Assessment of Nutritional Status and Signs of Growth among Bullying School Children

Abstract

Nutritional status is one of the indicators of the quality mental and physical for children. Assessment of physical growth is one of the important tools for assessing nutrition status for children, especially bully children. Bullying is the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another individual, physically, mentally, or emotionally over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. The aim of our study is to assess nutritional intake and anthropometric statuses in bullying Schoolchildren (9-12 years old) and determine nutritional adequacy with Dietary Reference Intake (DRIs). The study was conducted on 50 males and 50 females (9-12 years) suffering from bullying and was diagnosed by bullying behavioral scale (BBS), and investigated nutritional status by using 24 hours recall, diet history, food habits, anthropometric measurements and clinical signs. The most important results were: approximately more than 50% of study sample didn't eat breakfast, 1-3 snacks/day, canned juice/day and soft drinks/day. Nutrient intake was lower than recommended in protein, fiber, water, vit D, vit E, folic acid, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, omega 3, taurine and choline. About 50% and 36% from males and females, respectively had underweight; 10% of males had obesity; besides, total sample had normal measure upper arm circumference (MUAC). About 45% of the total sample had moderate malnutrition. The highest percentage for clinical sign of the sample was loss teeth by 33%; then 20% had white spots nails and 19% had a stuttering speech, while the smallest percentage was bleeding gums by 5% for bullying children. Conclusion: Bully school children had deficiency in some nutrients, some bad eating habits and some growth problems; our results suggest follow healthy eating habits, nutritional intervention for bullying children and nutritional adequacies to help improve behavioral bullying status.

Malnutrition in Ethiopia: pattern analysis and associated factors among under-five children

“…Properly nourish and care children in superiority are essential. This is consistent with other studies done in Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Nigeria (Endris et al , 2017; El-Sahar and Sopeah, 2019 and Kalu and Etim, 2018).…”