Another totally genius study that hopefully didn't utilize any taxpayer funding. (I didn't even bother publishing the "study" from last week that concluded that well-toned men got more babes. NO! Really?!) :
A new study finds overweight kids are stigmatized by other children at a very early age, and they may even face bias from their own caregivers.
Rebecca Puhl, a clinical psychologist at the Center for Food Policy and Obesity says overweight children may become vulnerable targets of weight bias as early as age 3, "so it can be verbal teasing, it can be physical aggression and social rejection, and this is not something that is happening just from peers -it's also happening from parents and teachers."
She says "kids who are overweight and who are teased or victimized because of their weight are more vulnerable to things like depression, low self-esteem, poor body image and even suicidal thoughts and behaviors."
Puhl adds some youngsters respond to this victimization by "actually engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors like binge eating, and avoiding physical activity."
She says the bottom line is that "we need school systems to treat weight bias with the legitimacy of other forms of bias that are addressed in schools already, like gender and racial bias."
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