Your Eating Habits Are Contagious

We've all experienced changes in our eating habits based on who we're with and where we are. Now there's some new research that reveals the intimate connection between our relationships and what we eat and drink.

The Research in the American Journal of Public Health

September's American Journal of Public Health revealed results of a longitudinal study regarding eating habits (Ezra Klein's Wonkblog). You might be wondering what longitudinal means-it's a study that spans several years in the lives of the same people. In essence, the same group of individuals are questioned by the researchers, say, every 3 years over a 15-year period (or however long the research is set up for) to determine whether their answers to the same questions change over the course of their lifetimes.

In this case, over 3,400 individuals were researched over the 10 year period spanning 1991 to 2001 (CiteULike website). This research project examined various relationships and their effects on influencing consumption behavior. Friendships, sisters, brothers, and spousal relationships and how people in these relationships transmitted their own consumption habits onto the other person in the relationship were examined. FYI, when a behavior is "transmitted," the other person unconsciously or consciously copies a behavior you performed, or vice versa.

What do you think?

What's interesting is that depending on your relationship with someone, you might influence how and what they eat. Consider this question:

You and your friend are spending the day together. What is the type of food/beverage that is most transmittable, that is, that if one of you does it, it's likely the other will, too, according to the new research?

A- Drinking alcohol
B- Eating meat
C- Eating snacks
D- Drinking soda
E- Both A and C

If you chose A or C, you are half-right. The correct answer is E, drinking alcohol and eating snacks.

Next question, you and your spouse are together (like you usually are). Which of the following habit(s) that, if performed by one of you, the other will be influenced to do.

A- Drinking soda
B- Eating meat
C- Avoiding caffeine
D- Living "healthier"
E- All of the above
F- None of the above

And the answer is…E, all of the above. That's right; many of spouses' eating and drinking behaviors transmit from one to the other. So, that can be positive or not. Are you surprised that you and your spouse have such powerful effects on each other when it comes to eating behaviors?

More about the American Journal of Public Health's Research

Only one relationship studied revealed negative results for the transmission of alcohol-drinking. Can you guess which relationship that was? Brothers. What this means is that brothers do not significantly influence one another to drink alcohol. On the other hand, brothers did influence whether the other eats meat. Fascinating stuff, huh?

For sisters, the results were about the same as those for friends: drinking alcohol and eating snacks were both behaviors that influenced the other sister to do the same.

Discussion of the Research Regarding How we Transmit Eating Habits

In the American culture, it's pretty obvious that drinking alcohol is interwoven into the very base of our social relationships. Friends and relatives view alcohol use and eating snacks as important aspects of socializing. How many times do you see groups of people, no matter how big or small, get together that don't include alcohol and snacks if you live in the US? Not too often.

However you choose to interpret these results, the fact is that the psychology of our eating habits is intimately intertwined with our relationships, experiences and feelings about ourselves.

To read this author's article about research related to alcohol use, see this link. This article discusses characteristics of good mental health. For Pearl Grace's tips on how to find a good therapist, click this link.

Sources

CiteULike website, Abstract for Social Network Concordance in Food Choice among Spouses, Friends, and Siblings by: Mark A. Pachucki, Paul F. Jacques, Nicholas A. Christakis

Kliff, Sarah. You are who you eat with, The Washington Post, Ezra Klein's Wonkblog website