--- title: Siblings More Likely Than Parents to Influence Child Obesity Risk description: And the association is even stronger for siblings of the same gender canonical: https://time.com/2966561/siblings-obesity-risk/ author: Abby Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-08T18:33:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:01:26.578Z article:section: Health og:title: Siblings May Be More Likely Than Parents to Influence Child Obesity Risk og:description: And the association is even stronger for siblings of the same gender og:url: https://time.com/2966561/siblings-obesity-risk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf3b09bc16dfe592/69869aed169ab0a66427a434/siblings-eating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3159 og:image:height: 1777 og:image:alt: 79514071 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Siblings May Be More Likely Than Parents to Influence Child Obesity Risk twitter:description: And the association is even stronger for siblings of the same gender twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf3b09bc16dfe592/69869aed169ab0a66427a434/siblings-eating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Siblings More Likely Than Parents to Influence Child Obesity > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jul 8, 2014 6:33 PM UTC  Two Young boys sitting at edge of swimming pool, holding candy, rear view Two Young boys sitting at edge of swimming pool, holding candy, rear view Absodels/Getty Images by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jul 8, 2014 6:33 PM UTC A new study released Tuesday reported children are more than twice as likely to be obese when they have an obese sibling compared to when they have an obese parent. The study, which will be published in the October issue of the [_American Journal of Preventive Medicine_](http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2814%2900236-0/fulltext), showed the likelihood that a child is obese is even greater when they have a sibling of the same gender. In one-child families, an obese parent meant more than double the risk that the child would be obese. In households with two children, this held true for the older child but not the younger sibling. “Younger children look up to their big brother or sister for behavioral cues, often seeking their approval; and siblings may spend more time each other than with their parents, often eating and playing sports together,” study author Mark Pachucki [said in a statement](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-07/mgh-smh070814.php). Pachuki, who is an instructor at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, said he initially expected parental obesity would have a stronger association than sibling obesity due to parents’ important role in children’s eating habits, but he was wrong. 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