Objectives We investigated the associations between smoking and friend selection in the social networks of US adolescents. Methods We used a stochastic actor-based model to simultaneously test the effects of friendship networks on smoking and several ways that smoking can affect the friend selection process. Data are from 509 US high school students in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 1994–1996 (46.6% female, mean age at outset = 15.4 years). Results Over time, adolescents’ smoking became more similar to their friends. Smoking also affected who adolescents selected as friends; adolescents were more likely to select friends whose smoking level was similar to their own, and smoking enhanced popularity such that smokers were more likely to be named as friends than were nonsmokers, after controlling for other friend selection processes. Conclusions Both friend selection and peer influence are associated with smoking frequency. Interventions to reduce adolescent smoking would benefit by focusing on selection and influence mechanisms.

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Objective:To estimate latent dietary profiles in a community-dwelling sample of older Americans and identify associations between dietary profile membership and individual demographic, socio-economic and health characteristics.Design:Secondary analysis of the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and linked 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study (HCNS). Latent profile analysis identified mutually exclusive subgroups of dietary intake and bivariate analyses examined associations between dietary profile membership, participant characteristics and nutrient intakes.Setting:USA.Participants:An analytic sample of 3558 adults aged 65 years or older.Results:Four dietary profiles were identified with 15·5 % of the sample having a ‘Healthy’ diet, 42·0 % consuming a ‘Western’ diet, 29·7 % having a diet consisting of high intake of all food groups and 12·7 % reporting relatively low intake of all food groups. Members of the ‘Healthy’ profile reported the greatest socio-economic resources and health, and members of the ‘Low Intake’ profile had the fewest resources and worst health outcomes. Macronutrient and micronutrient intakes varied across profile although inadequate and excessive intakes of selected nutrients were observed for all profiles.Conclusions:We identified dietary patterns among older Americans typified by either selective intake of foods or overall quantity of foods consumed, with those described as ‘Low Intake’ reporting the fewest socio-economic resources, greatest risk of food insecurity and the worst health outcomes. Limitations including the presence of measurement error in dietary questionnaires are discussed. The causes and consequences of limited dietary intake among older Americans require further study and can be facilitated by the HRS and HCNS.

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Numerous large cohort studies have begun collecting retrospective childhood health information. However, few studies have investigated the content and quality of such data. This study fills this gap by investigating the content of subjective retrospective childhood health measures using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The authors find that a wide array of common childhood conditions and activity limitations were significant predictors of overall assessments of childhood health status. Those conditions that were persistent/recurring, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and frequent ear infections, were the strongest predictors of overall health reports. The results lend support to the judicious use of retrospective childhood health data.