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Overweight kids experience more loneliness, anxiety

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As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight as a step toward reversing current trends. Now, a new University of Missouri study has found that overweight children, especially girls, show signs of the negative consequences of being overweight as early as kindergarten.

"We found that both boys and girls who were overweight from kindergarten through third grade displayed more depression, anxiety and loneliness than kids who were never overweight, and those negative feelings worsened over time," said Sara Gable, associate professor of human development and family studies in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences. "Overweight is widely considered a stigmatising condition and overweight individuals are typically blamed for their situation. The experience of being stigmatised often leads to negative feelings, even in children."

MU researchers used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to examine the social and behavioral development of 8,000 school-age children from kindergarten entry through third grade. The researchers evaluated factors that have not been studied previously: age at becoming overweight and length of time being overweight.

"Girls who were consistently overweight, from kindergarten through third grade, and girls who were approaching being overweight were viewed less favourably than girls who were never overweight," said Gable, an MU State Extension Specialist. "Teachers reported that these girls had less positive social relations and displayed less self-control and more acting out than never-overweight girls."

The results indicate that larger than average children, especially girls, experience social and behavioural challenges before they reach the 95th percentile of the body mass index (BMI) and are classified as being overweight. More research is needed to develop alternative approaches for categorising children’s weight and creating effective intervention programs, Gable said.

"Most appearance-based social pressure likely originates in the eye of the beholder," Gable said. "Therefore, intervention and prevention efforts should be designed for everyone. All kids should learn what constitutes a healthy weight and healthy lifestyle."

(Source: University of Missouri: Applied Developmental Science: July 2009)



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Posted On: 6 July, 2009
Modified On: 16 January, 2014

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