Effects of Gender and Body Weight on Children's Peer Choice During Physical Activities

The present study investigated possible effects of gender and body weight on children's peer choices during physical activities. Twenty-four school-aged children (12 overweight and 12 non-overweight) were observed during 2 play sessions: the 1st session consisted of 2 tests that required agility (A) and 1 that required strength (S) in an A-S-A design; the 2nd session consisted of 2 strength tests and 1 agility in an S-A-S design. Before each session, 2 participants were asked to choose members for their teams. Results suggest that peer gender is a stronger predictor of children's playmate choices than their body weight. More specifically, children preferred to choose a peer of the same gender who was overweight rather than a peer of the opposite gender who was not overweight. However, when there was a choice between an overweight peer and a non-overweight peer of the same gender, the non-overweight child was favored.