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Friend and Family Support for Weight Loss in Adolescent Females.

BACKGROUND
Overweight and obesity rates in children and adolescents are concerning, particularly among girls. Social support from friends has been associated with healthier eating and higher levels of physical activity, yet little is known about the relationship between social support and weight loss among adolescents. This aim of this study was to prospectively examine the relationship between baseline social support from friends and family, changes in social support, and weight loss.


METHODS
Sixty-five adolescent girls completed a one-year weight loss intervention trial. Data were collected at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months.


RESULTS
At baseline, family support was higher compared to friend support; however, lower friend support at baseline and increases in friend support from baseline to 6 months and 12 months were associated with weight loss. When controlling for other predictors of weight loss, change in friend support for healthy eating was predictive of weight loss at 12 months.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that weight loss interventions for adolescent females might consider including strategies to elicit or to create and promote social support for healthy eating from peers. Future studies are needed to test this relationship.