From Chron.com:
Obese girls, often suffering from negative self-images as teenagers, are half as likely to attend college as girls who aren’t as overweight, according to a new study at the University of Texas.
The same trend does not hold true for obese boys, likely because American mass culture holds adolescent girls to stricter weight standards, the study’s author said.
“The costs of being obese are just not as great for boys,” said UT sociology professor Robert Crosnoe, who is writing a book about the educational impacts of lower social status in high school.
“People care more about girls’ weights and girls care more about girls’ weights,” he said. “Girls are more penalized for this and they care about it more.”
The study, which tracked 11,000 American adolescents, suggests that harmful effects of obesity extend beyond poor physical health.
Crosnoe, who adjusted statistically for factors such as ethnicity, race and income, said obese girls often engage in negative behavior to cope with isolation and social stigmatization.
They are more likely to skip school, drink alcohol or take drugs and consider suicide, behavioral and mental health problems that undermine their ability to compete academically.
Adults are often unsympathetic to the social plight of high schoolers who don’t fit in, saying students must learn to “get over it” as they grow older, Crosnoe said. …
More information about the study (including the author’s contact information) here.
–Ann Bartow
