Children with food allergy suffer from bullying in school
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists at Mount Sinai Medical School found that children with food allergies often become targets for peer abuse.
Almost eight percent of American children suffer from food allergies for products such as peanuts, nuts, milk, eggs, shellfish and crustaceans.
Food allergy is a serious condition that is characterized by an instant allergic reaction to a food that is harmless to a healthy person. Some foods may contain a variety of food allergens. Usually such are proteins, at least carbohydrates and fats. The body produces a large number of antibodies, due to which the body perceives an absolutely harmless protein for an infectious agent, with which it begins to fight.
The most common cause of food allergy is heredity, and a child whose mother or father suffers from food allergies doubles the risk of developing it compared to those whose parents are not allergic.
Having learned that their child has a food allergy, dads and moms are trying to find allergens to help the child avoid allergic reactions. However, almost half of the interviewed parents - 47.9% - did not even suspect that their children were being harassed and harassed by other children.
Children who suffered insults and whose parents knew that their child was being pressured because of illness reported a decrease in the quality of life and an increased level of stress and anxiety.
The results of the research of scientists were published in the scientific journal "Pediatrics".
"Parents and teachers should be on the alert and be sure to talk with these children about their relationship with their peers. In this way, adults will be able to intervene in the situation and reduce the stress level of the child, as well as improve the quality of his life, "said Ayal Shemesh, a leading author of the study, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry, and doctor of medicine. - Children with food allergies are very vulnerable and vulnerable, and, as is known, schoolchildren are not distinguished by humanity and sympathy. Children can throw in a child suffering from food allergies, peanuts or just keep it near the nose of the child. Therefore, if parents become aware of such incidents, it is better to transfer the child to another school and protect them from manifestations of child cruelty. "
In the research team of scientists under the leadership of Dr. Shemesh participated more than 250 families who attended the allergy treatment clinic.
Specialists conducted a questionnaire, during which parents and children responded to the same questions aimed at assessing their quality of life and stress level, which could be affected by bullying associated with food allergy.
It turned out that 45% of children between the ages of eight and seventeen years are being attacked by peers, the cause of which is an allergic reaction to certain types of food. The children said that often classmates waved the food on which the child has a food allergy, directly in front of them or they force you to touch it.
Naturally, the more violent were the harassment and bullying, the quality of life of such children was worse.
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