Peer Influence on Eating Behavior in Overweight and Normal Weight Youths

描述(申请人提供)：同伴对超重和正常体重青少年饮食行为的影响。虽然大多数进食发生在一个社会背景下，但同伴对儿童进食的影响并不是系统的实验研究的对象。这项拟议的实验评估了同伴对超重和正常体重年轻人的食物摄入量和食物选择的影响。将体重状况、性别和同伴的体重状况作为因素之间的混合设计，以及作为因素内的社会背景(单独或二元)，将被用来比较青少年在独处和有同伴在场时的食物消耗。预测认为，社会状况和同伴体重状况都会对超重参与者的食物选择和食物消费产生影响。更具体地说，超重的参与者会在较瘦的同伴面前选择更高营养密度的食物，并抑制他们的总体食物摄入量，但在超重同伴在场或独自一人时，他们会选择更高卡路里的食物，摄入更多千卡路里。考虑到与体重相关的问题上的性别差异，1，2我们预测，女性参与者在同伴面前更有可能抑制自己的进食。预计这种影响在超重的女孩身上会更加明显，她们会试图避免被认为是“吃得太多”的耻辱。这项研究旨在了解超重和非超重青少年对社会和食物环境的反应差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Peer Influence on Eating Behavior in Overweight and Normal Weight Youths. Although most eating occurs in a social context, the effects of peer influence on child eating have not been the object of systematic experimental study. The proposed experiment assesses the effects of peers on food intake and food choices in overweight and normal weight youths. A mixed design with weight status, gender and peer's weight status as between factors and the social context (alone versus dyad) as within factor will be used to compare youths' food consumption when alone and when in the presence of a peer. The prediction is that both the social condition and the peer weight status will have an impact on overweight participants' food selection and food consumption. More specifically, overweight participants will select more nutrient-dense food items and suppress their overall food intake in the presence of a leaner peer, but will select more calorie dense foods and consume more kilocalories in the presence of an overweight peer or when alone. Given the well documented sex differences in weight-related issues, 1, 2 we predict that female participants will be more likely to suppress their eating in the presence of a peer. It is expected that this effect will be more pronounced in overweight girls, who would attempt to avoid the stigma of "eating too much". This study is designed to understand differences in responses to the social and food environment between overweight and non overweight youths.