Past Issues

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine the associations between four types of bullying involvement and three body weight statuses (underweight, overweight and obesity) in adolescents, as well as the moderating effects of socio-demographic characteristics, family factors, school factors, peer affinity, and self-esteem on the associations between bullying involvement and body weight sta-tuses. Method:： Experiences of bullying involvement in 5,621 adolescents were obtained using the self-reported Chinese version of the School Bullying Experi-ence Questionnaire (C-SBEQ). We determined underweight, overweight and obe-sity with the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cutoff references for body mass index (BMI). We examined the associations between four types of bullying involvement and body weight status and the moderating effects of socio-demo-graphic characteristics, family factors, school factors, peer affinity, and self-esteem with logistic regression analysis models, using average body weight as the refer-ence. Results: Compared with those with an average body weight status, we found that overweight adolescents were more likely to be both victims of verbal and re-lational bullying (odd ratio [OR]: 1.098, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.002-1.204) and victims of physical bullying and belongings snatching (OR: 1.171, 95% CI: 1.033-1.329), and that obese adolescents were more likely to be both victims of verbal and relational bullying (OR: 1.110, 95% CI: 1.008-1.221) and perpetra-tors of verbal and relational bullying (OR: 1.122, 95% CI: 1.017-1.238). Being underweight was not found to be significantly associated with any type of bullying involvement. No factors examined in this study showed a moderating effect on the association between bullying involvement and body weight status. Conclusion: To assess the experience of bullying involvement and to develop prevention and intervention programs regarding bullying involvement for overweight/obese ado-lescents are necessary.