Teasing tied to less physical activity among kids

Children who are teased while playing sports tend to have a worse quality of life than their non-teased peers, a new study suggests. Some of them may also become less active over time.

"Teasing not only influences psychological functioning but may reduce physical activity and lead to poorer physical, social, and emotional functioning for children," Chad D. Jensen told Reuters Health in an email. He led the study at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

The link between teasing and less physical activity is particularly concerning considering most children are already not exercising as much as they should.

Previous research shows less than one in 10 children meets the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recommendation to participate in at least one hour of moderate or vigorous physical activity every day.

Jensen and his colleagues surveyed 108 kids, aged nine to 12, in 2010 and again in 2011. They asked kids about their participation in 21 different types of physical activity before, during and after school and how often they had been teased while playing sports or exercising since kindergarten.

The researchers also asked the kids how well they functioned physically, emotionally, with friends and at school. Together those measures were used to determine children's health-related quality of life.

Less Physical Activity: Obesity Cause or Effect?

Does less physical activity cause obesity or does obesity cause less physical activity? It’s a chicken or egg puzzle that many overlook. People generally, and especially advocates for the food industry, are pretty sure that reduced physical activity is a prime cause of the obesity epidemic. New research soon to be published in Obesity shows that the impact of obesity on physical activity is worth a fresh look. Results show that obesity is an important risk factor for declining physical activity.

“Most people talk about it as if it’s a cycle,” said Larry Tucker, the senior investigator on the study. “Half of the cycle has been studied almost without limit. This is the first study of its kind, in many ways, looking at obesity leading to decreases in physical activity over time.”

To study this reciprocal effect objectively, the researchers attached an accelerometer to more than 250 participants. Accelerometers measure actual movement and intensity of activity. Previous studies have relied on less-dependable self-reported data.

The 254 women in the study - of which 124 had obesity - were instructed to wear the accelerometer for seven consecutive days at the beginning of the study, and then again for an additional week 20 months later, at the end of the study.

On average, physical activity in women with obesity dropped by 8 percent over the course of 20 months. This is equivalent to decreasing moderate to vigorous physical activity by 28 minutes per week. In contrast, women without obesity had essentially no change.