Promoting the consumption of dairy products is conducive to increasing the intake of high-quality protein，optimizing the food structure， enhancing the physical fitness of Chinese citizens，and promoting the implementation of the Healthy China Strategy.Based on the survey data of urban and rural residents aged over 18 years old from 2004 to 2018 China Health and Nutrition Survey （CHNS），marginal Probit regression and Tobit regression are used to examine the peer effects on dairy consumption behavior based on the Linear-in-Means model，and instrumental variables method （2SLS） is further used to solve the “reflexivity” endogeneity problem to test the results of the underlying regressions， to examine the existence of the peer effect and to further explore its heterogeneity.The results show that the peer effect has a positive effect on residents’ dairy consumption，and the findings remain robust after the “reflexivity” endogeneity problem is addressed using the instrumental variable method.Heterogeneity analysis shows that peer effects are greater for the female，youth and elderly groups on dairy consumption and consumption quantity.Rural residents and low-income groups are more likely to be affected by peer effects in consumption.The research on the classification of dairy consumption shows that residents’ consumption of liquid milk，yoghurt and milk powder also shows peer effects， with the peer effect of liquid milk consumption being obvious.Therefore，to increase the intake of dairy products in China，it is necessary to make efforts from the consumption side，make full use of the peer effect of dairy consumption，guide regional consumption priorities and population consumption priorities，strengthen residents’ cognition of the nutritional value of dairy products，promote residents to form stable diversified and personalized consumption behaviors，and promote the high-quality development of the dairy industry.