{"id":41306,"date":"2017-08-18T06:04:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T06:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=41306"},"modified":"2017-08-18T06:04:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T06:04:51","slug":"6-strategies-for-helping-a-teen-whos-being-bullied-about-his-or-her-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/health\/6-strategies-for-helping-a-teen-whos-being-bullied-about-his-or-her-weight.html","title":{"rendered":"6 Strategies for Helping a Teen Who’s Being Bullied About His or Her Weight"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 Strategies for Helping a Teen Who’s Being Bullied About His or Her Weight<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

6 Strategies for Helping a Teen Who’s Being Bullied About His or Her Weight:- For years, the teenage girl endured soul-crushing abuse from schoolmates, strangers and even her family because of her weight. Rather than behaving civilly by holding a door open for her, some fellow students once closed it on her fingers and taunted her that she might eat less if her hand were injured. Her mother told her she faced a life of loneliness unless she dropped weight, that no one would ever love her at her size. Too often, others seemed to define the teen by the obesity she battled rather than her qualities as a person.<\/span><\/p>\n

The harassment from fellow students became so bad the adolescent dropped out of school. In her late teens, desperate to lose weight, the girl had bariatric surgery to reduce the size of her stomach and limit the calories and nutrients her body absorbed. \u201cShe said after she had weight-loss surgery that she became a person, but the world did not see her as a person before,\u201d says researcher Zoe Meleo-Erwin, who interviewed the young woman and 31 other bariatric patients and surgeons between 2011-2012 as part of her dissertation research. The story shows the debilitating effects mocking a teenager about his or her weight can have on the victim, says Meleo-Erwin, an assistant professor of public health at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. (Meleo-Erwin ensured the study participants’ anonymity.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent research backs up Meleo-Erwin\u2019s observations. Teenagers who are teased and harassed about their weight might run a greater risk of obesity in adulthood and suffer from a negative body image, according to the study published in April in Preventive Medicine. Obesity is associated with diabetes, stroke, heart disease and high blood pressure. Teasing teenagers about the number of pounds they carry can exacerbate the adolescents’ weight issues, with long-lasting effects, the study suggests. Adolescents who are teased about their weight are more likely to put on pounds and turn to food as a way to cope with emotional distress, according to the research, a longitudinal study involving more than 1,800 participants who responded to surveys over a span of 15 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWeight-based bullying has negative health consequences. Teenagers who are teased about their weight may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like binge eating and avoiding exercise,” says Rebecca Puhl, lead author of the study and deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, where she is also a professor in the department of human development and family studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the U.S., the number of teens who\u2019ve been bullied because of their weight is in the millions. About 20 percent of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2012 survey found that 64 percent of teens in weight-loss programs had been bullied about their weight. Most of the taunting was by peers, but some of the harassment was from parents, teachers and coaches, the survey found. The bullying is perpetrated in a variety of ways, Puhl says. By peers, teens are mocked about their weight verbally in and out of school; are teased online on such platforms as Facebook and Twitter; and are excluded from activities such as parties and other social events, she says. Some adolescents endure teasing about their weight from parents and siblings, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the parent, aunt, uncle, teacher, coach, religious leader or friend of a teen who\u2019s being bullied because of his or her weight, you can help the adolescent cope with the difficult situation. Experts recommend these strategies:<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphasize the bullying isn\u2019t their fault. Many teenagers who are taunted about their weight blame themselves for the abuse and for their excessive pounds, Puhl says. \u201cA lot of teens internalize the stigma of being overweight and blame themselves for being bullied, they think it\u2019s their fault for not being thin,\u201d Puhl says. \u201cWe need parents (and others) to communicate to teens that they\u2019re not to blame for being teased or bullied, that it\u2019s the responsibility of whoever\u2019s taunting them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t urge the teen to lose weight to stop the harassment. Doing so would imply that the adolescent is responsible for the bullying and could stop it if he or she would just adopt better eating and exercise habits and lose weight, Puhl says. In fact, personal behavior is just one of a complex set of factors relating to weight, she says. Those factors include genetics, family customs and traditions about eating and accessibility to healthy foods and exercise opportunities, she says. It\u2019s good to encourage teens with weight issues (all adolescents, for that matter) to adopt healthy habits, but that is a separate issue from coping with bullying and should be a separate discussion, Puhl advises.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be mindful of your language. Parents and others use nicknames for teens they consider a term of endearment but may be harmful to the adolescent, says Dr. Tyree \u201cTye\u201d Winters, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Straftord, New Jersey. \u201cI have many Latino, Spanish-speaking patients whose pet name for their children or a sibling is \u2018Gordo’ (which means fat in Spanish) or \u2018Gordito\u2019 (which means chubby in Spanish),\u201d Winters says. \u201cWe don\u2019t call someone \u2018asthma kid\u2019 or \u2018sickle-cell kid,\u2019 but we do use language like \u2018Big Man\u2019 and \u2018Little Fatty.\u2019 If you\u2019re a parent, put yourself in your child\u2019s shoes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Encourage the teen to cultivate his or her talents. Is the teenager grappling with bullying interested in art, dancing, writing or technology? Encourage him or her to develop interests and talents that could boost his or her self-esteem and confidence, says Mayra Mendez, a psychotherapist and program coordinator of intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health services at Providence Saint John\u2019s Child and Family Development Center. \u201cWe want to build confidence independent of weight,\u201d she says. \u201cHelp them explore options. They\u2019ll see if they have a talent they work on, they can succeed, which will boost confidence that can provide a shield against the taunting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Have the adolescent make two lists. One list should include qualities that make a person likable, the other, traits that make a person unlikable. Odds are \u201cbeing overweight\u201d and \u201cbeing slender\u201d won\u2019t be on either list, says Oksana Hagerty, an educational and developmental psychologist who serves as a learning specialist at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. This exercise helps teens learn that \u201clikability hinges upon a lot more than being slender,\u201d Hagerty says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Urge teens to seek support if they\u2019re being bulled. Let adolescents know that if they\u2019re being bullied, they should seek the support of a trusted adult, such as a parent, a teacher, a coach or a school counselor, says Lisa Rosen, an assistant professor of psychology at Texas Woman\u2019s University in Denton, Texas. \u201cAdults can help teenagers problem-solve and be an advocate for them,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/health.usnews.com\/wellness\/family\/articles\/2017-08-17\/6-strategies-for-helping-a-teen-whos-being-bullied-about-his-or-her-weight<\/span><\/p>\n

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