Abstract P314: Healthy Food Choices Are Correlated in a Large Employee Social Network

Introduction: Research suggests obesity may be transmitted through social networks. A possible pathway is social influence on food choice. We investigated peer influence on the healthfulness of worksite food choices using social network analysis in a large hospital employee population, hypothesizing that socially-connected employees’ food choices would be correlated. Methods: Data on all food purchases in 2016 were obtained from the hospital’s cash register database. The cafeteria system uses traffic light labels to mark foods as healthy (green), less healthy (yellow), or unhealthy (red). Employees’ food purchases were identified through the use of cafeteria debit cards; social ties among employees were inferred based on a validated algorithm using demographics and time/location of purchases. We used spatial autoregression (SAR) and generalized estimating equation (GEE) models to calculate associations between the proportions of employees’ and coworkers’ purchases that were labeled green (or red). SAR mod...