Peer Effects on Childhood Obesity from an Intervention Program

Objective: The purpose of this research was to estimate peer effects on third grade students' BMI and to investigate the social and physiological explanations for such effects. Methods: The BMI of students from a childhood obesity intervention program (N = 573) was used to assess peer effects on students' BMI by identification of endogenous social effects. Results: Strong peer effects were found for the overall sample, girls and boys (p < .10). However, when classifying students into improvement versus non-improvement groups, the peer effect was found only among girls categorized in the improvement group (β = 1.472) and boys in the non-improvement group (β = 1.176). Conclusions: Peer effects were found for students aged 8-11, with sex differences in the psychological and social behavioral motivations.