New US research published in Obesity, analyses the relationship between social influence on weight and weight loss goals in young adults. Research carried out on 288 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 suggests that family and friends and other social relationships whether they be work related or peer related have a huge influence on weight gain and management among young adults. 151 of these people were considered a normal weight and 137 were deemed obese.
Health behaviours form in pockets within social networks. 18 to 25 year olds who are obese are more likely to be romantically involved with partners of the same weight and spend most of their time with those of a similar weight. Even friends that are not so close would tend to be as overweight as each other. Furthermore, those who had a greater number of peers looking to lose weight, were themselves more inclined to actively manage their weight.
The study states that 40% of young people in the US are obese and that they are representative of a population of young adults who reveal the largest rates of weight gain every year. Additionally, when these young people do engage in programmes or weight loss groups, they tend to lose less weight than older obese people.
The study concludes that there are clusters of obese among this age group and social norms do not differ between those who are overweight and those who were obese. Both groups expressed that they experienced low levels of acceptability for their weight, eating badly and doing little or no exercise. The study may have a positive effect on further analysis of the social influences in relation to obesity and how it can be manipulated for change and furthermore, tackling the problem of obesity among this age group.
Although the research is interesting, it is not exactly ground breaking. We wrote about another obesity study done by researchers at Harvard back in November.