Abstract
Aim
In this paper, we explore the influence of alcohol consumption and sports participation on popularity of overweight adolescent males and females of different races and ethnicities.
Subjects and methods
Using data collected in 1994 and 1996 from a large nationally representative survey of adolescent friendship networks, we estimate models accounting for school-level fixed effects, and a wide range of individual-level controls to ascertain the causal effect of these behaviors on change in popularity.
Results
We find that sports participation leads to increase in the number of friends among overweight white males. Additionally, overweight white females and males experience a significant gain in popularity by engaging in alcohol consumption.
Conclusion
These results underscore the importance of promoting sports and physical activity not only to objectively reverse the childhood obesity trend but also as a way to achieve popularity that is superior to alcohol consumption.
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Notes
More information on the data set can be obtained from Add Health’s official website: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth
In this secondary data analysis, these 3,406 observations represent all of the usable observations available in Add Health. We have determined that these observations are sufficient to test our hypotheses with adequate statistical power.
For a detailed discussion on the Bonacich centrality score please see Ali et al. (2012).
Because in-degree is a count variable, we re-estimated all models for this variable using negative binomial regression and found qualitatively similar results. Also, because the Bonacich centrality score is non-negative continuous measure, we re-estimated all models using Tobit regressions and found qualitatively similar results. However, we report linear regression because it provides the best linear approximation to the condition expectation function even if the latter is non-linear (Angrist and Pischke 2009).
The hypotheses H1a, H1b, H2a and H2b are tested individually and no correlation between the tests is assumed.
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Acknowledgements
The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Food & Drug Administration. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgement is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516–2524 (addhealth@unc.edu).
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Ali, M.M., Amialchuk, A. & Pentina, I. The effects of drinking and sports on popularity of overweight adolescents: implications for public policy. J Public Health 21, 221–230 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0546-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0546-3