The Relationship of Obesity and Weight Gain to Childhood Teasing

• The project examines BMI, BMI change and teasing to understand the cycle of teasing and weight gain.
• The bio-ecological model proposes a complex set of interactions among the physical and psychosocial environmental characteristics of the developing child particularly in the school setting.
• The data from a disadvantaged school confirm the national reports of at-risk children for overweight and obesity.
• The analysis demonstrates gender specific outcomes of the teasing-weight gain cycle with girls showing more predictors in the model than boys, but boys showing more problems in body mass change in the short 6-month period studied.
• Teasing is not necessarily related to being obese, but appears to be related to body mass change in this study. The data cannot suggest antecedent or consequence, thus supporting a cyclical model for future studies.

This article examines the relationship between weight gain and childhood teasing in children. Anthropometric data and self-reported teasing experiences were collected on a sample of second and third graders at a local elementary school in a disadvantaged suburban community. The study model uses bio-ecological development theory in which child development is understood in context: the child's physical characteristics influence the social environment, which interact and influence the behaviors that result in physical development and characteristics such as weight gain. Results suggest that teasing influences BMI change and that the relationship is more complex than simply stating that obese children are teased.