Trial reportPloS one2018
Friendship as a social mechanism influencing body mass index (BMI) among emerging adults.
Trial report in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- First-year college students' weight change is influenced by their randomly assigned roommates' BMI.PloS one · 2020Trial
- The role of social support on change in C-reactive Protein and BMI among youth with and without child maltreatment history.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Longitudinal assessment of food insecurity status on the gut microbiome and metabolome of first-year college students.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Gut microbiome diversity, variability, and latent community types compared with shifts in body weight during the freshman year of college in dormitory-housed adolescents.Gut microbes · 2023Observational
- Article
- 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
- Social Influences on Obesity: Current Knowledge, Emerging Methods, and Directions for Future Research and Practice.Current nutrition reports · 2020Review
- How academic achievement spreads: The role of distinct social networks in academic performance diffusion.PloS one · 2020Article
- Efficacy of "Mentoring to Be Active" on Weight Loss, Body Mass Index, and Body Fat among Obese and Extremely Obese Youth in Rural Appalachia.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2020Article
- Similarity in meal plan use among first-year roommates.Appetite · 2020Article
- Dynamic Empirically Based Model for Understanding Future Trends in US Obesity Prevalence in the Context of Social Influences.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2019Article
- Evaluating Potential Behavioral Mediators for Increasing Similarity in Friends' Body Size among College Students.Nutrients · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSocial relationships have been proposed as a significant factor shaping obesity risk. The first year of college, a period of major social, behavioral, and weight changes, provides a context well-suited to tracking longitudinally the impact of shifting friendships on weight outcomes. This study sought to identify social mechanisms impacting BMI change among emerging adults.
methodsAn analytic sample of 276 college students (71.0% female, 52.2% non-White) provided repeated reports of relationships and BMI was measured up to four times during 2015-2016. Stochastic actor-oriented models were used to examine change in BMI through social influence and change in friendships over time, controlling for sex and race/ethnicity.
resultsAt baseline, mean BMI was 24.2±4.5 kg/m2. Overall, mean BMI increased over time; individual decreases in BMI were uncommon. There was a selection effect of BMI: participants with BMIs between 22 and 26 kg/m2 were most likely to be nominated as a friend. While participants did not select friends based on BMI similarity, participants who were reported as friends were more likely to experience convergence in BMI over time relative to the BMIs of non-friends (p = 0.015). An increase in BMI (versus stability or a decrease) was more likely for those whose friends had a higher BMI on average compared to participants whose friends had the same or lower BMI (OR = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.22, 6.71).
conclusionAnalyses indicated BMI affected friend selection, not through students selecting friends with similar BMI, but rather, by students avoiding friends with more extreme BMI levels.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.