The association between bullying and weight. A bidirectional bibliographic review of cause and effect

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood obesity and bullying are becoming increasingly serious issues. Bullying during childhood and adolescence can cause long-term physical, psychological, or social harm. Several studies examine how obesity correlates with the risk of being bullied. Given that bullying is considered a public health issue, both approaches will be studied in this work.

Methodology: This bibliographic review was conducted from November 2024 to February 2025. The databases PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, BVS and Dialnet were used. Following defined vetting criteria, 29 articles were selected for review.

Results: This work examined the relationship between bullying and overweight and obesity. On the one hand, it investigated the extent to which being overweight increases the risk of bullying. On the other hand, it also studied the correlation between experiencing bullying and the development of obesity in both adolescence and adulthood. The analysis also considered psychological and biological variables involved in this relationship.

Conclusions: Although obesity and overweight have been observed to increase the risk of bullying, the reverse relationship remains an unexplored area of research. Nevertheless recent research suggests that experiencing bullying may increase the risk of developing obesity and overweight.