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The role of social networks in the development of overweight and obesity among adults: a scoping review

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, September 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (94th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (92nd percentile)

Mentioned by

news
2 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
twitter
17 X users
video
1 YouTube creator

Citations

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90 Dimensions

Readers on

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95 Mendeley
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Title
The role of social networks in the development of overweight and obesity among adults: a scoping review
Published in
BMC Public Health, September 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12889-015-2314-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Katie Powell, John Wilcox, Angie Clonan, Paul Bissell, Louise Preston, Marian Peacock, Michelle Holdsworth

Abstract

Although it is increasingly acknowledged that social networks are important to our understanding ofoverweight and obesity, there is limited understanding about the processes by which such networks shapetheir progression. This paper reports the findings of a scoping review of the literature that sought to identify the key processes through which social networks are understood to influence the development of overweight and obesity. A scoping review was conducted. Forty five papers were included in the final review, the findings of which were synthesised to provide an overview of the main processes through which networks have been understood to influence the development of overweight and obesity. Included papers addressed a wide range of research questions framed around six types of networks: a paired network (one's spouse or intimate partner); friends and family (including work colleagues and people within social clubs); ephemeral networks in shared public spaces (such as fellow shoppers in a supermarket or diners in a restaurant); people living within the same geographical region; peers (including co-workers, fellow students, fellow participants in a weight loss programme); and cultural groups (often related toethnicity). As individuals are embedded in many of these different types of social networks at any one time, the pathways of influence from social networks to the development of patterns of overweight and obesity are likely to be complex and interrelated. Included papers addressed a diverse set of issues: body weight trends over time; body size norms or preferences; weight loss and management; physical activity patterns; and dietary patterns. Three inter-related processes were identified: social contagion (whereby the network in which people are embedded influences their weight or weight influencing behaviours), social capital (whereby sense of belonging and social support influence weight or weight influencing behaviours), and social selection (whereby a person's network might develop according to his or her weight). The findings have important implications for understanding about methods to target the spread of obesity, indicating that much greater attention needs to be paid to the social context in which people make decisions about their weight and weight influencing behaviours.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 17 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 95 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
New Zealand 1 1%
Unknown 94 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 19 20%
Student > Bachelor 11 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 11%
Researcher 7 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 5 5%
Other 10 11%
Unknown 33 35%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 21 22%
Social Sciences 13 14%
Medicine and Dentistry 8 8%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 3 3%
Business, Management and Accounting 3 3%
Other 10 11%
Unknown 37 39%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 37. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 October 2022.
All research outputs
#1,057,304
of 24,647,023 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#1,154
of 16,310 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#15,334
of 279,548 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#21
of 271 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,647,023 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 16,310 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.5. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 279,548 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 271 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.