 "Photo: James Spencer and Lauren Wiesner")
Those who have always been taught to "watch the company you keep" may listen a little harder as research has proven the age-old lesson to be valid. Recent studies about the effects of social networks on spreading health behaviors, especially obesity, has recently caught attention, even in TV shows such as "Boston Legal," where a character was sued for firing an employee for being overweight. A study published this year in The New England Journal of Medicine highlighted the spread of obesity through social networks. The findings revealed that a person's chance of becoming obese increased by 57 percent if the person had a friend who became obese in a given interval. Nicholas Christakis, a physician and Harvard University professor who headed the study, said it is a common perception that social networks affect certain behaviors of people, but there is more to it. Obesity can spread through a network of people up to three degrees of separation, he said. "We know that people are influenced by their friends," Christakis said. "But what was innovative about our study is the fact that people tend to be influenced by friends of friends of friends." John Beggs, associate professor of sociology, said the same can be said about other health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, eating habits or exercising. Christakis said the study shows the spread of obesity "as a epidemic" and related health choices is not just a result of spreading behaviors but of spreading norms. "If my friend gains weight, the behaviors not only spread but my idea of what an acceptable body image is changes," he said. "I begin to think that a heavier body is an acceptable body image." Beggs said people tend to "form a frame of activity" around behaviors that are accepted as appropriate among a group of friends. "If you have a lot of people around you that drink or smoke or work out, you are likely to do the same," Beggs said. "It's an awful lot easier not to do it if those in your network are not doing it." Christakis said the perception change can be either conscious or unconscious. Beggs said the "tide of information" a person receives about acceptable behaviors usually has to be backed by a support frame to have a significant impact. "In order not to exhibit certain behaviors, you have to be able to go against the tide of information," Beggs said. Nicole Bonano, mass communication senior, said she has mixed feelings about the issue. Bonano said when it comes to consuming alcohol, her friends have some influence on whether she does but not on how much she drinks. "Being in a group of friends doesn't affect how much I drink, but friends do allow the occasion for drinking to happen," Bonano said. "If all your friends are going out, you want to go out too." Beggs said although the spread of health behaviors can spread through "links in social networks," a person's immediate group of friends tend to be the most important influence. Sarah Dunbar, economics senior and friend of Bonano, said although her friends make fun of her, she eats healthy. "But she influences us to eat healthier and encourages us to work out with her," Bonano said. "She's a good influence." Kathy Saichuk, Wellness Education coordinator, said these negative influences are not necessarily more prevalent than good influences, but it is easier for people to "focus on the negative." "We have ways of justifying things in our minds," Saichuk said. "It's easier to cut class with a friend than to go run the lakes with the friend."
---- Contact Garesia Randle at grandle@lsureveille.com
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