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Bariatric Surgery Candidates’ Peer and Romantic Relationships and Associations with Health Behaviors

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Abstract

Background

The aim was to assess the romantic and peer relationships of bariatric surgery candidates and associations with health behaviors.

Method

Adults seeking bariatric surgery (N = 120) completed surveys addressing health behaviors and social relationships at information sessions. Analysis was done to compare male/female differences in peer and romantic relationships and associations with health behaviors. Previously published reference (REF) data on the Relationship Structures questionnaire was used for comparison, and to split our sample into those ≤ or > REF mean for relationship anxiety and avoidance.

Results

Our sample reported higher avoidance and lower anxiety in their close friendships and romantic relationships compared to the REF sample. Men in our sample had higher peer and romantic relationships avoidance compared to the REF sample and had significantly higher close friendship avoidance than women in our sample. Participants with lower anxiety in their romantic relationships (≤ REF) had higher uncontrolled eating and physical activity; those with more anxiety in their romantic relationships (> REF) had a higher BMI.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the potential influence that social relationships may have on health behaviors within the bariatric surgery population. Further investigation is warranted to explore male bariatric surgery candidates’ relationships to inform understanding and intervention development.

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Acknowledgments

We would like acknowledge Haley Kiser, B.S. for her assistance with data collection and data entry for this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Sciences, College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, 135 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Keeley J. Pratt & Megan Ferriby

  2. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Keeley J. Pratt, Sabrena Noria & Bradley Needleman

  3. Department of Health Promotion and Exercise Studies, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, 06810, USA

    Elizabeth K. Balk

  4. Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Lorraine Wallace

Authors
  1. Keeley J. Pratt
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  2. Elizabeth K. Balk
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  3. Megan Ferriby
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  4. Lorraine Wallace
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  5. Sabrena Noria
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  6. Bradley Needleman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keeley J. Pratt.

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Funding

This project did not receive funding.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Pratt, K.J., Balk, E.K., Ferriby, M. et al. Bariatric Surgery Candidates’ Peer and Romantic Relationships and Associations with Health Behaviors. OBES SURG 26, 2764–2771 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-016-2196-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-016-2196-y

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