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Obese Kids Likely to Be Bullying Victims
Overweight adolescents are more likely
than normal-weight children to be victims of bullying, or bullies
themselves, a study found, bolstering evidence that being fat
endangers emotional as well as physical health.
The results in a study of 5,749
Canadian youngsters echo data from British research and follow
a U.S. study published last year in which obese children rated
their quality of life as low as young cancer patients' because
of teasing and weight-related health problems.
While not surprising given the
stigma of being overweight, the new findings underscore the importance
of enlisting teachers and schools in the fight to prevent and
treat obesity in children, said lead author Ian Janssen, an obesity
researcher at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.
"Anybody's who's ever been on a
playground would know" that overweight children are among those
who get picked on, Janssen said, adding that in some cases, that
may lead the youngsters to become bullies themselves.
The study appears in the May edition
of Pediatrics, released Monday.
Janssen said obesity rates in Canadian
children tripled from the 1980s to 1990s and show no signs of
slowing down, similar to rising rates in other developed nations
and in the United States, where 15 percent of school-age youngsters
are obese and increasingly plagued by related health problems.
Nearly one-third of American children are overweight.
The toll on emotional health is
just as worrisome, the researchers said.
"The social and psychological ramifications
induced by the bullying-victimization process may hinder the social
development of overweight and obese youth, because adolescents
are extremely reliant on peers for social support, identity and
self-esteem," the researchers said.
Their data is based on a national
survey of Canadian youngsters, ages 11 to 16, conducted in 2002.
Among normal-weight youngsters,
almost 11 percent said they were victims of bullying, compared
with 14 percent of overweight youngsters and nearly 19 percent
of obese youngsters.
About 8 percent of normal-weight
children said they were perpetrators, compared with 11 percent
of overweight youngsters and 9 percent of the obese children.
Obese boys and girls were more
than two times more likely than normal-weight youngsters to be
victims of "relational" bullying — being intentionally left
out of social activities. Obese girls were about twice as likely
to be physically bullied on a weekly basis than normal-weight
girls; among obese boys the risk was slightly lower but still
substantially higher than for normal-weight boys.
Obese girls were more than five
times more likely than normal-weight girls to physically bully
other youngsters at least once weekly. Among boys the risk of
being physically aggressive was only slightly increased, but they
were more than twice as likely to make fun of others and spread
lies and rumors than normal-weight boys.
Cleveland child psychologist Sylvia
Rimm, author of "Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children,"
said many schools with anti-bullying programs don't specifically
address overweight youngsters.
Rimm said reducing bullying could
help youngsters overcome their weight problems. Bullying perpetuates
those problems because it isolates them, and "the only thing left
for overweight kids is food and television," she said.
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On the Net: Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org
Reference
Source 89
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