Asymmetric Association between Exposure to Obesity and Weight Gain among Adolescents

Muzhe Yang () and Rui Huang ()
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Muzhe Yang: Department of Economics, Lehigh University, 621 Taylor Street, Rauch Business Center, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
Rui Huang: Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.

Eastern Economic Journal, 2013, vol. 40, issue 1, 96-118

Abstract: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we provide empirical evidence that an individual's weight gain is associated with an increase in the number of obese friends, but a decrease in that number is not associated with weight loss. Previous studies of peer effects in body weight have tended to assume that peer effects operate symmetrically. We extend that literature by highlighting an asymmetric association between exposure to obesity and body weight, which suggests a possibility of an endogenous growth of obesity on the basis of the asymmetric peer effect in body weight.

Date: 2013
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