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The Social and Emotional Lives of Overweight, Obese, and Severely Obese Children
Author(s) -
Harrist Amanda W.,
Swindle Taren M.,
HubbsTait Laura,
Topham Glade L.,
Shriver Lenka H.,
Page Melanie C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12548
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , psychology , overweight , intrapersonal communication , sociometry , developmental psychology , obesity , clinical psychology , interpersonal communication , social psychology , medicine
This study examines inter‐ and intrapersonal problems associated with being overweight among one thousand one hundred sixty‐four 6‐ to 7‐year‐olds (49% boys) in 29 rural schools. Socioemotional data include child self‐reports, peer sociometrics, and teacher reports. Results support the hypothesis that children with weight problems struggle socially and emotionally, and extend current understanding of child obesity by demonstrating that problems appear early, are evident in a community sample, can be identified using standard sociometric methods, and are worse among children with severe obesity. Sociometric status difference between levels of obesity were also found. Although obese children were neglected by peers, severely obese children were rejected.