The early stages of the life course are characterized by a rapid expansion of social networks and by the gradual transfer of control over health from parents to self. These trends are related. Not only are many health behaviors, such as eating well, directly organized by parents when children are young, others (e.g., drinking) are strongly prohibited for children. Adolescents, however, have greater say in their own behavior, and many risky health behaviors become more normative during this stage. The mechanisms by which social ties influence health behavior then multiply at the same time that social ties increase in number (Crockett & Petersen 1993, Ennett et al. 2006). For these reasons, the study of social ties and early health behavior has largely focused on adolescents.
