Friendships strongly influence physical activity levels among  children even as young as 5 to 12 years, a new 

Studies of adolescents and adults have demonstrated  an association between social networks and obesity. Children’s social networks  may have as strong an influence on behavior as adolescent networks, the  researchers say.

Researchers evaluated data collected at 3 points  during 2 structured, 12-week afterschool programs from 81 public school  students aged 5 years or older. They determined each child’s social network by  private interview and recorded physical activity with 

 accelerometers, using proportion of time spent in moderate to vigorous  physical activity as an outcome measure. They analyzed the social network and  activity data longitudinally using the 

Children participating in the afterschool  programs consistently adjusted the time they spent in moderate to vigorous  physical activity by 10% or more in imitation of their immediate circle of  friends, defined as 4 to 6 other children. Age and obesity had a small effect  on activity; sex of the child had no direct effect. 

Activity level did not influence formation or  termination of friendships. Both active and inactive children had about the  same number of friends and were about as likely to be chosen as friends. 

Contrary to previous research, the study did not  find that children chose others of comparable weight as friends. They were more  likely to gravitate toward children of similar age, school, sex, and race than  activity or weight. 

The researchers speculate that afterschool programs might build on the  study’s findings by embedding sedentary children in groups of very active  children in the hope that the inactive children would increase their activity  level by forming friendships with their active peers. Such an intervention  would require maintaining a large enough ratio of active to inactive children to  prevent the active children from reducing their activity levels in imitation of  their less active friends.

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Friendships strongly influence physical activity levels among children even as young as 5 to 12 years, a new study reports. The findings may point to new ways of fighting obesity. More >>