Kids Bullied During Sports or Gym Class are Less Physically Active A Year Later

Children teased or bullied during gym class or while playing sports are less physically active one year later, according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

Researchers from Brigham Young University found this to be true for overweight and obese children, as well as for children who were a healthy weight but still picked on during a physical activity.

Although a number of studies have linked bullying to decreased physical activity in overweight and obese children, the researchers said it was a revelation that the correlation doesn't stop for children of a healthy weight.

"Our finding that this applies to normal-weight kids also was novel," said Chad Jensen, a psychology professor at BYU and lead author on the study.

Jensen and his colleagues examined the associations between bullying, physical activity and quality of life over time, following up with the study participants after one year. For the study, quality of life referred to physical, social, academic and emotional functioning.

Study participants were 4th and 5th grade students from six elementary schools in the Midwest. The students were asked to complete three surveys at the beginning of the study and then complete the same three surveys one year later.

The surveys allowed researchers to get a general sense of the participants' life. The first survey asked questions about emotional well-being, getting along with classmates, grades, health and activities. The second survey assessed teasing experiences during physical activity. The third survey sought to determine whether a student had been bullied and the emotional effect it had. Students were asked whether they were made fun of while playing sports or exercising, if their being chosen to be on a sports team caused other students to react badly, and if they were called insulting names while playing sports or exercising.

Among the students who reported teasing, the study revealed a decrease in physical activity in healthy weight students who are bullied, as well as a decrease of health-related quality of life for bullied students who were overweight or obese.

Jensen said that across physical, social and academic domains, overweight children who were teased reported poorer functional ability.

"If we can help them to have a better perception of their physical and social skills, then physical activity may increase and health-related quality is likely to improve," the researcher said.