New York: Kids as young as age six suffering from obesity are likely to be introverts and show more signs of depression, a research report has claimed.
Such kids are more often teased and are made fun of their classmates which can exacerbate their struggles with weight over time, it added.
"Severe obesity is a clear psychosocial risk for children, even as early as six years old," said lead author Amanda W. Harrist in a paper published in the journal Child Development.
Obese children engage in emotional eating to deal with the pain of rejection, or they may avoid physical play with peers to avoid teasing, both behaviours that would lead to additional weight gain.
"Children who are ostracised, as occurred with the severely overweight children in our study, suffer great harm with feelings of loneliness, depression and aggression and these children are more likely to skip school and drop out later," Harrist, from the Oklahoma State University in the US, added in the paper.
The team analysed 1,164 first graders from 29 rural schools in Oklahoma to examine the social and emotional lives of obese children.
The results showed that severely obese children were actively rejected by their peers as they were frequently mentioned as their least favourite playmates.
The more overweight the children were, the worse the consequences and the severity with which obese children were teased.
In terms of emotional health, severely obese children had more symptoms of depression than children who were overweight and of healthy weights.
"Intervention or prevention efforts should begin early and target peer relationships," said co-author Glade L. Topham.
(With IANS Inputs)
