A recent study on teenagers and young children shed more light about unhealthy practices like bullying and body shaming. The study says that teasing and bullying about body weight can act as a catalyst for further increasing their weights by 33%. The study had compared obese children who were victims of body shaming to children who didn’t suffer from it.
The findings of the study were published in the journal, Pediatric Obesity, however, contradict a common belief that teasing of such nature motivates youth into changing their behavior and try to lose weight.
The study observed more than 100 youth who were an average age of 11.8 years of age when they enrolled. Natasha A. Schvey, Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services University in the US also added that the participants involved in the study were either overweight (defined as a body mass index above the 85th percentile) when they began the study or had both parents who were overweight.
The subjects were asked to answer a six-item questionnaire which covered topics about teasing related to weight. The subjects had follow-up meeting with research team annually for the next 15 years.
The researchers found that youth experiencing high levels of teasing gained an average of .20 kg per year more than those who did not.
The research team theorises that weight-associated stigma may have made youths more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviours, such as binge eating and avoiding exercise.
Another possible explanation is that the stress of being teased could stimulate the release of the hormone cortisol, which may lead to weight gain, said the researchers.
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