Over the past three decades, the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in Canada has nearly tripled. 1 While the relationship between these chronic conditions and related physiological co-morbidities has been examined extensively, less attention has been focused on the psychological and social implications of increased adiposity. Given that obesity has been shown to serve as a determinant of mental health issues in childhood, 2 additional attention is required. The following paper will

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... address the impact of social stigmatization and discrimination, specifically bullying, on the psychological wellbeing of obese children, and will highlight potential solutions from a population health perspective. Overweight/obese children: A "bigger" target for bullying and mental illness? Obesity often lends way to overwhelming social calamity among children, with peer rejection being of particular note. 2 Compared to their non-overweight counterparts, obese children have greater relative odds of being diagnosed with a psychiatric problem, 3 and are at a marked risk for the development of mental health issues such as low self-esteem and poor body image. 4,5 Higher rates of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders are common among this unique population. 4 Bullying among obese children: Adding more fuel to an already roaring fire Although bullying has been cited as a social repercussion of obesity, the degree of bullying is positively correlated with weight (i.e., the more overweight the child, the more intense the bullying episode). 6 In fact, overweight and obese children are 10% and 60% more likely to be bullied than non-overweight and non-obese children, respectively. 7 Even more alarming, obese children are at an increased risk for suicidal behaviours. Eaton and colleagues determined that weight-based teasing and victimization were positively associated with suicidal ideation and increased likelihood of suicide attempts among Caucasian, Hispanic, and Black students as compared to average-weight peers. 8 This finding was further evidenced by Eisenberg and colleagues in 2003, as a sample of over 4,000 children who were teased about their weight were 2-3 times more likely to report suicidal ideation as compared to those who were not teased. 9 Fortunately, there is also research to suggest that bullying and its associated suicide rates can be significantly reduced by implementing bullying education and prevention programs. In fact, children who participated in a suicide prevention program were 37% less likely to attempt suicide as compared to a control group. 10