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The presence of friends increases food intake in youth.

ABSTRACT: Friendship may be uniquely relevant and influential to youths' eating behavior.This study examined how overweight and nonoverweight youths adjust their level of eating as a function of their familiarity with their eating partner.Twenty-three overweight and 42 nonoverweight youths had the opportunity to play and eat with a friend (n = 26) or with an unfamiliar peer (n = 39). The dependent variables of interest were the amount of nutrient-dense and energy-dense foods children consumed and their total energy intake.Participants eating with a friend ate substantially more than did participants eating with an unfamiliar peer. Furthermore, overweight youth, but not nonoverweight youth, who ate with an overweight partner (friend or unfamiliar peer) consumed more food than did overweight participants who ate with a nonoverweight eating partner. Matching of intake was greater between friends than between unfamiliar peers.These results extend previous research by suggesting that the effect of the partners' weight statuses may add to the facilitative effect of familiarity and result in greater energy intake in overweight youth and their friends. Behavioral similarity among overweight youth may increase the difficulty of promoting long-term changes because the youths' social network is likely to reinforce overeating. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00874055.

SUBMITTER: Salvy SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2709307 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The presence of friends increases food intake in youth.

Salvy Sarah-Jeanne SJ Howard Marlana M Read Margaret M Mele Erica E

The American journal of clinical nutrition 20090617 2

<h4>Background</h4>Friendship may be uniquely relevant and influential to youths' eating behavior.<h4>Objective</h4>This study examined how overweight and nonoverweight youths adjust their level of eating as a function of their familiarity with their eating partner.<h4>Design</h4>Twenty-three overweight and 42 nonoverweight youths had the opportunity to play and eat with a friend (n = 26) or with an unfamiliar peer (n = 39). The dependent variables of interest were the amount of nutrient-dense a ...[more]

PMID: 19535431

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Project description:Negative affect and poor inhibitory control are related to disinhibited eating behaviors in youth and may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of obesity. Although few studies have jointly examined these constructs in youth, it has been theorized that poor inhibitory control may be driven by negative affect. If supported, impaired inhibitory control, driven by negative affect, could represent a modifiable neurocognitive treatment target for disinhibited eating. The current study examined whether inhibitory control mediates the relationship between negative affect and eating among youth. Youth (8-17 years) participated in a Food Go/No-Go neurocognitive task to measure inhibitory control as the percentage of commission errors. A composite negative affect score was created from self-report measures of anxiety and depression. A laboratory buffet meal modeled to simulate disinhibited eating was used to measure total and snack food intake. Cross-sectional mediation models with bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (CI) were conducted using negative affect as the independent variable, inhibitory control as the mediator, and intake patterns as dependent variables. One-hundred-eighty-one youths (13.2 ± 2.7y; 55% female; BMIz 0.6 ± 1.0) were studied. Total Go/No-Go commission errors mediated the relationship between negative affect and total intake (95%CI = [0.3, 31.6]), but not snack intake (95%CI = [-2.5, 7.3]). Commission errors for Food-Go blocks significantly mediated the relationship between negative affect and total intake (95%CI = [7.7, 44.4]), but not snack intake (95%CI = [-3.4, 9.5]). Commission errors on Neutral-Go blocks did not significantly mediate any of these relationships. Negative affect may lead to poorer inhibitory control as well as a stronger approach tendency toward food, increasing the likelihood of engaging in disinhibited eating. Future research should determine if, in combination with approaches to reduce negative affect, improved inhibitory control could help prevent overeating in youths with depressive or anxiety symptoms.

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The presence of friends increases food intake in youth.

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The presence of friends increases food intake in youth.

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