Social network concordance in food choice among spouses, friends, and siblings.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We investigated whether eating behaviors were concordant among diverse sets of social ties.

Methods

We analyzed the socioeconomic and demographic distribution of eating among 3418 members of the Framingham Heart Study observed from 1991 to 2001. We used a data-classification procedure to simplify choices into 7 nonoverlapping patterns that we matched with information on social network ties. We used correlation analysis to examine eating associations among 4 types of peers (spouses, friends, brothers, and sisters). Longitudinal multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate evidence for peer influences on eating.

Results

Of all peer types, spouses showed the strongest concordances in eating patterns over time after adjustment for social contextual factors

SUBMITTER: Pachucki MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3222397 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature