Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence of harassment on the basis of weight, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, as well as sexual harassment, among a diverse population of adolescents. Specifically, this study examined rates of each type of harassment reported across groups within the corresponding sociodemographic category (e.g., racial/ethnic category differences in prevalence of racial harassment), and also explored patterns of “cross-harassment” (i.e., differences in prevalence of each harassment type across all other sociodemographic characteristics).
Methods
Data from EAT 2010 (Eating and Activity in Teens) were used for the current study. The sample was comprised of 2,793 adolescents (53% female; 81% non-white). Regression analyses were conducted to yield prevalence estimates of each type of harassment in each demographic and BMI category.
Results
Weight- and race-based harassment (35.3% and 35.2%, respectively) were most prevalent, followed by sexual harassment (25.0%) and SES-based harassment (16.1%). Overweight and obese adolescents reported disproportionately higher rates of all forms of harassment than did normal-weight and underweight adolescents. In addition, Asian and mixed-/other-race adolescents were more vulnerable to harassment overall as compared to those from other racial/ethnic groups.
Conclusions
Harassment experiences are prevalent among adolescent boys and girls. Differential rates of each type of harassment are reported across groups within the corresponding sociodemographic category, but a pattern of “cross-harassment” also is evident, such that differences in prevalence of each type of harassment emerge across a variety of sociodemographic characteristics. Adolescents from various intersecting sociodemographic and weight-status groups are particularly vulnerable to certain types of harassment.
Keywords: adolescents, harassment, weight, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual harassment, teasing
Harassment among children and adolescents— widely recognized as a societal problem, with serious negative consequences for health and well-being— has gathered increasing scholarly, social, and political attention.1 Of particular interest to researchers has been discrimination on the basis of group membership.1 Indeed, researchers have noted that the prevailing social tensions and inequities that characterize society at large are evident in youths’ treatment of each other.2 In recognition of this reality, Scherr and Larson issued in their review of the school bullying literature a call for further research to establish the prevalence of harassment among children and adolescents.3
Studies suggest that racial/ethnic minority students are at a significantly greater risk for physical harassment than are white students,4 and that lack of racial/ethnic diversity in the school population further elevates this risk.5 In addition, research suggests that harassment on the basis of race or ethnicity is progressive in nature, often escalating over time from teasing to physical violence.6 Furthermore, because one’s racial/ethnic identity often is highly visible, this dimension provides ample opportunity for targeting and harassment by others.
Also highly visible to others are an individual’s body size and shape. Weight- or size-based stigmatization and harassment (most commonly manifested as verbal teasing, physical bullying, and relational victimization such as social exclusion or rejection7) has emerged as an area of focus in recent years.7 Research suggests that stigmatization based on weight or size in young people not only poses significant risks for poor emotional and physical functioning,8, 9 but also is prevalent and on the rise.7 Not surprisingly, the risk of victimization based on weight or size is associated with weight status, with overweight and obese children and adolescents significantly more vulnerable to weight-based mistreatment than their non-overweight counterparts.10–13 As the prevalence of overweight and obesity among young people has increased over the past several decades,14 a considerable proportion of youth are at risk for weight- and size-based harassment. Whether overweight youth also are at an elevated risk for other kinds of harassment (e.g., race/ethnicity-based teasing) is unknown.
Additional questions remain concerning factors which may influence harassment experiences among youth. For instance, there is evidence to suggest that the socioeconomic status of a student’s family is inversely associated with level of perceived sexual harassment at school.15 As another example, examinations of sexual mistreatment have yielded inconsistent results, with a majority of females and males reporting at least one experience of sexual harassment by a peer in one study,16, 17 and significantly lower prevalence estimates in another study.18 In addition, studies have focused primarily on sexual harassment among high school students;19, 20 less is known about the sexual harassment experiences of younger adolescents.
Research has been comprised primarily of studies examining harassment within one specific domain at a time. Although this focus on individual domains of harassment presents some difficulty to those seeking to draw comparisons regarding the prevalence of harassment across various domains, these studies have yielded important findings which provide a solid foundation for future work in this area. An important complement to such work would be the exploration of potential “cross-harassment” wherein rates of each type of harassment are explored across a variety of sociodemographic characteristics.
Studies that have examined the prevalence of weight stigmatization across racial and ethnic groups have been limited in numbers and scope, and have yielded inconsistent findings. For instance, some researchers have found no significant differences between white and African-American students’21, 22 or white and Latino/a students’23 reported perceptions of weight teasing, whereas one study has suggested a lower incidence of weight teasing among African-American women as compared to white women.24 In the most comprehensive examination to date of racial and ethnic differences in perceived weight teasing among adolescents, using the same data set as that used in the present study, van den Berg and colleagues found that adolescents of various racial/ethnic groups reported similar levels of overall weight teasing.25 Too little work has been conducted in this area to provide a clear picture; thus, further research is needed to uncover racial/ethnic differences in weight stigmatization.
Given evidence suggesting that individual members of intersecting minority groups are vulnerable to heightened stress of multiple types26–29 a critical focus for future research is on the experience of mistreatment among young people. The present study utilized data from Project EAT 2010, a cross-sectional survey of a large, racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse sample of adolescents in middle school and high school, and provides an essential next step toward understanding the nature of cumulative harassment among young people.
It was hypothesized that differential rates of each type of harassment would be reported by members of certain groups within the corresponding sociodemographic or weight-status category. Specifically, overweight/obese adolescents were expected to report significantly higher rates of weight-based harassment than normal-/ underweight adolescents; racial/ethnic minority adolescents, higher rates of race-based harassment than white adolescents; lower-middle/low-SES adolescents, higher rates of SES-based harassment than upper-middle/high-SES adolescents; and girls, higher rates of sexual harassment than boys. Furthermore, a key aim of the present study was to explore differences in the prevalence of each type of harassment across all sociodemographic and weight-status groups. For example, we explored whether overweight youth experience different types of harassment (e.g., sexual, race-based) in order to learn more about their vulnerability.
Method
Study Design and Population
The EAT 2010 (Eating and Activity in Teens) study was designed to examine dietary intake, physical activity, weight control behaviors, weight status, and factors associated with these outcomes in adolescents. Surveys and anthropometric measures were completed by 2,793 adolescents during the 2009–2010 academic year. The study population includes adolescents from 20 public middle schools and high schools in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota, which serve socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse communities. The mean age of the study population was 14.4 years (SD=2.0); 46.1% were in middle school (6th–8th grades) and 53.9% were in high school (9th–12th grades). Participants were equally divided by gender (46.8% boys, 53.2% girls).
The EAT 2010 survey is a 235-item self-report instrument assessing a range of factors of potential relevance to weight status and weight-related behaviors among adolescents. The survey development process is described elsewhere.30 Following survey completion, participants were given a $10 gift card. All study procedures were approved by the University of Minnesota’s Institutional Review Board Human Subjects Committee and by the research boards of the participating school districts. Unless their parent/guardian indicated his or her refusal, adolescents were given the opportunity to assent. Among adolescents who were at school on the days of survey administration, 96.3% had parental consent and chose to participate.
Measures
Perceived harassment
Perceived harassment was measured using a series of items developed for EAT 2010. Four types of perceived harassment were assessed via the item, “How often do any of the following things happen?” and ended with either “You are teased about your…” (a) race, (b) weight, (c) family’s financial situation, or (d) “You are teased or harassed in a sexual way (e.g., grabbing/pinching, sexual comments, unwanted touching, etc.” Participants responded to each item using a 5-point scale, ranging from Never to At least once a week. The four items have demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability (Pearson correlations ranging from .69 to .73). For the present study, due to restricted range of responses (i.e., more than half of the sample provided responses of never to each harassment type), responses were dichotomized to a score of Never or Ever.
Body mass index (BMI)
Participants’ heights and weights were measured at school by trained research staff in a private area with standardized equipment and procedures. Adolescent BMI was calculated using the following formula: weight (kg)/height (meters)2. Sex- and age-specific cut points for underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity were based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.31
Sociodemographic characteristics
Several additional variables were included in the analysis. Race/ethnicity was assessed with the item, “Do you think of yourself as (1) White, (2) Black or African American, (3) Hispanic or Latino, (4) Asian American, (5) Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or (6) American Indian or Native American?,” and participants were invited to check all that applied. Those who checked “white” and another option were included in the “other” category. Those who checked two non-white options were categorized as “mixed/other race.” Additionally, those checking “Hawaiian/Pacific Islander” or “American Indian/Native American” were also categorized as “mixed/other race” due to their small numbers in this dataset. Five levels of socioeconomic status (SES; low to high) were based on parent education level, parent employment status, eligibility for public assistance, and eligibility for free or reduced-cost school meals. To avoid classifying youths as high SES, based on parental education levels, if they were receiving public assistance, were eligible for free or reduced-cost school meals, or had 2 unemployed parents (or 1 unemployed parent if from a single-parent household), an algorithm was developed. These variables also were used to assess SES in cases for which data were missing or “don’t know” responses were given for both parents’ educational level.32
Statistical Analysis
Because the aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of harassment among a diverse sample of adolescents, descriptive analyses first were conducted to characterize the study sample with regard to age, gender, race/ethnicity, weight status, and SES. In addition, separate logistic regression models were estimated to determine unadjusted percentages of four types of harassment reported based on sociodemographic characteristics. Based on observed gender differences in the prevalence of each type of harassment, subsequent analyses were stratified by gender. In addition, in the present study prevalence estimates of each form of harassment were calculated across all sociodemographic groups. Finally, in order isolate the prevalence of harassment specific to members of each demographic group, additional regression models were estimated to determine percentages of each type of harassment reported based on each sociodemographic characteristic, adjusting for all other sociodemographic characteristics.
Prevalence estimates therefore were calculated both in raw (i.e., unadjusted) form and adjusted form (controlling all other sociodemographic characteristics). Because adjusted and unadjusted prevalence estimates did not differ substantially, however, the adjusted results alone are presented and discussed.
Results
The racial/ethnic backgrounds of the participants were as follows: 18.9% white, 29.0% African American or Black, 19.9% Asian American, 16.9% Hispanic, 3.7% Native American, and 11.6% mixed or other. Most of the Asian American population group was Hmong (82.7%). The majority of participants were of low (39.9%) or lower middle (22.1%) SES, with fewer participants of middle (17.5%), upper middle (12.9%), or high (7.6%) SES. Most participants were of normal weight (53.9%), and relatively fewer fell within the obese (22.3%), overweight (17.9%), or underweight (5.9%) groups.
Rates of perceived harassment are presented in Table 1. Overall, among female adolescents, weight-based harassment was most prevalent (38.2%), followed by race-based and sexual harassment and, finally, SES-based harassment. Among male adolescents, race-based harassment was most prevalent (39.5%), followed by weight-based and, finally, sexual and SES-based harassment.
Table 1.
Rates of Perceived Harassment in the Sample
| Total Sample N (%) |
Girls*† N (%) |
Boys N (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
| Harassment Type | |||
| Race-based harassment | 983 (35.2)a | 467 (31.4)a | 516 (39.5)a |
| Weight-based harassment | 986 (35.3)a | 568 (38.2)b | 416 (31.8)b |
| SES-based harassment | 450 (16.1)b | 208 (14.0)c | 243 (18.6)c |
| Sexual harassment | 698 (25.0)c | 431 (29.0)a | 267 (20.4)c |
Note. Data are given as percentages of perceived harassment.
Percents within the same column (i.e., Total Sample, Girls, Boys columns) without a common superscript letter are significantly different from one another (p < .01).
Percents for girls and boys are statistically different from one another (p < .001) for each type of harassment.
As expected, differential rates of each type of harassment were reported by members of different groups within the corresponding sociodemographic or weight-status category (Table 2). That is, racial differences were evident in the prevalence of race-based harassment reported, class differences emerged in the rates of SES-based harassment, a gender difference was evident in the prevalence of sexual harassment, and varying rates of weight-based harassment were reported across weight-status groups. For example, 28.4% of female adolescents reported experiencing sexual harassment, as compared to 20.2% of male adolescents.
Table 2a.
Girls’ Predicted Prevalence of Perceived Harassment by Sociodemographic and Body Weight Characteristics*
| Race-based Harassment (%) | Weight-based Harassment (%) | SES-based Harassment (%) | Sexual Harassment (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| Total Sample of Girls (N = 1486) | 31.7 | 41.7 | 12.2 | 28.4 | |
|
| |||||
| N (%) | |||||
|
|
|||||
| School Level | |||||
| Middle school | 689 (46.4) | 33.0 | 41.4 | 12.1 | 27.7 |
| High school | 796 (53.6) | 28.2 | 39.0 | 9.1 | 26.7 |
| p < .052 | p = .329 | p = .097 | p = .681 | ||
| Race | |||||
| White | 248 (16.8) | 22.1a | 47.4a | 14.9a | 30.3a |
| Black | 429 (29.0) | 23.0a | 29.1b | 6.1c | 19.6b |
| Hispanic | 256 (17.3) | 33.6b | 36.4b | 7.9bc | 22.5b |
| Asian | 295 (19.9) | 46.0c | 47.5a | 11.7ab | 31.7a |
| Other† | 252 (17.0) | 28.4ab | 40.6a | 12.3ab | 31.7a |
| p < .001 | p < .001 | p < .05 | p < .001 | ||
| BMI | |||||
| Underweight | 63 (4.2) | 20.8a | 36.7ab | 4.9 | 20.7 |
| Normal weight | 848 (57.0) | 30.8a | 27.2a | 11.5 | 31.3 |
| Overweight | 290 (19.5) | 32.6ab | 37.2b | 11.5 | 26.7 |
| Obese | 285 (19.2) | 38.2b | 59.7c | 14.5 | 29.9 |
| p < .05 | p < .001 | p = .243 | p = .204 | ||
| SES | |||||
| Low | 636 (44.1) | 31.6 | 47.4a | 16.5a | 26.2 |
| Lower middle | 310 (21.5) | 26.6 | 45.7ab | 14.3ab | 28.6 |
| Middle | 240 (16.7) | 29.8 | 38.6b | 10.2bc | 27.2 |
| Upper middle | 167 (11.6) | 30.3 | 38.5b | 7.1c | 30.8 |
| High | 88 (6.1) | 34.7 | 31.0bc | 4.8c | 23.0 |
| p = .534 | p < .01 | p < .01 | p = .668 | ||
Note. BMI = Body mass index; SES = socioeconomic status.
Data are given as predicted prevalences of perceived harassment. The effect of each sociodemographic/weight-status characteristic is adjusted for all other sociodemographic/weight-status characteristics.
Other = Native American / Mixed/ Other race/ethnicity.
Significant results are shown in bold, with p-values provided just below. Means within the same cell without a common superscript letter are significantly different (p < .05).
Examination of the prevalence of each type of harassment across all sociodemographic categories, however, revealed a complex interplay among the various characteristics. Of particular note were the significantly higher rates of mistreatment reported by overweight and obese adolescents than those of normal weight, which was evident across all forms of harassment, particularly for males. For example, even after controlling for race/ethnicity, reports of race-based harassment were statistically significantly higher among obese female (38.2%) and male (46.6%) adolescents than among those in the normal weight (female: 30.8%, male: 37.8 %) and underweight (female: 20.8%, male: 34.0%) groups. In addition, Asian and mixed-/other-race adolescents reported consistently higher rates of harassment than members of other racial/ethnic groups.
Discussion
This study provides an initial documentation of the prevalence of perceived harassment based on weight, race, and SES, as well as sexual harassment, among a large, diverse sample of female and male adolescents. Findings demonstrate that experiences of harassment are common among adolescents, and reveal multiple prevalence patterns—some of which are relatively straightforward, others of which are more complex, and all of which are concerning. Specifically, results not only suggest that differential rates of each type of harassment are reported across groups within the corresponding sociodemographic category, but also highlight a pattern of “cross-harassment,” such that differences in prevalence of each type of harassment are evident across a variety of sociodemographic characteristics.
Weight-based harassment was the most common form of harassment reported by female adolescents, and the second most common among male adolescents. Overall, harassment based on weight was more prevalent in this sample than in other recent samples of adolescents,33 possibly due to the high proportion of overweight and obese adolescents in the present sample. Female adolescents were more likely to report weight-based harassment than were male adolescents, and Asian adolescents of both genders (the majority of whom were Hmong) were particularly vulnerable to weight-based harassment. Surprisingly, although some research indicates that weight-based harassment is more prevalent among overweight girls than boys,34 in the present study this gender difference appeared to diminish at higher BMI levels.
The most prevalent form of harassment among male adolescents was race-based harassment. Male adolescents were significantly more likely than females to report race-based harassment, which is consistent with estimates of racial discrimination in the general population.35 Asian adolescents of both genders were most vulnerable to race-based harassment. One potential explanation for this finding may be the large proportion of adolescents from immigrant families among the Asian subsample in this study. It is possible, for example, that an adolescent’s immigrant status or primary household language (many among the present sample speak Hmong) may further differentiate him or her from the “mainstream” cultural norms of his or her peers.
Reports of sexual harassment were more prevalent in this study than in other community samples of adolescents.18 It is possible that this difference in prevalence is driven, in part, by differences in the definition of sexual harassment. Characterized in the present study as “experiencing unwanted touching, sexual comments, or grabbing/pinching in a sexual way,” sexual harassment has been conceptualized differently across studies, including, for example, general “unwanted [verbal/physical/nonverbal] sexual behavior,” 18, p. 236 or various specific behaviors acts (e.g., “pulling at your clothing in a sexual way”). 16, p. 355 Although sexual harassment was more prevalent among female than male adolescents, boys in middle school were significantly more likely than high school boys to report sexual harassment, whereas older girls were no more likely to be sexually harassed than younger girls. Moreover, male adolescents’ vulnerability to sexual harassment was substantially higher within the overweight and obese groups, whereas the same was not true of female adolescents, suggesting that male adolescents—and particularly those of higher weights—are a particularly vulnerable group.
The most striking finding of the present study is the complex pattern of differences that emerged across the intersections of all types of harassment with all sociodemographic characteristics. Beyond the straightforward prevalence differences that would be expected when matching each type of harassment with its corresponding sociodemographic category (e.g., race-based harassment and race/ethnicity), these results revealed a far more nuanced system of relationships among adolescents’ identity characteristics and harassment experiences. Most alarming among these patterns is the consistency with which members of some groups are reporting disproportionately high rates of harassment. Overweight and obese adolescents, for instance, reported the highest rates of all forms of harassment. It may that the highly visible nature of weight status, and the fact that expressions of judgment and discrimination against those of higher weight remain relatively permissible in our culture,7 together position overweight and obese youth as “easy targets” for a broad range of mistreatment.
It is important to note that measured in this study were adolescents’ perceptions of harassment (rather than, for example, observed measures of harassment experiences). It is plausible that certain adolescents, such as those who are members of stigmatized groups (e.g., overweight or obese) may expect, or be more attuned to, potential harassment and thus be more likely than other adolescents to interpret the comments or behaviors of others in a negative way. However, prior research, such as one study involving peer observations of schoolmate mistreatment, in which the majority of participants reported witnessing harassment toward overweight students,13 provides corroborating support for the high prevalence of harassment experiences among adolescents.
This study provides, to our knowledge, the most comprehensive exploration of perceived harassment on the basis of race/ethnicity, weight status, and SES, as well as sexual harassment. The large, population-based sample enhances the potential for estimates of population-level harassment prevalences. Moreover, the diversity of this sample (with regard to race/ethnicity, SES, and weight status) addresses an explicit need in the literature for investigations of victimization among diverse children and adolescents.33
However, several limitations of the present study warrant consideration. First, the present study was conducted within one US metropolitan area, and therefore may not generalize to other areas. Second, additional research is needed to further validate the constructs examined in this study. The harassment items, for instance, were non-specific with regard to the source(s) of harassment, and thus it is not possible to determine by whom the instances of mistreatment reported by participants were perpetrated or whether the participant and perpetrator were matched with regard to sociodemographic characteristics. Third, the inclusive wording of the harassment items precludes inferences about the severity of the specific experiences (e.g., teasing vs. physical violence). Finally, due to the cross-sectional design of this study, it is not possible to assess changes in adolescents’ perceptions of harassment over time. Longitudinal examinations are needed to more thoroughly characterize the nature and course of harassment experiences across adolescence and into emerging young adulthood.
Implications
These findings raise a number of concerns and questions for researchers, parents, care providers, coaches, and others who work with adolescents to consider. First, overall prevalence estimates of harassment in the present study were high. Weight- and race-based harassment were reported by the greatest numbers of adolescents, and sexual harassment, in particular, was more prevalent among boys than expected, based on prior community estimates. Thus, parents, teachers, health care providers, and others who work with youth should continue to be attuned to the harassment experiences of female and male adolescents across the transition from middle school to high school, and continue to inquire specifically about mistreatment (e.g., comments, teasing, unwanted touching) based on race, weight, or SES, or sexual harassment. Because perceptions of harassment can encompass anything from normative teasing to physical violence, adults working with adolescents are urged to check in regularly with them, attending even to reports of seemingly innocuous experiences.
Second, these results reveal a complex interplay of sociodemographic factors regarding the risks for experiencing harassment. For instance, low-SES girls were significantly more likely to report weight-based harassment than members of other groups even after adjusting for weight-status, while Asian boys reported higher levels of race-, weight-, and SES-based harassment after adjusting for relevant characteristics. Given that other research has shown that there are negative implications of harassment experienced by adolescents,1 these results are concerning. Future investigations by researchers should seek to evaluate existing family-, peer-, and school-based bullying prevention programs, with a goal of improving these programs’ sensitivity to the “cross-harassment” evident in the present data.
Finally, overweight and obese youth appear to be particularly vulnerable to various forms of mistreatment. That is, even when adjusting for all other sociodemographic factors, overweight and obese adolescents remain at disproportionately greater risk for harassment—not only on the basis of weight, but also race/ethnicity-based, SES-based, and sexual harassment. A clear and important next step is research focused on developing methods to intervene in this systematic targeting of overweight and obese adolescents, with preventive education/outreach efforts at the family and school levels a critical priority. Even at the most basic level, adults can intervene by reflecting on their own beliefs and values regarding body size, avoiding negative weight-related comments about themselves or others, and speaking up to curb teasing when they observe it.
In sum, these results emphasize the importance of adopting a broad view of harassment, as weight-, race-, SES-based, and sexual mistreatment are reported by adolescents across diverse sociodemographic and weight status groups. In addition, results of this study highlight a need for more nuanced intervention approaches that take into consideration the relative vulnerabilities experienced by members of certain groups to each form of harassment. Finally, these findings illuminate the disproportionately high exposure of overweight and obese adolescents to multiple forms of harassment (not solely weight-based) and underscore the need for “organized efforts to reduce weight bias”.35, p. 999 Extending well beyond the bounds of teasing, the harassment experiences reported by adolescents are prevalent, systematic, and deserving of close attention.
Table 2b.
Boys’ Predicted Prevalence of Perceived Harassment by Sociodemographic and Body Weight Characteristics*
| Race-based Harassment (%) | Weight-based Harassment (%) | SES-based Harassment (%) | Sexual Harassment (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| Total Sample of Boys (N = 1307) | 40.2 | 33.3 | 17.4 | 20.2 | |
|
| |||||
| N (%) | |||||
|
|
|||||
| School Level | |||||
| Middle school | 598 (45.9) | 40.0 | 33.8 | 18.3 | 19.0 |
| High school | 706 (54.1) | 42.0 | 35.2 | 18.8 | 23.6 |
| p = .475 | p = .598 | p = .839 | p < .05 | ||
| Race | |||||
| White | 277 (21.2) | 31.8a | 31.7a | 16.0a | 18.1a |
| Black | 379 (29.1) | 37.3a | 30.7a | 16.2a | 21.5ab |
| Hispanic | 216 (16.6) | 43.7b | 29.0a | 12.2a | 15.5a |
| Asian | 260 (19.9) | 52.2c | 42.1b | 23.1b | 22.6ab |
| Other† | 172 (13.2) | 39.9ab | 39.1ab | 25.1b | 28.8b |
| p < .001 | p < .01 | p < .01 | p < .05 | ||
| BMI | |||||
| Underweight | 103 (7.9) | 34.0a | 30.8b | 16.4ab | 19.6ab |
| Normal weight | 656 (50.2) | 37.8a | 19.4a | 14.8a | 17.3a |
| Overweight | 209 (16.0) | 45.7b | 29.5b | 20.2ab | 25.7b |
| Obese | 339 (25.9) | 46.6b | 58.2c | 22.7b | 22.6ab |
| p < .05 | p < .001 | p < .05 | p < .05 | ||
| SES | |||||
| Low | 436 (35.0) | 40.3 | 34.3 | 22.6a | 21.9 |
| Lower middle | 285 (22.9) | 37.2 | 37.9 | 23.2a | 25.5 |
| Middle | 231 (18.5) | 33.7 | 31.6 | 14.4b | 18.5 |
| Upper middle | 180 (14.4) | 45.1 | 34.7 | 14.6b | 21.8 |
| High | 115 (9.2) | 48.8 | 34.1 | 17.8ab | 18.9 |
| p = .066 | p = .61 | p < .05 | p = .360 | ||
Note. BMI = Body mass index; SES = socioeconomic status.
Data are given as predicted prevalences of perceived harassment. The effect of each sociodemographic/weight-status characteristic is adjusted for all other sociodemographic/weight-status characteristics.
Other = Native American / Mixed/ Other race/ethnicity.
Significant results are shown in bold, with p-values provided just below. Means within the same cell without a common superscript letter are significantly different (p < .05).
Implications and Contribution.
This study represents an overview of diverse adolescents’ harassment experiences. Harassment experiences are not only highly prevalent, but also are interwoven with sociodemographic factors, such that members of certain groups—such as overweight and obese youth—are particularly vulnerable to various forms of mistreatment.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by Grant Number R01HL084064 (PI: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The first author’s time was funded by Grant T32 MH082761-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute or the National Institutes of Health.
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