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Obese children face bullying

A Survey of Yale Univercity

According to a survey published in the Pediatrics magazine,  overweight children are the most common victims of teasing at school as well at home.   The children have also stated that among the offenders  were :physical education teachers, coaches and  parents.  The survey took place with use of  an online questionnaire  given to 1425 teenagers between 14-18 years old that have followed 2 weight loss programs. 

361 children answered  an online questionnaire from which the 40%  were obese, 24/%  were overweighed and the rest had normal  physical weight  (they used to be overweighed and followed  special  programs in order to maintain their weight). However, the survey did not include responses from children who were not (or have been) clinically obese or overweight while also did not include children who were too thin. 

According to dr. Rebecca Puhl,  survey author and director of research at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity: “ Kids who are clinically obese are experiencing teasing and bullying, not just at school but at home. That means they have few sources of support or allies.” She also mentioned that obese children  are victims of bullying 3 to 6 more often  than the rest of the children depending to their age group. 

The results of the survey show:Τα ευρήματα της συγκεκριμένης έρευνας δείχνουν:

• 64%  said they had been bullied or teased at school because of their weight but only 20 percent said it happened often or very often.
• 27 %  said they had been bullied or teased at least once by a teacher, however, only 3 % said they had been bullied often or very often by a teacher
• 42% said they been bullied or teased at least once by physical education teachers or coaches and 6% said it happened often or very often.
• Finally 32% said  they had been bullied or teased by parents and 11% said it happened often or very often

Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of General Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, co-wrote a commentary accompanying the study said that bullying itself is getting more attention as a serious issue. "There's a greater recognition that it can have significant short- and long-term consequences, both physical and emotional. He also stated that :" "kids can be emotionally scarred for a long time, and they can carry this into adulthood."

Regarding the belief that exists in Greece, that " this a normal behavior of children "  dr. Schuster said that situations that our society  didn’t approve have  always took place.  Beyond that, one can share this point of view or choose to disagree and help children experiencing bullying and children practicing intimidation. .

The survey was given  to publicity on the 24th of December 2012 and   24/12/2012 and was published journal Pediatric on January 2013.