Overweight, perceived overweight and involvement in bullying in middle adolescence

Abstract

Overweight is reportedly a risk factor for being bullied, and body image may mediate this association. Research on associations between overweight and bullying has so far only focused on children and early adolescents. We explored associations between actual and perceived overweight at age 15 and involvement in bullying at ages 15 and 17. A total of 2070 Finnish adolescents responded to a survey at ages 15 and 17. Self-reported weight and height, perceived weight and involvement in bullying were elicited. Being overweight at age 15 was not associated with being bullied or with being a bully at age 15 or 17. Perceived overweight among girls was associated with subsequent involvement in bullying as a bully and in feeling shunned. Weight related bullying may decrease from pre- and early adolescence to middle adolescence. The associations between perceived overweight and self-identification as a bully, and those between perceived overweight and feeling isolated may be explained by the phenomena representing psychological dysfunction.

Perceived Weight and Bullying Victimization in Boys and Girls

“…Our main finding that perceived weight, rather than objective weight, is associated with bullying victimization is in line with previous findings . We also found that when these associations were examined by sex, the association between perceived weight and bullying victimization was significant for boys only, specifically, boys who perceived themselves as weighing too little.…”

“…Our main finding that perceived weight, rather than objective weight, is associated with bullying victimization is in line with previous findings. 16,[21][22][23][24] We also found that when these associations were examined by sex, the association between perceived weight and bullying victimization was significant for boys only, specifically, boys who perceived themselves as weighing too little. In this sample, an average boy that perceived himself as weighing too little had about a 20% probability of being a victim of bullying, which is more than double that of an average boy who perceived himself as weighing the right amount, who had almost an 8% probability.…”

“…In both cases, these measures are self‐report and subject to recall and social desirability bias due to the potentially sensitive nature of the topics. Moreover, economic status, an important predictor of bullying behaviors and weight perceptions, is assessed at the school level, not individual. Thus, we cannot rule out any residual confounding due to socioeconomic status in these results, though school level economic status has been used as a proxy for individual economic status among this population of adolescents in previous studies .…”

“…Another study of adolescents in Seychelles found that when controlling for both objective and perceived weight, objective weight did not play a role in bullying victimization; rather, perceiving oneself as overweight was associated with increased odds of victimization in the total sample and among boys specifically . Similarly, a longitudinal study of Finnish adolescents found that objective overweight at age 15 did not predict any form of bullying victimization or perpetration at age 17 among boys or girls, but perceived overweight at age 15 predicted experiences of social exclusion among girls at age 17 . Other research has demonstrated that perceived body image may fully mediate the association between objective weight status and bullying victimization .…”

“…23 Similarly, a longitudinal study of Finnish adolescents found that objective overweight at age 15 did not predict any form of bullying victimization or perpetration at age 17 among boys or girls, but perceived overweight at age 15 predicted experiences of social exclusion among girls at age 17. 24 Other research has demonstrated that perceived body image may fully mediate the association between objective weight status and bullying victimization. 25 Whereas these studies suggest that perceived weight plays an important and separate role from objective weight in predicting bullying victimization, research is still limited and inconsistent in this area.…”