| Abstrakt: |
Dieting is a common, yet often unhealthy, activity in many high schools. I explore how weight-related beliefs and behaviors are related to social networks. I analyze the influence of strong and weak ties, close friends and casual acquaintances, on weight self-perception and dieting. Using the wave one saturated school sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, I find that girls, but not boys, who have more weak ties to dieting peers are more likely to diet themselves. This demonstrates the symbolic value of dieting as a means for girls to express shared appearance norms within social networks. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
