Analysis of the Network Effects on Obesity Epidemic

The present paper aims at clarifying the effects of different network structures on the spread of obesity so as to examine the norm-related dynamics of obesity. While previous papers have demonstrated that social norms are relevant to the obesity epidemic, the issues on the key mechanisms of such operating norms still remains to be addressed. We attempt to construct an agent-based model (ABM) in which agents’ adaptive behavior under social interactions plays a significant role, so that we may investigate how different network topologies influence the norm-related epidemic. Utilizing typical network-generating models, we will focus on several network indices (e.g. degree distribution, clustering coefficient, etc.) which might determine the social contagion as regards obesity. With the results of ABM-based simulations, we present our conclusions so far with respect to network structures which may affect obesity epidemic and suggest effective and feasible interventions either to prevent the epidemic or to treat obese persons.