This theory explains that deviance is largely due to the people one associates with thus reinforcing the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” As a health professional, you will be helping patients recover from illnesses and providing health education to encourage a healthy lifestyle. You will recommend a healthy diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, the reduction of stress, and omitting harmful habits such as smoking. Of course, not all patients will follow your recommendations and this may be perplexing. Applying this theory to the noncompliance of patients will provide insight to their attitudes and behaviors. The family is a tremendous influence on their children’s health behaviors as in the example of adolescents being much more likely to begin smoking if their parents smoke. One-third of children are overweight or obese due to observing their role models. Children of active mothers are twice as likely to be active as children of non-active mothers. If fathers are active the effect rises to 3.5 times. If both parents are active the child is six times more likely to be active than a child of a non-active parent. A New England Journal of Medicine study found that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese, increasing the chances by 57 percent. Peers also easily influence young girls. This is evident in relation to feeling dissatisfied with their bodies. As a result, this peer culture contributes to eating disorders among adolescent females. As just described, when it comes to health, the people with whom you hang around have quite a bit of influence on your attitudes and behaviors.