Bullying and Overweight and Obese Children

      Bullying and Overweight and Obese Children
      When TV news stories and magazine articles describe the increasing 
      prevalence of obesity among American and Canadian youth, they often focus 
      solely on the physical problems that excess weight causes. But childhood 
      obesity is associated with many negative social and psychological 
      problems, too. One of the social problems that many overweight children 
      face is bullying. Researchers from Queen's University in Kingston, 
      Ontario, Canada, examined the relationship between bullying behaviors and 
      overweight and obese teens.
      In this survey of 5,749 Canadian schoolchildren between 11 and 16 years of 
      age that was conducted between 2001 and 2002, preteens and teens reported 
      how many times they had been bullied at school in the past 2 months and 
      how often they had bullied another student at school in the past 2 months. 
      The children were asked whether they had been called mean names, made fun 
      of, or teased in a hurtful way (verbal bullying); whether they'd been hit, 
      kicked, pushed, shoved around, or locked indoors (physical bullying); left 
      out of things on purpose or excluded (relational bullying); or sexually 
      harassed. Each child was also weighed and measured and body mass index 
      (BMI, a measure of body fat) was calculated.
      About 12% of the preteens and teens were regularly victims of bullies, 
      about 9% bullied their peers, and about 3% were both victimized by bullies 
      and bullied others. In most cases, the higher a child's BMI, the more 
      likely the child was to be involved in bullying. Being obese or overweight 
      was associated with a higher incidence of relational, physical, and verbal 
      bullying, but not sexual harassment. Overweight and obese 15- to 
      16-year-old students were more likely to bully others than their 
      normal-weight classmates.
      What This Means to You: The results of this study indicate that overweight 
      and obese boys and girls are more likely to be victims of bullies and be 
      bullies themselves than their classmates of a normal weight. How can you 
      help your overweight child? Developing healthy self-esteem may be one way 
      your child can reduce the effects of bullying. Praise your child as much 
      as possible, teach your child to recognize and modify negative thoughts, 
      and encourage regular exercise - these are just a few strategies that may 
      boost your teen's self-esteem. If you are concerned about your child's 
      weight or self-esteem, talk to your child's doctor.
      Source: Ian Janssen, PhD; Wendy M. Craig, PhD; William F. Boyce, PhD; 
      William Pickett, PhD; Pediatrics, May 2004.
      Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
      Date reviewed: June 2004

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