Hughes Amanda, Grey Elisabeth, Haigherty Alice, Shepherd Fayth, Gillison Fiona, MacArthur Georgie, Gowran Caoimhe, Langford Rebecca
Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, BS8 2BN, UK.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West), University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, 9th Floor, Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NT, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2025 May 30;25(1):2006. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23170-9.
Weight is reported to be the most common target for bullying at school - far more common than other targets such as ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Research suggests weight bias and stigma - including negative beliefs, attitudes and discriminatory behaviours related to a person's weight - is prevalent in educational settings among both pupils and staff. Most schools have anti-bullying policies. Best practice recommendations advise policies should explicitly identify forms of unacceptable behaviour, such as racism or homophobia. We conducted an audit of secondary schools in southwest England to determine if/how they mention weight-related bullying in their policies, and whether this differs by school-level factors.
We obtained lists of all secondary mainstream state, private, and special schools in seven local authorities and downloaded anti-bullying policies from their websites. Policies were searched for key words related to weight and size. We also recorded whether policies mentioned appearance or other key targets for bullying, such as race, religion, sexuality etc. We obtained school level data including size, gender mix, academic performance and quality ratings.
From 255 schools with an available bullying or behaviour policy, only 6.7% specifically mentioned weight-related bullying. Just under half (48.6%) mentioned bullying in relation to appearance. Bullying was most often mentioned in relation to race/ethnicity (94.5%), sexual orientation (93.3%), gender (85.9%), religion (84.9%) or gender identity (67.5%). Private schools (N = 40) were more likely to mention weight-related bullying (17.5%) than mainstream state schools (N = 148, 6.1%). No special schools, whether state (N = 41) or private (N = 26), mentioned weight-related bullying in their policies. There was no strong evidence that other school characteristics made a difference, but small numbers limited statistical power of these comparisons.
There is a significant mismatch between the prevalence of weight-related bullying in schools and its representation within school anti-bullying policies. Some types of school are more likely than others to mention weight-related bullying in their policies. We recommend that schools explicitly recognise weight-related bullying in their anti-bullying policies and explore how to support staff and pupils to take action.
据报道，体重是学校里最常见的欺凌目标——远比种族、宗教或性取向等其他目标更为常见。研究表明，体重偏见和污名化——包括与一个人的体重相关的负面信念、态度和歧视行为——在教育环境中的学生和教职员工中都很普遍。大多数学校都有反欺凌政策。最佳实践建议指出，政策应明确界定不可接受行为的形式，如种族主义或恐同症。我们对英格兰西南部的中学进行了一项审计，以确定它们在政策中是否提及以及如何提及与体重相关的欺凌行为，以及这是否因学校层面的因素而有所不同。
我们获取了七个地方当局所有公立、私立和特殊主流中学的名单，并从其网站上下载了反欺凌政策。在政策中搜索与体重和体型相关的关键词。我们还记录了政策是否提及外貌或其他主要的欺凌目标，如种族、宗教、性取向等。我们获取了学校层面的数据，包括规模、性别构成、学业成绩和质量评级。
在255所提供了欺凌或行为政策的学校中，只有6.7%的学校特别提到了与体重相关的欺凌行为。略低于半数（48.6%）的学校提到了与外貌相关的欺凌行为。最常被提及的欺凌行为与种族/民族（94.5%）、性取向（93.3%）、性别（85.9%）、宗教（84.9%）或性别认同（67.5%）有关。私立学校（N = 40）比公立主流学校（N = 148，6.1%）更有可能提到与体重相关的欺凌行为（17.5%）。无论是公立（N = 41）还是私立（N = 26）的特殊学校，在其政策中均未提及与体重相关的欺凌行为。没有有力证据表明其他学校特征会产生影响，但样本数量较少限制了这些比较的统计效力。
学校中与体重相关的欺凌行为的普遍程度与其在学校反欺凌政策中的体现之间存在显著差异。某些类型的学校比其他学校更有可能在其政策中提及与体重相关的欺凌行为。我们建议学校在其反欺凌政策中明确承认与体重相关的欺凌行为，并探索如何支持教职员工和学生采取行动。
