I’ll have what they’re having: the impact of friends on teenagers’ eating habits

A trip down memory lane…

Remember back in high school, when your biggest concern was getting out of class so you could hang out with your friends (as a grad student, I still look forward to that part of my day!)?  Friends are a major part of a teenager’s life, so it might not come as a surprise then that a teenager’s eating habits might be greatly influenced by what their friends are eating. 

Ooo tell me more!

In a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers from the University of Minnesota wanted to find out how the eating habits of a group of friends influenced one teenager’s eating habits in that group.  To do this, the researchers asked students from 20 middle and high schools what they were eating, and then asked them to identify who their friends were from a school roster.  By matching up eating behaviors with groups of teenagers, the researchers were able to identify the average eating behavior in a group of friends, and how that behavior influenced a particular teenager.  Researchers found:

·      A teenager is more likely to eat breakfast on a particular day if his or her friend group eats breakfast regularly throughout the week

·      A teenager’s intake of dairy products and whole grains increases if his or her friends’ intake increases

Interesting!  But, wait – does that mean there is no hope for me to change my teen’s eating habits?  Is it all about his/her friends?

Absolutely not!  The study establishes that there is a relationship between teenagers’ eating habits and their friends eating habits, not that it is the only predictor of a teenager’s eating behavior.  This might help explain why your teen eats the way he or she does.  Parents can work to improve their teen’s diet through a number of ways, like getting their teens involved in the preparation of meals.  Adolescence is an especially important time to improve eating habits because the body needs proper nutrition and energy to sustain growth and developmental changes.  There is also some evidence that proper nutrition in the teenage years can prevent some chronic diseases.  To find out what you should be feeding your teen to provide optimal health, check out this website. 

That’s very helpful.  Who else can use these findings?

This research is really important for health professionals because it means they can educate groups of teenagers, rather than individuals, on how to eat healthier.  It’s sometimes easier to change a group’s eating habits because the individuals within the group can rely on each other for support.  This makes the education more successful, and ultimately leads to an improvement in eating habits.

Oh great.  Sounds like those health professionals have their work cut out for them.  By the way, who are you again?

Nick Deputy is a doctoral student studying Nutrition and Health and Sciences at Emory University.  When he was a young teenager, he was dared to eat an entire bag of Chips Ahoy! cookies by his friends.  He enjoyed every bite. 

Bruening M, Eisenberg M, Maclehose R, Nanney MS, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D. Relationship between Adolescents' and Their Friends' Eating Behaviors: Breakfast, Fruit, Vegetable, Whole-Grain, and Dairy Intake. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012

Oct;112(10):1608-13.