Neurourology and urodynamics · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Recent studies suggest that obesity may be "contagious" between individuals in social networks. Social contagion (influence), however, may not be identifiable using traditional statistical approaches because they cannot distinguish contagion from homophily (the propensity for individuals to select friends who are similar to themselves) or from shared environmental influences. In this paper, we apply the stochastic actor-based model (SABM) framework developed by Snijders and colleagues to data on adolescent body mass index (BMI), screen time, and playing active sports. Our primary hypothesis was that social influences on adolescent body size and related behaviors are independent of friend selection. Employing the SABM, we simultaneously modeled network dynamics (friendship selection based on homophily and structural characteristics of the network) and social influence. We focused on the 2 largest schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and held the school environment constant by examining the 2 school networks separately (N = 624 and 1151). Results show support in both schools for homophily on BMI, but also for social influence on BMI. There was no evidence of homophily on screen time in either school, while only one of the schools showed homophily on playing active sports. There was, however, evidence of social influence on screen time in one of the schools, and playing active sports in both schools. These results suggest that both homophily and social influence are important in understanding patterns of adolescent obesity. Intervention efforts should take into consideration peers' influence on one another, rather than treating "high risk" adolescents in isolation.
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Registered trials
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