Signe Lynne Boe Rayce

Overweight, body image and bullying—an epidemiological study of 11- to 15-years olds

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine the association between weight status and exposure to bullying among 11-, 13- and 15-year-old Danish school children. Furthermore, the purpose was to investigate the potentially mediating effect of body image. METHODS Data from the Danish contribution to the international cross-sectional research project Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2002 was used. Data were assessed from questionnaires and 4781 students aged 11-, 13- and 15-years old were included in the analyses. Logistic regression was used for the analyses. RESULTS The regression analyses showed that overweight and obese students were more exposed to bullying than their normal weight peers. Among boys, odds ratios (ORs) for exposure to bullying were 1.75 (1.18-2.61) in overweight and 1.98 (0.79-4.95) in obese boys compared with normal weight. Among girls, the corresponding ORs were 1.89 (1.25-2.85) in overweight and 2.74 (0.96-7.82) in obese girls. The mediation analyses showed that body image fully mediated the associations between weight status and exposure to bullying in both boys and girls. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that overweight and obese boys and girls are of higher odds of being exposed to bullying than their normal weight peers. Moreover, this study finds that body image may statistically explain this association between overweight and exposure to bullying. However, the study is cross-sectional, and hypotheses of possibilities for opposite causality are possible.

Low vigorous physical activity at ages 15, 19 and 27: childhood socio-economic position modifies the tracking pattern

BACKGROUND The present study examines (i) if the level of vigorous physical activity (VPA) at age 15 predicts low VPA at ages 19 and 27 and (ii) whether the observed prediction pattern differs by childhood socio-economic position (SEP). In this way, prediction analyses are applied to study tracking behaviour. METHODS Data are from The Danish Longitudinal Health Behaviour Study. The baseline survey was conducted in 1990 at age 15, the first follow-up in 1994 at age 19, and the second follow-up in 2002 at age 27, n = 561. The study population was a random sample of the Danish population selected from the National Civic Registration System, and data were collected by anonymous postal questionnaires. The indicator of childhood SEP was family occupational social class. Prediction analyses are conducted by stratified logistic regression analyses. RESULTS There was a significant and marked predictive power of low levels of VPA in mid adolescence (aged 15) for low VPA in late adolescence (age 19) [odds ratio (OR)=4.95 (2.83-8.66)], from late adolescence (age 19) into early adulthood (age 27) [OR = 2.71 (1.61-4.55)] and also over the full study period from age 15 to age 27 [2.91 (1.72-4.94)]. Analyses stratified by SEP revealed that the predictive power of VPA at age 19 for low VPA at age 27 was only significant among participants from low SEP. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that low VPA tracks through adolescence while tracking into adulthood only occurs among individuals with low childhood SEP.

Social background, bullying, and physical inactivity: National study of 11- to 15-year-olds

More children from lower social backgrounds are physically inactive than those from higher ones. We studied whether bullying was a mediating factor between lower social background and physical inactivity. We also examined the combined effect of low social class and exposure to bullying on physical inactivity. The Danish sample of the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children (HBSC) study 2006 included 6269 schoolchildren in three age groups: 11‐, 13‐, and 15‐year‐olds from a random sample of 80 schools. The students answered the internationally standardized HBSC questionnaire. The applied definition leaves 4.0% in the category physically inactive. The sex and age‐adjusted OR (95% CI) for physical inactivity was 2.10 (1.39–3.18) among students with low social class and unclassifiable 3.53 (2.26–5.53). Exposure to bullying was associated with physical inactivity, sex and age‐adjusted OR = 2.39 (1.67–3.41). Exposure to bullying did not explain the association between social class and physical inactivity. The association between social class and physical inactivity was more pronounced among participants also exposed to bullying. In conclusion, there was a significantly increased odds ratio for physical inactivity among students from lower social classes and for students exposed to bullying. There was a combined effect of low social class and bullying on physical inactivity.

Increasing prevalence of emotional symptoms in higher socioeconomic strata: Trend study among Danish schoolchildren 1991–2014

Aims: The aims of this study were: (a) to examine trends in daily emotional symptoms among 11- to 15-year-olds from 1991 to 2014 in Denmark, and (b) to examine trends in social inequality in daily emotional symptoms, that is, whether the differences in prevalence between adolescents with parents of varying occupational social class changed over time. Methods: We combined seven comparable cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children surveys (N=31,169). Daily emotional symptoms were measured by the HBSC Symptom Check List and occupational social class (OSC) by students’ reports about parents’ occupation. We calculated absolute (per cent) differences in emotional symptoms between high and low OSC and relative differences by odds ratio for emotional symptoms by parents’ OSC. Results: Eight per cent reported at least one daily emotional symptoms, with an increasing trend from 1991 to 2014 (p<0.001). The prevalence in high, middle and low OSC was 6.2%, 7.4% and 10.6% (p<0.0001). From 1991 to 2014, there was an increase in the prevalence of daily emotional symptoms in high (p<0.0001) and middle (p<0.0001) but not low OSC (p=0.4404). This resulted in a diminishing absolute social inequality in emotional symptoms. The statistical interaction between OSC and survey year was significant (p=0.0023) and suggests a diminishing relative social inequality in emotional symptoms from 1991 to 2014. Conclusions: There was an increasing prevalence of daily emotional symptoms from 1991 to 2014 and a diminishing social inequality in prevalence of daily emotional symptoms in terms of both absolute and relative social inequality.