Rhelyn Harder
- Study says that children who are teased about their weight are likely to gain more in succeeding years
- Weight is a sensitive topic for children
- Expert suggests not mentioning weight to children and instead talk more about positive behavior
A study says that children being teased about their weight are likely to gain more in the succeeding years. Though some may think that teasing children about their weight can be a wake-up call for them to take action, it can actually just reinforce the idea that it is part of their identity.
A researcher chose 110 preteens and teenagers who are at risk of being overweight or are obese for the study. The result of the study didn’t only focus on dangerous effects of teasing but it also highlights the tricky line adults should try to walk when talking to kids about teasing and the hazard of weight gain.
The lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medical and clinical psychology at Uniformed Services University outside of Washington, D.C. Natasha Schvey, Ph.D. said: “It’s really important to ask your children if they’re experiencing any teasing, victimization, or exclusion for any reason, including weight.”
She believed that talking about weight is a tricky subject with great potential to frustrate and scar a child.
“Any talk that’s perceived as being linked to weight is generally experienced as being stigmatizing for children, even just saying something like, ‘You look really skinny in that dress,” Schvey said.
Schvey and her colleagues were trying to find out how much stigmatizing effects teasing might have. They measure the weight and height of their participants who were about 12 years old on average.
Using a questionnaire, the participants were asked to answer to assess how frequently they have been teased about their weight. They had found out that there is about a 33 percent greater increase in the body mass index of the children who had been teased per year that those kids who hadn’t. Per year, they also gained a 91 percent increase in fat mass.
At the conclusion of the study, results may suggest weight-based teasing makes greater weight gain more likely among children at risk of obesity.
But it also notes, “Alternatively, children at high risk for excessive weight gain might be more prone to report (weight-based teasing) or they could experience both the teasing and weight gain due to an ‘unmeasured factor.’”
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Schvey also said that future research would be needed to identify whether teasing is cause for the weight gain or just associated with it.
“If so, then work is needed to identify the mechanisms that are putting children at risk,” she said.
Another study in 2014 by Trusted Source had found that being labeled “too fat” at age 10 by an adult or friend made young girls more likely to have obesity around age 19, regardless of how overweight they actually were at age 10.
The director of programs and field operations at Action for Healthy Kids Heidi Milby said that the new finding was “not entirely surprising.”
“We know weight is a sensitive issue,” she told Healthline. “And adolescence is a time when kids are already hyper-aware of their bodies.”
Milby also said that being overweight or having obesity is a symptom and outcome of many issues a child might be facing.
The new findings also pointed out the possible dangers of careless wordings when talking about weight with a child.
Schvey suggests that instead of teasing the child about weight, show them what to do like getting enough exercise and eating the right food.
“Use modeling,” she says. “You don’t want to just tell the kid to go outside and take a walk, but make it a family activity. So you’re not necessarily doling out advice but modeling it.”
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Milby also offered the same advice.
“Weight is sensitive for everyone,” she said. “Our mantra is when talking to kids about weight, instead of focusing on weight, focus on being healthy.”
She also wanted to see how positive behavior might change the outcomes for kids like the ones in Schvey’s study.
“It would be really interesting to see how positive role models and support system to change these outcomes” in future research, she said.
As for the conclusion, the new research suggests that there’s a link between how much children are being teased about their weight and how much they gain over the following years. Experts suggest not mentioning weight to children, instead talk more about positive behavior and show them.
