Values, Norms, and Peer Effects on Weight Status

Table 3

MMEGLM estimates of average BMI on individual BMI (individualistic versus collectivistic, with GDP per capita, unemployment, and population density).

	All	Individualistic	Collectivistic	Individualistic	Collectivistic
		Country-based		Individual-based
Average BMI	0.561	0.318	0.599	0.549	0.468
	(0.076)	(0.027)	(0.072)	(0.083)	(0.121)
95% CI
Log(GDP per capita 2012)	−0.102	−0.481	−0.181	−0.111	0.041
	(0.086)	(0.066)	(0.128)	(0.126)	(0.175)
95% CI
Log(population density 2011)	−0.131	−0.214	−0.197	−0.112	−0.098
	(0.032)	(0.056)	(0.074)	(0.110)	(0.067)
95% CI
Unemployment rate 2012	−0.015	−0.073	−0.005	−0.018	−0.014
	(0.007)	(0.019)	(0.004)	(0.015)	(0.008)
95% CI
Constant	11.772	21.934	11.646	11.567	12.121
	(2.444)	(0.696)	(2.559)	(2.758)	(4.486)
95% CI
N	33553	20132	13421	3937	4815

The dependent variable is individual BMI. At the country level, individualistic countries are Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and UK. Collectivistic countries are Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia. At the individual level, individualistic is for those individuals having 75% or above centered values of achievement and power. Collectivistic is for those individuals having 75% or above centered values of universalism and benevolence. Controls are average BMI (from its country age band gender cell), individual characteristics (dummies of age groups (with <20 as the reference group), gender, marital status, and education), household income (4-point scale, with 1 = very difficult on present income as the reference), translog GDP per capita, translog population density, and unemployment rate. Robust standard errors are in parentheses; 95% confidence intervals (CI) are in brackets. < 0.1, < 0.05, and < 0.01.