Association between body mass index and health outcomes among adolescents: the mediating role of traditional and cyber bullying victimization

Byung Lee, Seokjin Jeong, Myunghoon Roh

It is well-documented that obese children and adolescents tend to experience a variety of negative physical and psychological health consequences. Despite the association between obesity and physical and psychological well-being, few studies have examined the role of off-line and on-line forms of bullying victimization in this link. The main objective of the current study is to investigate the direct and mediating effects of traditional and cyber bullying victimization in explaining the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) and physical/psychological distress. A nationally representative sample of 10,160 school children (mean age = 12.95 ± 1.75) were collected from the 2009 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Data were collected on body mass index, physical and psychological health, bullying victimization experience, and demographic information. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) was employed to assess and compare the indirect effects in multiple mediation models. While a significant direct association was found between BMI and both physical and psychological health, the indirect effect of BMI on physical distress was significant only via traditional bullying victimization. Both forms of bullying victimization had a mediating impact between BMI and psychological distress. However, the indirect effect on psychological distress was manifested through a negative mediating role of cyberbullying victimization. The negative relation between cyberbullying victimization and psychological distress warrants further exploration. Obesity represents a serious risk to adolescent health and well-being, both physically and psychologically. If becoming a victim of traditional bullying mediates (specifically exacerbates) the level of physical and psychological distress among obese and overweight adolescents, health professionals need to focus on raising awareness of the importance of weight-based victimization for children and adolescents with obesity. School administrators and teachers could increase the efforts to identify school-age children who are stigmatized for their weight and recommend coping strategies for distressed victims of traditional and cyberbullying.