Nearly 1 in 5 Parents of Food-allergic Kids are Bullied

Parents of kids with food allergies find their kids are often bullied by classmates and parents of other children and teachers, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.// "We know kids are often bullied about their food allergies," states Dannielle Brown, MHS, lead author of the study. "What we weren't informed of was how many parents are bullied by various sources. Of the 252 parents or guardians we surveyed, more than 17 percent said they had been bullied."

Parents of kids 4-17 years (school-age children) in the survey found it helpful to stop the bullying. 13 percent of parents/guardians spoke with their child, 7 percent talked to the offender or the offender's parent, 17 percent spoke to a teacher, and 15 percent spoke with a principal or administrator. Almost 50 percent of those who did something to stop food allergy bullying said it was helpful.

Another significant finding in the study was that while there were no notable differences in the percentages of Black and white girls who were bullied around food allergies, Black kids encountered non-food allergy-related bullying twice as frequently.

"No kid or their parent should be bullied due to their food allergies," states food allergy researcher Ruchi Gupta, MD, one of the lead researchers on the study. "And it's of course equally necessary that Black kids with food allergies not be bullied for additional reasons. Having a food allergy puts enormous stress on the entire family, and any form of bullying makes life that much harder."

Source-Medindia