Impact of weight and disability status on bullying victimisation and perpetration among youth.

Abstract

The purpose of this analysis was to examine the influence of weight and disability status on rates of bullying victimisation and perpetration among youth. Data from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health, which included 2716 youth (aged 10-17) with and 23 195 without disabilities in the USA were utilised. Parent-reported measures of height and weight, bullying perpetration and victimisation, and demographic covariates analysed. Descriptive statistics, and multivariable logistic regressions with outcomes of bullying perpetration and victimisation, were generated. In the multivariate analysis, overweight (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.52), obesity (aOR = 2.25, 95% CI 1.83-2.77) and having a disability (aOR = 3.25, 95% CI 2.69-3.92) were related to greater odds of bully victimisation. Both obesity (aOR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.10-2.74) and disability (aOR = 2.74, 95% CI 2.00-3.75) were also related to greater odds of bully perpetration in the multivariate model; overweight status was not related to bully perpetration. Weight status was identified as a characteristic that may increase the risk of bullying victimisation, above and beyond disability. This analysis helps identify that youth with disabilities who are overweight or obese have greater risk factors for bullying and are in need of interventions to ameliorate bullying.