Weight-Based Teasing Scale

Abstract

The Weight-Based Teasing Scale is a concise psychological instrument developed by Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, and Perry in 2003. Its primary function is to quantify the frequency of perceived peer harassment and victimization experienced by individuals, with a specific focus on teasing related to body weight and general physical appearance. The scale comprises five items that assess experiences ranging from being treated with less respect and feeling inferior to explicit insults and weight-focused teasing. It utilizes a 5-point frequency scale to measure the extent of these negative interpersonal experiences, making it a valuable tool in school health and adolescent psychology research concerning weight stigma and bullying.

Keywords

Weight stigma, Teasing, Peer harassment, Victimization, Body image, Bullying, Adolescent health, Psychological scale, Overweight

Authors

Marla E. Eisenberg, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, C. L. Perry

Purpose

The central purpose of the Weight-Based Teasing Scale is to provide a reliable and efficient measure of the exposure to social mistreatment that is either directly or indirectly related to an individual’s physical appearance or body size. The inclusion of items specifically targeting weight and appearance teasing alongside more general victimization indicators (e.g., being treated with less respect) allows researchers to differentiate between general peer conflict and targeted weight-related harassment. This distinction is crucial for developing effective intervention strategies against weight stigma in educational settings.

The scale was initially designed for use in studies examining the relationship between peer experiences, school engagement, and academic performance among adolescents, highlighting its utility in broader public health and educational research contexts.

Construct

The scale primarily measures the construct of Perceived Peer Victimization, with a specific sub-focus on Weight-Related Victimization. Victimization, in this context, refers to chronic, negative actions inflicted by peers, which often lead to feelings of distress, social exclusion, and reduced self-worth. The items cover both overt verbal abuse (insults, name-calling) and subtle forms of social disrespect or exclusion, which are common manifestations of peer harassment.

By including items on general disrespect and items specifically about weight/appearance, the scale captures the breadth of negative social interactions that may stem from visible differences, particularly those related to being overweight or having a non-normative body size. This construct is strongly linked to mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and disordered eating behaviors.

Validity

Detailed psychometric testing, including analyses of construct and criterion validity, are documented in the original 2003 publication by Eisenberg et al. In general, scales measuring victimization are expected to demonstrate strong construct validity through significant positive correlations with measures of emotional distress, poor body image, and negative school climate. Conversely, they should show negative correlations with indicators of psychological well-being and school connectedness.

The inclusion of the scale within a larger study on peer harassment suggests that its validity was established through its predictive power regarding important outcomes like academic achievement and school engagement, demonstrating that higher scores on the Weight-Based Teasing Scale predict poorer outcomes in these areas.

Reliability

Reliability of the Weight-Based Teasing Scale is typically assessed using measures of internal consistency, such as Cronbach’s alpha. While the specific alpha coefficient is not present in the brief source content, scales of this nature, composed of highly related items focusing on a specific type of harassment, generally exhibit good to excellent internal consistency (alpha values often ranging from 0.70 to 0.90) when administered to adolescent populations.

Test-retest reliability, which assesses the stability of scores over time, would also be a critical measure, particularly when studying chronic exposure to teasing in longitudinal research designs.

Factor Analysis

Although the scale contains five items that cover both general disrespect and specific weight teasing, it is often treated as a unidimensional measure of perceived peer victimization, or sometimes as a sub-scale within a broader bullying instrument. The original research likely employed exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis (EFA or CFA) to confirm whether the five items load onto a single factor representing teasing/victimization, or if they separate into distinct factors (e.g., general mistreatment vs. weight-specific harassment).

Given its brevity and focused content, the scale is most commonly understood to measure a highly specific dimension of harassment, supporting a single-factor structure related to negative peer interactions focused on appearance and weight.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological scale

Format: Brief, 5-item questionnaire utilizing a 5-point Likert scale frequency response set.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Adolescents and school-aged youth

Age Group: Typically middle school and high school students (ages 11–18)

Population Details: Originally validated on diverse samples of students participating in school-based health studies.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the frequency with which they have experienced each of the five listed events. The responses are summed or averaged to create a total victimization score, with higher scores indicating greater frequency of teasing and harassment.

Keywords

Body image, Weight discrimination, Peer relations, School environment, Adolescent mental health, Obesity stigma, Victimization frequency, Bullying assessment

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Marla Eisenberg: [email protected]
• Dianne Neumark-Sztainer: [email protected]

Correspondence Address:

Marla Eisenberg, ScD
Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
University of Minnesota
200 Oak St., SE, Ste. 260
Minneapolis, MN 55454

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was first published in 2003 as part of a peer-reviewed academic article. Given its inclusion in publicly available compendiums of assessment tools, it is generally considered available for academic research use, though researchers should always consult the primary authors for specific permission requirements.

The original PDF for the compendium containing this instrument can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullycompendiumbk-a.pdf

Test Year: 2003

Reference’s

Eisenberg, M. E., Neumark-Sztainer, D., & Perry, C. L. (2003). Peer harassment, school connectedness, and academic achievement. Journal of School Health, 73, 311–316.

Items of the Weight-Based Teasing Scale

How often do any of the following things happen?

1. You are treated with less respect than other people
2. People act as if they’re better than you
3. You are called names or insulted
4. You are teased about your appearance
5. You are teased about your weight

Response Scale:

• Never = 0
• Less than once a year = 1
• A few times a year = 2
• A few times a month = 3
• At least once a week = 4