Social marginalization of overweight children.
By R. Strauss, H. Pollack. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2003
987 citations recorded by the source corpus.
BACKGROUND Overweight is the most common health problem that faces children and adolescents. Although the correlation among overweight, low self-esteem, and depression is well known, social isolation among overweight children and adolescents has not been studied. OBJECTIVE To investigate social networks of overweight and normal-weight adolescents in a large, nationally representative sample. DESIGN Cross-sectional, nationally representative cohort study. Population A total of 90 118 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were enrolled in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, of which a 1:5 subsample was selected for detailed in-home assessment, including height and weight measurements (n = 17 557). Overweight was defined according to body mass index (>95th percentile for age and sex). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES This analysis focuses on the number of friendship nominations each adolescent received from other adolescents. The number of friendship nominations and other social network measures were calculated using statistical software. RESULTS Overweight adolescents were more likely to be socially isolated and to be peripheral to social networks than were normal-weight adolescents. Although overweight adolescents listed similar numbers of friends as normal-weight adolescents, overweight adolescents received significantly fewer friendship nominations from others than were received by normal-weight adolescents (mean [SE] number of friendship nominations, 3.39 [0.08] vs 4.79 [0.04]; P<.001). Overweight adolescents were also more likely to receive no friendship nominations than were normal-weight adolescents (odds ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.39-2.20). Decreased television viewing (P<.001), increased levels of sports participation (P<.001), and increased participation in school clubs (P<.001) were associated with significantly more friendship nominations and higher network centrality scores among both overweight and normal-weight adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Many overweight adolescents are socially marginalized. Such isolation may aggravate the social and emotional consequences of overweight in this age group.
Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Health, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
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Citations in the corpus
- Stigma, obesity, and the health of the nation's children. (2007, background): “For example, educators may have observed actual impairments in academic performance (e.g., Datar, Sturm, & Magnabosco , 2004), levels of emotional disturbance (e.g., Erermis et al., 2004), or social difficulties (R. S. Strauss & Pollack, 2003).”
- Gender, Obesity, and Education (2007, background): “This feedback may occur directly in social situations, as in the well-documented tendency for young people to bully, isolate, and ostracize overweight peers (Halpern et al. 2005; Janssen et al. 2004; Strauss and Pollack 2003).”
- Promoting Social Inclusion in Educational Settings: Challenges and Opportunities (2019, background): “Also, students with overweight are overrepresented as friendless (Strauss & Pollack, 2003), receive lower grades, and are less likely to attend college than their peers (Crosnoe, 2007; Crosnoe & Muller, 2004).”
- Body Weight and the Quality of Interpersonal Relationships (2006, background): “…by demographic characteristics and by one’s weight in young adulthood (age 21); and to investigate whether the association between body weight and relationship quality can be explained by one’s childhood family relations, and by the intrusiveness of obesity on everyday behaviors and practices.”