IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v284y2021ics0277953621005566.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do emerging adults know what their friends are doing and does it really matter? Methodologic challenges and associations of perceived and actual friend behaviors with emerging adults’ disordered eating and muscle building behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Eisenberg, Marla E.
  • Wall, Melanie M.
  • Larson, Nicole
  • Arlinghaus, Katherine R.
  • Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

Abstract

Disordered eating and muscle building behaviors are common among emerging adults, and friends may be a particularly salient social influence. Epidemiologic research often includes questions about participants' perceptions of their friends. A less common approach, with greater logistical challenges, is to ask for friend nominations and then survey friends about their actual behaviors. The comparability of these different approaches is unknown. This study addresses the following research questions: 1) What is the feasibility of collecting data from emerging adults' friends in epidemiologic research? 2) Do perceptions of friends' weight- and shape-related behaviors align with friends' actual behaviors? and 3) Are perceptions or friends' actual behaviors more strongly and consistently associated with emerging adults' behaviors? Participants (N = 2383) in the EAT (Eating and Activity over Time)-2018 study in Minnesota, USA, were asked to nominate up to three friends and provide data about those friends' weight- and shape-related behaviors (i.e. perceptions); nominated friends were invited to complete an abbreviated survey and report on their own same behaviors (i.e. actual). Among the invited friends, 191 responded and were linked to the 152 EAT 2018 participants who nominated them. Descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlations, and logistic regression were used to address the research questions. The response rate for nominated friends was very low (9.9%), suggesting this approach may have low feasibility for epidemiologic studies of emerging adults. Emerging adults' perceptions of their nominated friends' weight and shape-related behaviors generally did not align well with the behaviors reported by those friends. Furthermore, analytic models found different associations between friends' behavior and EAT 2018 participant behaviors, depending on the measure of friends' behavior used (perceived or actual). Careful consideration of the pros and cons of each study design is essential to build an evidence base and support interventions regarding emerging adults' weight- and shape-related health.

Suggested Citation

  • Eisenberg, Marla E. & Wall, Melanie M. & Larson, Nicole & Arlinghaus, Katherine R. & Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne, 2021. "Do emerging adults know what their friends are doing and does it really matter? Methodologic challenges and associations of perceived and actual friend behaviors with emerging adults’ disordered eatin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:284:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621005566
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114224
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621005566
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114224?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cunningham, Solveig A. & Vaquera, Elizabeth & Maturo, Claire C. & Venkat Narayan, K.M., 2012. "Is there evidence that friends influence body weight? A systematic review of empirical research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(7), pages 1175-1183.
    2. Eisenberg, Marla E. & Wall, Melanie & Shim, Jin Joo & Bruening, Meg & Loth, Katie & Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne, 2012. "Associations between friends' disordered eating and muscle-enhancing behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2242-2249.
    3. Ruth F Hunter & Kayla de la Haye & Jennifer M Murray & Jennifer Badham & Thomas W Valente & Mike Clarke & Frank Kee, 2019. "Social network interventions for health behaviours and outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-25, September.
    4. de la Haye, Kayla & Robins, Garry & Mohr, Philip & Wilson, Carlene, 2011. "How physical activity shapes, and is shaped by, adolescent friendships," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(5), pages 719-728, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McMillan, Cassie & Schaefer, David R., 2021. "Comparing targeting strategies for network-based adolescent drinking interventions: A simulation approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Sabina B. Gesell & Kayla de la Haye & Evan C. Sommer & Santiago J. Saldana & Shari L. Barkin & Edward H. Ip, 2020. "Identifying Social Network Conditions that Facilitate Sedentary Behavior Change: The Benefit of Being a “Bridge” in a Group-based Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    3. Michael Stellefson & Samantha R. Paige & Beth H. Chaney & J. Don Chaney, 2020. "Evolving Role of Social Media in Health Promotion: Updated Responsibilities for Health Education Specialists," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-7, February.
    4. HangUk Cheon, 2021. "The Structural Relationship between Exercise Frequency, Social Health, and Happiness in Adolescents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Yiheng Wang & Felipe Navarro Nicoletti, 2023. "Entertainment Education and Citizens’ Participation in COVID-19 Pandemic Response: A Case Study of Chinese Citizens on Social Media," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Tyler Prochnow & Meg Patterson & M. Renée Umstattd Meyer & Joseph Lightner & Luis Gomez & Joseph Sharkey, 2022. "Conducting Physical Activity Research on Racially and Ethnically Diverse Adolescents Using Social Network Analysis: Case Studies for Practical Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Diana Tsoy & Danijela Godinic & Qingyan Tong & Bojan Obrenovic & Akmal Khudaykulov & Konstantin Kurpayanidi, 2022. "Impact of Social Media, Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) on the Intention to Stay at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-32, June.
    8. Trogdon, Justin G. & Allaire, Benjamin T., 2014. "The effect of friend selection on social influences in obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 153-164.
    9. Prochnow, Tyler & Patterson, Megan S. & Hartnell, Logan & West, Geoffrey & Umstattd Meyer, M. Renée, 2021. "Implications of race and ethnicity for child physical activity and social connections at summer care programs," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    10. Fu, Lin & Zhou, Yueyue & Zheng, Hao & Cheng, Jin & Fan, Yue & Eli, Buzohre & Liu, Zhengkui, 2024. "Effectiveness of a brief social network intervention for depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents under major chronic stress," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Gwozdz, Wencke & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Reisch, Lucia A. & Bammann, Karin & Eiben, Gabriele & Kourides, Yiannis & Kovács, Éva & Lauria, Fabio & Konstabel, Kenn & Santaliestra-Pasias, Alba M. & Vyncke, , 2015. "Peer effects on obesity in a sample of European children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 139-152.
    12. Linna Luo & Bowen Pang & Jian Chen & Yan Li & Xiaolei Xie, 2019. "Assessing the Impact of Lifestyle Interventions on Diabetes Prevention in China: A Modeling Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-12, May.
    13. Müller, Nathalie & Fallucchi, Francesco & Suhrcke, Marc, 2024. "Peer effects in weight-related behaviours of young people: A systematic literature review," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    14. Sekhar, Deepa L. & Gebremariam, Acham & Waxmonsky, James G. & Molinari, Alissa M. & Rosen, Perri & Clark, Sarah J., 2023. "Parent opinion on peer support programs to promote adolescent mental health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    15. Perry, Brea L. & Ciciurkaite, Gabriele, 2019. "Contributions of personality to social influence: Contingent associations between social network body size composition and BMI," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 1-10.
    16. Choi, Jaesung & Park, Hyunjoon & Behrman, Jere R., 2015. "Separating boys and girls and increasing weight? Assessing the impacts of single-sex schools through random assignment in Seoul," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1-11.
    17. Hiroyasu Inoue & Yohsuke Murase & Yasuyuki Todo, 2021. "Do economic effects of the anti-COVID-19 lockdowns in different regions interact through supply chains?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-19, July.
    18. Tyler Prochnow & Christina Amo & Megan S. Patterson & Katie M. Heinrich, 2022. "I CrossFit; Do You? Cross-Sectional Peer Similarity of Physical Activity Behavior in a Group High Intensity Functional Training Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-9, April.
    19. Agovino, Massimiliano & Crociata, Alessandro & Sacco, Pier Luigi, 2019. "Proximity effects in obesity rates in the US: A Spatial Markov Chains approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 301-311.
    20. Maya Murmann & Anna Cooper Reed & Mary Scott & Justin Presseau & Carrie Heer & Kathryn May & Amy Ramzy & Chau N. Huynh & Becky Skidmore & Vivian Welch & Julian Little & Kumanan Wilson & Melissa Brouwe, 2023. "Exploring COVID‐19 education to support vaccine confidence amongst the general adult population with special considerations for healthcare and long‐term care staff: A scoping review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:284:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621005566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.