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According to a new study, being teased about weight actually leads to an increase in the weight of the child.
The study evaluated the link between children ridiculed by their weight and their body mbad. According to the National Institutes of Health, being teased about their weight is linked to greater weight gain in children.
In fact, they found that young people teased or ridiculed about it increased their body weight by 33% more each year, compared to a similar group that had not been teased.
The results in detail
The study looked at 110 children aged an average of 11.8 years at the time of enrollment. All participants were overweight, as defined by a body mbad index (BMI) above the 85th percentile, or had two overweight or obese parents.
The children started by filling out a questionnaire to find out if they had been teased about their weight. Participants then participated in annual follow-up visits over the next fifteen years.
The researchers found that very teased children earned an average of 0.20 kg more per year than those who did not.
The authors suggest that stigma badociated with the weight of children may have led them to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as excessive food consumption or withdrawal from physical activity. Another explanation could be that the stress caused by teasing has stimulated the release of cortisol, which is related to weight gain.
Does negative reinforcement lead to more weight gain?
The results question whether this contradicts the view that negative teasing reinforcement about weight could encourage youth to change their behavior and lose weight.
More information about the study
The study was conducted by Natasha A. Schvey, Ph.D., of the Uniformed Health Services University of Bethesda, Maryland, and her colleagues at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Eunice Kennedy Shriver of the NIH and the National Institute of Diabetes. Digestive and renal diseases. It appears in Pediatric obesity.
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