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Perceived Weight and Bullying Victimization in Boys and Girls
Author(s) -
Carey Felicia R.,
Wilkinson Anna V.,
Ranjit Nalini,
Mandell Dorothy,
Hoelscher Deanna M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12600
Subject(s) - psychology , overweight , demographics , youth risk behavior survey , injury prevention , psychological intervention , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , developmental psychology , perception , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , obesity , environmental health , psychiatry , pathology , neuroscience , sociology
BACKGROUND Research suggests that perceived weight poses separate risks from objective weight on adolescents' risks of being bullied. We examined if the prevalence of bullying victimization differed by perceived and objective weight status, and how these associations varied by sex. METHODS Data were analyzed for 6716 8th and 11th graders from the School Physical Activity and Nutrition project, a Texas statewide survey of public school students. Participants reported demographics, bullying victimization, and weight perceptions. Height and weight were measured. RESULTS In the last 6 months, 10.8% of students reported being bullied. Nearly 70% of normal weight and overweight and 50% of obese adolescents perceived themselves as weighing the right amount. Perceiving oneself as weighing too little or too much was significantly associated with increased bullying victimization (p < .05 for both), whereas objective weight was not. Statistical interactions between perceived weight and sex were significantly associated with victimization (p < .05) among boys only; boys who perceived themselves as weighing too little had higher predicted probabilities of victimization. CONCLUSIONS Perceived weight may play a greater role in bullying victimization than objective weight, especially among boys. Interventions to prevent bullying should consider adolescents' self‐perceptions of weight to effectively identify those at greater risk for victimization.