Longitudinal and secular trends in weight-related teasing during adolescence.
OBJECTIVE
To examine 5-year longitudinal and secular trends in weight-related teasing among adolescents.


METHODS
Project EAT-II (Eating Among Teens-II) followed 2,516 adolescents (females = 1,386, 55.1%) prospectively from 1999 to 2004. EAT-II included two cohorts allowing the observation of longitudinal changes in reported weight-related teasing as participants transitioned from early to mid-adolescence (middle school to high school) and from mid- to late-adolescence (high school to post-high school). EAT-II also allowed the examination of secular trends in reported teasing among middle adolescents in 1999 and 2004.


RESULTS
In 1999, approximately one-quarter of adolescents in the total sample (including both overweight and nonoverweight youth) reported being teased about their weight in early adolescence and mid-adolescence. Prevalence rates of teasing were higher among overweight youth (early adolescence: females 42.4%, males 44.6%; mid-adolescence: females 31.2%, males 40.8%). Longitudinal trends suggest that weight-related teasing decreased among overweight males and females in the younger cohort as they transitioned from early adolescence to mid-adolescence. In the older cohort of youth, teasing decreased in the total sample of females as they transitioned from mid-adolescence to older adolescence. Analyses of age-matched secular trends among middle adolescents showed that the prevalence of weight-related teasing remained stable among most adolescent subgroups and declined among overweight males between 1999 and 2004.


CONCLUSIONS
Weight-related teasing is prevalent through the various stages of adolescence. Our findings point to a need for ongoing interventions, throughout adolescence, which focus on reducing weight-related teasing and improving social supports for affected youth.
Haines
Jess
J
Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. haines@epi.umn.edu
Neumark-Sztainer
Dianne
D
Hannan
Peter J
PJ
van den Berg
Patricia
P
Eisenberg
Marla E
ME
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D011287:Prejudice; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012737:Sex Factors; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors