If you are considered normal weight, then you likely reject fat people as friends. If you are young, the likelihood of you discriminating against fat people is even higher. Researchers claim overweight people have fewer friends than their healthy weight peers and are likely to befriend people who are fat too, and in some cases, they seek out slimmer people to befriend.
Researchers at Arizona State University told the press, “We found consistent evidence that overweight youth choose non-overweight friends more often than they were selected in return. This is especially troubling since friendships are important sources of support and companionship. Not having or losing friends is associated with higher depression and lower self-worth for young people, which could exacerbate the health problems associated with being overweight. It’s important to keep in mind that overweight youth still have lots of friends. Having just one friend makes a big difference. And, it’s less important how many friends teens have — what is key is that those friends are supportive.”
The researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health that surveyed 58,987 students in 88 middle and high schools. Nearly 20 percent of students surveyed provided body mass index (BMI) data.
They also discovered:
- Overweight young people are mostly indifferent to the weight of their friends.
- Overweight people may turn to overweight peers for friendship.
- Young people are also more likely to socially marginalize those who are overweight.
