Objective: The purpose of this research was to qualitatively assess young people's perceptions about how friends' impact eating and physical activity (PA) behaviors.
Methods: Emerging adults (N=52; mean age=18.7±0.6 years; 50% female) attending a large 4-year college campus in the southwest were enrolled in focus groups (N=10). Following saturation, the research team met to establish consensus and co-create a codebook from which two researchers independently coded each focus group. Coders continually discussed themes to ensure consistency of coding.
Results: Initially, youth reported that their friends' did not influence their eating/PA. The major social facilitators identified by students were encouragement, social cues, celebrations, shared experiences, pressure.
Conclusion: Several social facilitators impacted eating and PA. These factors should be considered when designing obesity interventions with emerging adults.
Keywords: emerging adults; focus groups; social facilitators for eating and physical activity.