Peer Influence on Eating Behavior in Overweight and Normal Weight Youths

State University Of New York At Buffalo, Buffalo NY

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Peer Influence on Eating Behavior in Overweight and Normal Weight Youths. Although most eating occurs in a social context, the effects of peer influence on child eating have not been the object of systematic experimental study. The proposed experiment assesses the effects of peers on food intake and food choices in overweight and normal weight youths. A mixed design with weight status, gender and peer's weight status as between factors and the social context (alone versus dyad) as within factor will be used to compare youths' food consumption when alone and when in the presence of a peer. The prediction is that both the social condition and the peer weight status will have an impact on overweight participants' food selection and food consumption. More specifically, overweight participants will select more nutrient-dense food items and suppress their overall food intake in the presence of a leaner peer, but will select more calorie dense foods and consume more kilocalories in the presence of an overweight peer or when alone. Given the well documented sex differences in weight-related issues, 1, 2 we predict that female participants will be more likely to suppress their eating in the presence of a peer. It is expected that this effect will be more pronounced in overweight girls, who would attempt to avoid the stigma of "eating too much". This study is designed to understand differences in responses to the social and food environment between overweight and non overweight youths. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]