Effects of social context on overweight and normal-weight children's food selection

Abstract

Although most eating occurs in a social context, the impact of peer influence on child food consumption and selection of healthy and unhealthy snacks has not been the object of systematic experimental study. The present experiment assessed the effects of peer interaction on energy intake and food choices in 18 overweight and 21 non-overweight youth. Participants had access to high and low-calorie food items and were provided with several games as alternatives to eating. On one occasion, participants were tested alone and on another occasion they were tested in dyads with an unfamiliar peer. Consistent with previous results, we found that overweight children ate substantially more when alone than when in the presence of a peer and also more when alone than the lean children in the same condition. Non-overweight youths' food intake was unaffected by the social context. Findings also indicated that the best predictor of whether participants consumed healthy snack foods was if the other youth in the dyad also consumed healthy snack foods. These findings suggest that the presence of peers can influence overweight children's energy intake and also influence healthier food selection in both overweight and non-overweight children.

A Review of Environmental Influences on Food Choices

“…However, the presence of others has been shown to impact the eating of overweight and normal-weight individuals differently, possibly due to concerns about weight stigmatization. In contrast to normal-weight individuals, overweight individuals have been found to eat less in the presence of others at a normal weight and more in the presence of other overweight individuals [49,52,53]. One illustrative experiment provided overweight and nonoverweight school-age children (6 to 10 years) an unlimited amount of pizza and access to several board games for 45 min in group and individual conditions [52].…”

“…At least one experimental study has further examined the influence of context when eating occurs in the presence of unfamiliar peers. This study, conducted among 21 normal-weight and 18 overweight school-age children (10 to 12 years), provided participants' with unlimited access to healthy snack foods (i.e., grapes and baby carrots), unhealthy snack foods (i.e., chips and cookies), and several games to play instead of eating [49]. The social context was found to be influential; the consumption of healthy snack foods by children was significantly related to the consumption of these foods by the unfamiliar partner sharing the play and eating space.…”

Influence of parents and friends on children’s and adolescents’ food intake and food selection

“…Recently, there has been an increased interest in peers' and friends' influence on youths' eating behavior and health trajectories (15)(16)(17)(18). Peers and friends may be more influential during adolescence than during childhood as social networks become increasingly important to motivations and behaviors and seem to exert a stronger influence than parental norms (19)(20)(21).…”

Pilot Intervention Program for Parents of Children With Obesity Problems

“…É ainda de salientar, que os estudos estão de acordo quanto ao "peso" que o ambiente familiar exerce sobre as crenças, atitudes, comportamentos e práticas da criança relativamente aos hábitos alimentares e à prática de exercício físico (Epstein, Valoski, Wing, & McCurley, 1994;Golan, & Weizman, 2001;Salvy, Kieffer, & Epstein, 2008;Whitaker, et al, 1997). De acordo com a teoria da aprendizagem social, a criança aprende um determinado comportamento dentro dum contexto familiar.…”

“…Neste sentido, o facto de uma criança gostar de uma determinada comida tem a influência de pessoas significativas, nomeadamente pais e amigos (Salvy, Kieffer, & Epstein, 2008). A acção dos pais é mais notória no caso das crianças mais novas até os 10 e os 11 anos de idade do que nas crianças mais velhas (Golan, & Weizman, 2001).…”