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Race/Ethnicity, Obesity, and the Risk of Being Verbally Bullied: a National Multilevel Study

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the effects of obese/overweight status and race/ethnicity on the risk for being verbally bullied among second grade children, and to investigate if the relationship between weight status and verbal bullying varies based on race/ethnicity.

Design

Data on second graders from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (Children = 18,130; Schools = 2419) were analyzed. Hierarchical generalized logistic modeling was used to address the objectives.

Results

Independent of the child’s sex, age, academic performance, family socioeconomic status, and school characteristics, obese/overweight children (relative to non-obese/overweight children) and Black children (relative to White children) were more likely to be verbally bullied. Hispanic and Asian children were less likely to be verbally bullied relative to White children. Hispanic obese/overweight children experienced less verbal bullying than White obese/overweight children.

Conclusions

This study documented disproportionate risks of being verbally bullied for obese/overweight US second graders. The risk of being verbally bullied was significantly greater for obese/overweight White children vs. obese/overweight Hispanic children.

Implications

Findings can inform the development of strategies to reduce verbal bullying of obese/overweight children in US elementary schools.

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Acknowledgments

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under linked Award Numbers RL5GM118969, TL4GM118971, and UL1GM118970.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

    Danielle X. Morales & Nathalie Prieto

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Utah, 480 S 1530 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Sara E. Grineski

  3. Department of Geography, University of Utah, 480 S 1530 E, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Timothy W. Collins

Authors
  1. Danielle X. Morales
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  2. Nathalie Prieto
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  3. Sara E. Grineski
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danielle X. Morales.

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Conflict of Interest

Danielle X. Morales declares that she has no conflict of interest. Nathalie Prieto declares that she has no conflict of interest. Sara E. Grineski declares that she has no conflict of interest. Timothy W. Collins declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Morales, D.X., Prieto, N., Grineski, S.E. et al. Race/Ethnicity, Obesity, and the Risk of Being Verbally Bullied: a National Multilevel Study. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 6, 245–253 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-018-0519-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-018-0519-5

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