The people with which we spend our time help define us in many ways. That fact has been well established, and we’ve probably all observed it, even as kids growing up. Or at least I did. My brother and I were discussing this subject just a few days ago. When we were in high school, the kids tended to separate themselves out into the “jocks,” the “preps,” the “nerds,” etc. This tended to happen pretty early in your high school career, and once you were in a clique, you pretty much stayed there. There was some crossover, but not a lot. Kids in those groups tended to do similar activities, and there was a lot of peer pressure to behave like the group. I would imagine the names of the cliques have changed, but I doubt the concept is much different. We like to hang out with people like ourselves, right?
I started thinking about this subject after reading the following study:
Kids With Obese Friends And Family More Likely To Misperceive Weight
ScienceDaily (2008-09-19) — Kids and teens surrounded by overweight peers or parents are more likely to be oblivious to their own extra pounds than kids from thin entourages, according to a new Canadian study. … > read full article
The study concludes that kids view their weight relative to that of their peers, not the scientifically defined norm. Seems logical enough, but it has huge (no pun intended) ramifications. What it means is that if they are overweight, they are less likely to realize that fact if their friends and families are also overweight. The trend seems to be consistent across age groups, too. Children as young as 9 years old were included in the study. Of course, the converse must also be true, meaning if their friends are underweight, they will view themselves in that context as well. Viewed in this light, the rising problem of obesity in kids must be tackled at the group level, rather than the individual level. If kids never view their weight as something that must be managed, then their habits will not change.
I’ve read other publications that would indicate this trend extends to adults as well. I know from personal experience that the workplace culture can affect your weight. There was a period of time when the workplace lunch became a trend for me. I was going out to eat with the guys at lunch every day, not paying a lick of attention to the number of calories I consumed. It doesn’t take long for those calories to add up, and before I knew it, I was on the slippery slope to being overweight and borderline blood pressure. Its a hard to resist.
I think as adults, we tend to forget the emotional trials that come with growing up. We may look at our teenagers and struggle to understand their behavior, as well as the powerful influence their peers exert on them at that age. The pressure to conform is very intense. We can try to give our kids the self confidence to resist that influence, but no one is totally immune. I intend to make a greater effort at understanding that influence, and not be so hard on them. My parents did it for me, so I owe it to my kids as well. Besides, any edge we can give our children to help them through the rough patches that come with growing up are worth of the effort.
