Teasing children about weight increases risk of self-stigma as adults, study finds

The findings came from more than 4,000 children from in and around Bristol who were first studied in the 1990s and are now 33. Photograph: Paula Solloway/Alamy

Parents who tease their children about their weight are putting them at greater risk of feeling bad about their bodies decades later, regardless of whether they grow up to have obesity or not, a groundbreaking study has found.

Thirteen-year-olds who felt pressure from family members to shed pounds and endured weight-based teasing showed higher levels of internalised weight stigma when they turned 31, according to research by the University of Bristol published on Tuesday in the Lancet Regional Health Europe journal.