Fat Bias and Weight-Related Teasing Prevention Among Tweens

There is an alarming trend to condone “fat” jokes and judgments based on weight, size, or shape and media aggravates the trend in American society. A “fat joke” delivered in a condescending way reinforces fat bias, as well as stereotyped images (i.e., lazy, ugly, unattractive) and common misperceptions that individuals who are overweight or obese should simply change their eating and exercise habits. Due to biases related to size and weight concerns surrounding the obesity epidemic, the potential deleterious impact of weight-related teasing is often ignored.

One overlooked concern about fat bias and weight-related teasing is lack of awareness among teachers, health educators, and parents who may unintentionally contribute to fat bias promoting the message that “thin is good” and “fat is bad”. The “good or bad” thinking can negatively impact adolescent's self-worth. Additionally, we treat weight-related teasing and bullying as a separate issue. However, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, weight-related teasing is categorized under verbal bullying. Furthermore, it has been noted that bullying may be associated with social isolation, depression, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and suicidal ideations. These mental issues are significant concern among adolescents who seek out own identity as a person. Therefore, I have chosen weight-related teasing and fat bias as a research focus for my dissertation project.

We are currently conducting a needs assessment and an intervention program to educate weight-related teasing as a form of bullying and promote greater size acceptance among students in health classes at elementary or/and middle schools in Utah. This poster presentation will be based on data from 1) needs assessment and 2) program implementation.

The objectives of this poster presentation include:

1. To display incident rate of weight-related teasing and association between weight-related teasing and adolescents' body-esteem and self-esteem. 2. To describe the strategies of developing the intervention program. 3. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposing intervention program. 4. To Identify suggestions for future intervention programs to address weight-related teasing among adolescents.

Furthermore, we will clearly show the entire process of developing, implementing and evaluating a culturally tailored intervention program that integrates two evidence-based programs (i.e., Full of Ourselves: Steiner-Adair & Sjostrom, 2005 & Olweus Bullying Prevention Program; Olweus, 1993) in order to prevent disordered eating and bullying.