The effects of drinking and sports on popularity of overweight adolescents: implications for public policy

Abstract

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. 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. 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. 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.