Leveraging social influence to address overweight and obesity using agent-based models: the role of adolescent social networks
Open accessAbstract
The prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity (hereafter, simply "overweight") in the US has increased over the past several decades. Individually-targeted prevention and treatment strategies targeting individuals have been disappointing, leading some to propose leveraging social networks to improve interventions. We hypothesized that social network dynamics (social marginalization; homophily on body mass index, BMI) and the strength of peer influence would increase or decrease the proportion of network member (agents) becoming overweight over a simulated year, and that peer influence would operate differently in social networks with greater overweight. We built an agent-based model (ABM) using results from R-SIENA. ABMs allow for the exploration of potential interventions using simulated agents. Initial model specifications were drawn from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focused on a single saturation school with complete network and BMI data over two waves (n = 624). The model was validated against empirical observations at Wave 2. We focused on overall overweight prevalence after a simulated year. Five experiments were conducted: (1) changing attractiveness of high-BMI agents; (2) changing homophily on BMI; (3) changing the strength of peer influence; (4) shifting the overall BMI distribution; and (5) targeting dietary interventions to highly connected individuals. Increasing peer influence showed a dramatic decrease in the prevalence of overweight; making peer influence negative (i.e., doing the opposite of friends) increased overweight. However, the effect of peer influence varied based on the underlying distribution of BMI; when BMI was increased overall, stronger peer influence increased proportion of overweight. Other interventions, including targeted dieting, had little impact. Peer influence may be a viable target in overweight interventions, but the distribution of body size in the population needs to be taken into account. In low-obesity populations, strengthening peer influence may be a useful strategy.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Agent-based models have been used to test the effectiveness of stigmatization and social network targeting strategies for obesity and structural interventions to increase fresh produce consumption among low-income households.
“Agent-based models have been used, for example, to test the effectiveness of stigmatization and social network targeting strategies in addressing the obesity epidemic (Zhang et al., 2015), structural interventions to increase consumption of fresh produce among low-income households (Widener, Metcalf, & Bar-Yam, 2013)”
From Syndemics: a theory in search of data or data in search of a theory? (2018) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2015
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks
Watts, D. J., & Strogatz, S. H. (1998) · Nature · doi:10.1038/30918 · Cited by 43,060 · see citing works
Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks
Barabási, A.-L., & Albert, R. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.286.5439.509 · Cited by 36,135 · see citing works
Kytle, J., & Bandura, A. (1978) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2065952 · Cited by 25,422 · see citing works
Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415 · Cited by 18,567 · see citing works
Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem
Manski, C. F. (1993) · The Review of Economic Studies · doi:10.2307/2298123 · Cited by 6,209 · see citing works
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2013 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association
Go, A. S., Mozaffarian, D., Roger, V. L., Benjamin, E. J., Berry, J. D., Borden, W. B., Bravata, D. M., Dai, S., Ford, E. S., Fox, C. S., et al. (2013) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/cir.0b013e31828124ad · Cited by 5,292 · see citing works
The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years
Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2007) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmsa066082 · Cited by 5,007 · see citing works
Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010.
Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Kit, B., & Flegal, K. (2012) · Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) · doi:10.1001/jama.2012.40 · Cited by 4,128 · see citing works
Sick individuals and sick populations
Rose, G. (2001) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/30.3.427 · Cited by 3,736 · see citing works
Prevalence of High Body Mass Index in US Children and Adolescents, 2007-2008
Ogden, C. L. (2010) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2009.2012 · Cited by 3,200 · see citing works
Diabetes mellitus: a "thrifty" genotype rendered detrimental by "progress"?
Neel, J. V. (1962) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 3,147 · see citing works
Interventions for preventing obesity in children
Brown, T. J., Moore, T. H., Hooper, L., Gao, Y., Zayegh, A. M., Ijaz, S., Elwenspoek, M. M. C., Foxen, S. C., Magee, L., O’Malley, C. L., et al. (2019) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd001871.pub4 · Cited by 2,996 · see citing works
Hayward, G. (1984) · Technovation · doi:10.1016/0166-4972(84)90018-x · Cited by 2,771 · see citing works
Diabetes mellitus: a "thrifty" genotype rendered detrimental by "progress"?
(1962) · PubMed Central · Cited by 2,182 · see citing works
Introduction to stochastic actor-based models for network dynamics
Snijders, T. A. B., van de Bunt, G. G., & Steglich, C. E. G. (2010) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2009.02.004 · Cited by 2,103 · see citing works
Gordon‐Larsen, P., Laska, M. N., Page, P., & Popkin, B. M. (2006) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2005-0058 · Cited by 1,765 · see citing works
Network models of the diffusion of innovations
Valente, T. W. (1996) · Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory · doi:10.1007/bf00240425 · Cited by 1,657 · see citing works
Smith, K. P., & Christakis, N. A. (2008) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134601 · Cited by 1,638 · see citing works
Hiding from humanity: disgust, shame, and the law
(2004) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.42-1849 · Cited by 1,518 · see citing works
Interventions for preventing obesity in children
Waters, E., de Silva-Sanigorski, A., Burford, B. J., Brown, T., Campbell, K. J., Gao, Y., Armstrong, R., Prosser, L., & Summerbell, C. D. (2011) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd001871.pub3 · Cited by 1,455 · see citing works
Beyond Homophily: A Decade of Advances in Understanding Peer Influence Processes
Brechwald, W. A., & Prinstein, M. J. (2011) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00721.x · Cited by 1,366 · see citing works
Valente, T. W. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1217330 · Cited by 1,271 · see citing works
After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory.
Scheffler, S., & MacIntyre, A. (1983) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184489 · Cited by 1,222 · see citing works
After virtue: A study in moral theory
Maidan, M. (1985) · History of European Ideas · doi:10.1016/0191-6599(85)90024-5 · Cited by 1,098 · see citing works
Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling
Epstein, J. M. (2012) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9781400842872 · Cited by 1,037 · see citing works
Homophily and contagion are generically confounded in observational social network studies
Shalizi, C. R., & Thomas, A. C. (2011) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/0049124111404820 · Cited by 994 · see citing works
Learning from Evidence in a Complex World
Sterman, J. D. (2006) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.066043 · Cited by 976 · see citing works
Social Marginalization of Overweight Children
Strauss, R. S., & Pollack, H. A. (2003) · Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine · doi:10.1001/archpedi.157.8.746 · Cited by 957 · see citing works
Changing the future of obesity: science, policy, and action
Gortmaker, S. L., Swinburn, B. A., Levy, D. T., Carter, R., Mabry, P. L., Finegood, D. T., Huang, T. T. ‐., Marsh, T., & Moodie, M. (2011) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(11)60815-5 · Cited by 927 · see citing works
Steglich, C., Snijders, T., & Pearson, M. P. R. (2010) · Sociological Methodology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9531.2010.01225.x · Cited by 900 · see citing works
Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling
Epstein, J. (2007) · Journal of Ecological Anthropology · doi:10.5038/2162-4593.11.1.8 · Cited by 858 · see citing works
Rahmandad, H., & Sterman, J. D. (2008) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.1070.0787 · Cited by 740 · see citing works
Accelerating the Diffusion of Innovations Using Opinion Leaders
Valente, T. W., & Davis, R. (1999) · The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · doi:10.1177/000271629956600105 · Cited by 707 · see citing works
Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain
Kross, E., Berman, M. G., Mischel, W., Smith, E. E., & Wager, T. D. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1102693108 · Cited by 689 · see citing works
NORTH, M. J., & Macal, C. M. (2007) · Cited by 610 · see citing works
Social Networks and Health: Models, Methods, and Applications
Valente, T. W. (2010) · Cited by 604 · see citing works
Interventions for preventing obesity in children
Waters, E., de Silva, A. M., Burford, B. J., Brown, T. J., Campbell, K. J., Gao, Y., Armstrong, R., Prosser, L., & Summerbell, C. D. (2014) · Sao Paulo Medical Journal · doi:10.1590/1516-3180.20141322t2 · Cited by 585 · see citing works
A Method for Detecting Structure in Sociometric Data
Holland, P. W., & Leinhardt, S. (1970) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/224954 · Cited by 497 · see citing works
Is obesity contagious? Social networks vs. environmental factors in the obesity epidemic
Cohen‐Cole, E., & Fletcher, J. M. (2008) · Journal of Health Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2008.04.005 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
NORTH, M. J., & Macal, C. M. (2007) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172119.001.0001 · Cited by 465 · see citing works
Obesity and socioeconomic status in children and adolescents: United States, 2005-2008.
Ogden, C. L., Lamb, M. M., Carroll, M. D., & Flegal, K. M. (2010) · PubMed · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Stigma and the ethics of public health: Not can we but should we
Bayer, R. (2008) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.03.017 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Davis, J. A. (1970) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2093295 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
From “Overweight” to “About Right”: Evidence of a Generational Shift in Body Weight Norms
Burke, M. A., Heiland, F. W., & Nadler, C. (2009) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2009.369 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Detecting implausible social network effects in acne, height, and headaches: longitudinal analysis
Cohen-Cole, E. B., & Fletcher, J. M. (2008) · British medical journal · doi:10.1136/bmj.a2533 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Exploiting Social Networks to Mitigate the Obesity Epidemic
Bahr, D. B., Browning, R. C., Wyatt, H. R., & Hill, J. O. (2009) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2008.615 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Maximum likelihood estimation for social network dynamics
Snijders, T. A. B., Koskinen, J. H., & Schweinberger, M. (2010) · The Annals of Applied Statistics · doi:10.1214/09-aoas313 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Simpkins, S. D., Schaefer, D. R., Price, C. D., & Vest, A. E. (2013) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00836.x · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Lynch, E. B., Liu, K., Wei, G. S., Spring, B. J., Kiefe, C. I., & Greenland, P. (2009) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwn412 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Social Circles: A Simple Structure for Agent-Based Social Network Models
Hamill, L., & Gilbert, N. (2009) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Burris, S. C. (2008) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.03.020 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Homophily and Contagion as Explanations for Weight Similarities Among Adolescent Friends
de la Haye, K., Robins, G. L., Mohr, P. B., & Wilson, C. J. (2011) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.02.008 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Shoham, D., Tong, L.-P., Lamberson, P. J., Auchincloss, A., Zhang, J., Dugas, L. R., Kaufman, J., Cooper, R., & Luke, A. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039795 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Self-citationStigmatization of obese children and adolescents, the importance of gender
Tang-Péronard, J. L., & Heitmann, B. L. (2008) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1467-789x.2008.00509.x · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Weight gain in adolescents and their peers
Halliday, T. J., & Kwak, S. (2009) · Economics & Human Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2009.05.002 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Rockhill, B. (2001) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.91.3.365 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Crow, S. J., Eisenberg, M. E., Story, M. T., & Neumark‐Sztainer, D. (2008) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0012783 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Risk-Taking Behaviors of Adolescents With Extreme Obesity: Normative or Not?
Ratcliff, M. B., Jenkins, T. M., Reiter‐Purtill, J., Noll, J. G., & Zeller, M. H. (2011) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2010-2742 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Is there evidence that friends influence body weight? A systematic review of empirical research
Cunningham, S. A., Vaquera, E. G., Maturo, C. C., & Narayan, K. M. V. (2012) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.05.024 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
The Distribution of Physical Activity in an After-school Friendship Network
Gesell, S. B., Tesdahl, E. A., & Ruchman, E. (2012) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2567 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Shared Norms and Their Explanation for the Social Clustering of Obesity
Hruschka, D. J., Brewis, A., Wutich, A., & Morin, B. R. (2011) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.300053 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
El‐Sayed, A. M., Seemann, L., Scarborough, P., & Galea, S. (2013) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kws455 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Multiscale Network GenerationPreprint
Gutfraind, A., Meyers, L. A., & Safro, I. (2012) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1207.4266 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Shalizi C Thomas A 2011 Homophily and Contagion Are Generically Confounded in Observational Social Network Studies Sociological Methods and Research 40 2 211 239 22523436 PMC3328971
- Train K 2009 Discrete choice methods with simulation Cambridge; New York Cambridge University Press
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Syndemics: a theory in search of data or data in search of a theory?
Tsai, A. C. (2018) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.03.040 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Digital technologies for promotion of healthy eating habits in teenagers
Alcântara, C. M. D., Silva, A. N. S., Pinheiro, P. N. D. C., & Queiroz, M. V. O. (2019) · Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem · doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2018-0352 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Salvy, S.-J., Feda, D. M., Epstein, L. H., & Roemmich, J. N. (2017) · Preventive Medicine Reports · doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2017.04.009 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zhang, J., Tong, L., Lamberson, P. J., Durazo-Arvizu, R. A., Luke, A., & Shoham, D. A.
- Affiliations
- Loyola University Chicago (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shoham, D.A.
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-01
- Volume
- 125
- Pages
- 203-213
- ISSN
- 0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4306600
- OpenAlex
- W2052449063
- Cited by
- 97
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 8.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Simulation (MOTS)
- US National Institutes of Health (NIH-NICHD) (R01-HD-061978-0109)
- National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR)
- RWJF (260639, 61468, 66284)
- CDC (U48/DP00064-00S1, 1U48DP001946)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01-HD31921)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- Keywords
- adolescent overweight, adolescent obesity, peer influence, social networks, homophily, body mass index, social marginalization, agent-based modeling, obesity prevention, Add Health, school social networks
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Models, Theoretical, Peer Group, Social Support, Body Mass Index, Overweight, Pediatric Obesity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
