Childhood: Overweight Children and Bullying

By RONI CARYN RABIN
NYT

Schoolchildren are more likely to be bullied if they are overweight, and a new study suggests just how much more likely: 60 percent more, if they are obese (with a body mass index in the 95th percentile for children in their age group), and 13 percent more, if they are simply overweight (85th percentile or higher).

The researchers also tried to determine if overweight children from certain backgrounds were more vulnerable than others, and if some had social skills or other characteristics that protected them from bullying.

To their surprise, they found that none of those factors mattered. It made no difference whether the child was rich or poor; male or female; white, black or Hispanic; or living in a community where many other children were obese. Nor did it matter if the child had good social skills or did well in school.

“The child who was obese was simply more likely to be bullied than the child who was not; none of these things affected it at all,” said Dr. Julie C. Lumeng, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the paper, in the journal Pediatrics.

(More here.)