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And obese boys more likely to be both bully and bullied
than slimmer peers, researchers report
By Tara Haelle
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) -- In a finding
that illustrates the complexity of bullying, Dutch researchers
report that obese boys are more likely to bully and be
bullied than their thinner peers and the vicious cycle begins before these
children ever step foot inside a school.
Past research has shown an association between bullying
and weight, but most of those studies focused on older children
or teens. The average age of the children in this new study was 6.
"I was very surprised by how
young these kids are," said Rachel Annuziato, an assistant
professor for clinical psychology at Fordham University in New York
City. "I think our understanding of bullying is that it's
something that starts a little later cognitively and developmentally,
but this suggests that isn't the case. From the day kids walk into
school, this is a concern."
She said researchers have
typically thought of bullying as a school-based phenomenon in which
students learn bullying behavior from other kids. But these findings
imply that kids are learning this behavior outside of school.
Annuziato said she also found it
interesting that obesity increased the risk of being both a perpetrator
and a victim for boys.
"Kids who are being picked
on might start to think this is the way to fit in, to pick on other
kids," she suggested. "That becomes their way to assert
themselves after they've experienced bullying."
The link between being a bully
and a victim of bullying may also offer clues to the link between
bullying and obesity, said Susan Tortolero, a professor of public
health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.
"A lot of these risk behaviors
may have to do with self-regulation, self-discipline and
decision-making, which gets into the executive functioning of the
brain," Tortolero said. "It could be that poor coping is
going on here, too. They could be expressing aggression because they're
being bullied and they don't know how to cope with it or express
it."
This possibility was also raised
by the researchers, whose earlier work showed that being overweight or
obese can lead to social problems among children. Having difficulty
managing their emotions might be contributing to both the peer problems
and to abnormal eating behaviors, the researchers suggested.
In the new study, more than 1,300 Dutch children and their
teachers were surveyed to learn which children were bullies or victims,
how often bullying occurred and what form it took: physical (hitting,
kicking); verbal (teasing, name-calling); relational (being excluded or
shunned); or material (personal items hidden or broken). The children
were classified as having a normal weight or being overweight or obese
based on their body-mass index, a measurement used to assess a person's
healthy weight for their height.
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