Obesity and the College Scene

This week in class we discussed the spread of obesity in social networks. We talked about how our friend’s friend’s friend can affect our weight, how norms and confounding factors can affect our own definition of obesity, and how characteristics such as gender even play a part in the spread of obesity. Overall there seems to be a strong social influence on a person’s weight. In particular, I think social influences play a significant role in weight-gain among college students.

College is a time in a person’s life when he/she often experiences changes in weight. We have all heard of the “freshman fifteen” and how difficult it is to avoid. Eating is a largely social activity. It is an opportunity to interact with peers and spend time with friends. College students frequently invite each other to share a meal at the dining hall or to grab coffee on the way to class. Furthermore, when a student’s roommates have a snack or cook something in the dorm room, he/she may feel compelled to eat as well. The Christakis and Fowler article describes this occurrence as physiological imitation. All in all there are numerous opportunities in college to engage in eating.

As I thought of obesity in the college scene, I began to contemplate this phenomenon and its effects at Northeastern. As a sophomore, I can certainly think of more examples of students and friends who have gained weight since freshman year than ones who have lost weight or remained the same size. I wonder whether this is due in part to how Northeastern’s dining halls operate. At all the dining halls on campus, one simply swipes his/her card once and then has access to an unlimited amount of food. I know that at some other schools, students are charged per item. This method is more limiting in the amount of food one can afford to consume. If how Northeastern’s dining halls operate does in fact affect weight-gain, this would suggest that one’s living environment is an additional factor affecting obesity. I decided to investigate this idea by googling the “fattest” colleges in America. Northeastern University did not appear on any of these lists. The top twenty “fattest” colleges appeared to be heavily located in the south. Although this disproves my idea that the environment of a college affects obesity, it does provoke the thought of obesity and its relation to where one lives in the United States. Perhaps, this is something further to look into.