This Hurts Me As Much As It Hurts You

Initially reading this article, I was absolutely shocked to hear what had happened in Rockdale County, Georgia. The fact that such young kids were engaging in such promiscuous activity was really surprising. Yes, they were all influencing the actions of one another, but these kids should be old enough to understand the basics of what's right and what's wrong.
As a college student, I completely understand how the people you hang out with influence ones eating patterns and weight gain. When I go out with my friends, we all get similar things to eat. If it is late at night and one person is hungry, it is pretty likely that we'll all decide that we want a snack, and we'll all snack together. On weekends, if we are walking around Dinkytown and one person really wants Mesa Pizza, the likelihood that we will all cave in and get pizza is pretty great. Behavior like this can be bad because it is much easier to give in to things you normally wouldn't give in to if you're with a network of friends. What is crazy to think is how if you have a mutual friend who is obese; you are three times more likely to become obese. They backed this statement up by saying that if people are overweight but you knew them previously, you may subconsciously think about it and think, "They don't look so bad; it wouldn't be bad if I look like that." This stat really freaked me out, because obviously as a college student I am trying to maintain my weight and it seems that there are so many factors fighting against me.
Another thing that interested me about this article was that women drinking patters have a greater influence on both men and women than men's drinking patterns do. In most things I have read, it seems that women are permissive and just follow the man, so it was interesting to find out that in this case, the women are the ones affecting the situation.