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Peer Effects In Adolescent Bmi: Evidence From Spain

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  • Toni Mora
  • Joan Gil

Abstract

This paper extends the recent literature on the influence of peers on adolescent weight on three new fronts. First, based on a survey of secondary school students in Spain in which peers are formed by nominated classmate friends, we find a more powerful positive and significant causal effect of friends’ mean BMI on adolescent BMI than previous US‐based research. These results are in line with international data, which show that peer group contact tends to vary across countries. Our findings cover a large set of controls, fixed effects, the testing of correlated unobservables, contextual influences and instrumental variables. Second, social interactions are identified through the property of intransitivity in network relationships. Finally, we report evidence of a strong, positive effect of peer pressure on several subgroups of adolescents in an attempt to study their vulnerability to social influences. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Toni Mora & Joan Gil, 2013. "Peer Effects In Adolescent Bmi: Evidence From Spain," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(5), pages 501-516, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:22:y:2013:i:5:p:501-516
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.2817
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    Cited by:

    1. Toni Mora & Beatriz G. Lopez‐Valcarcel, 2018. "Breakfast choice: An experiment combining a nutritional training workshop targeting adolescents and the promotion of unhealthy products," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 306-319, February.
    2. Shanchita R. Khan & Riaz Uddin & Sandra Mandic & Asaduzzaman Khan, 2020. "Parental and Peer Support are Associated with Physical Activity in Adolescents: Evidence from 74 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-11, June.
    3. Beneito, Pilar & Muñoz, Marina, 2022. "Preventing tobacco use from the start: Short- and medium-term impacts on the youth," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(8), pages 831-836.
    4. Brunello, Giorgio & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna & Terskaya, Anastasia, 2020. "Not only in my genes: The effects of peers’ genotype on obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Lim, Jaegeum & Meer, Jonathan, 2018. "How do peers influence BMI? Evidence from randomly assigned classrooms in South Korea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 17-23.
    6. Paolo Nicola Barbieri, 2022. "Social distortion in weight perception: a decomposition of the obesity epidemic," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 685-713, July.
    7. Po-Yu Wang & Pin-Hsuan Lin & Chung-Ying Lin & Shang-Yu Yang & Kai-Li Chen, 2020. "Does Interpersonal Interaction Really Improve Emotion, Sleep Quality, and Self-Efficacy among Junior College Students?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Gwozdz, Wencke & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Reisch, Lucia A. & Bammann, Karin & Eiben, Gabriele & Kourides, Yiannis & Kovács, Éva & Lauria, Fabio & Konstabel, Kenn & Santaliestra-Pasias, Alba M. & Vyncke, , 2015. "Peer effects on obesity in a sample of European children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 139-152.
    9. Crudu, F.; & Neri, L.; & Tiezzi, S.;, 2018. "Family Ties and Children Obesity in Italy," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 18/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    10. Yuan, Hang & Guan, Zhihua & Jiang, Changmin & Yang, Hangjun, 2023. "Peer effect in the construction of China’s high-speed rail stations: Empirical evidence from spatial econometric analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Ana Balsa & Carlos Díaz, 2018. "Social interactions in health behaviors and conditions," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1802, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    12. Crudu, Federico & Neri, Laura & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2021. "Family ties and child obesity in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    13. Nie, Peng & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & He, Xiaobo, 2015. "Peer effects on childhood and adolescent obesity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 47-69.
    14. Jebaraj Asirvatham & Michael R. Thomsen & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Heather L. Rouse, 2018. "Do peers affect childhood obesity outcomes? Peer‐effect analysis in public schools," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(1), pages 216-235, February.
    15. Vermaire, J.H. & van Exel, N.J.A. & van Loveren, C. & Brouwer, W.B.F., 2012. "Putting your money where your mouth is: Parents' valuation of good oral health of their children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2200-2206.
    16. Åsa Ljungvall & Ulf Gerdtham & Ulf Lindblad, 2015. "Misreporting and misclassification: implications for socioeconomic disparities in body-mass index and obesity," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(1), pages 5-20, January.

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