Abstract
Background: The experiences of Black children with food allergy (FA) are not well characterized, particularly with respect to bullying victimization and other psychosocial outcomes. Objective: To evaluate bullying experiences of Black and White children with FA, including associations with peer relationships, anxiety, and school policies. Methods: Surveys were administered to parents of 252 children with physician-diagnosed FA enrolled in the multisite FORWARD cohort. The surveys assessed demographics, atopic disease, bullying victimization, and school FA management practices and policies. Descriptive statistics of bullying by race were compared by χ2 tests. Multiple logistic regression analyses adjusting for race, age, parental education, household income, child sex, and multi-FA compared adjusted probabilities of bullying victimization by school policies. Results: Nearly 20% of school-aged children were bullied for FA with no substantial racial differences overall, though for children ages 11 years and up, White children reported higher rates of bullying. However, Black children experienced non-FA–related bullying twice as frequently as White children (38.6% vs 17.7%; P = .002). Most of the caregivers (85.7%) who intervened in their child's bullying reported that it was helpful. Among parents, 17.3% reported that they were teased or bullied owing to their child's FA. More than half of the respondents (54.8%) reported that some allergens are banned from their child's school, most typically peanut. In schools banning peanuts, FA-related bullying was less frequently reported by all students who have food allergy. Conclusion: Bullying owing to FA is common, and caregivers, medical professionals, and school administrators can help reduce bullying by screening for bullying and supporting and educating school policies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 255-263.e1 |
| Journal | Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology |
| Volume | 126 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2021 |
Funding
Funding: This study is funded by grant number R01 AI130384 from the NIH. Disclosures: Dr Gupta receives research grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), Stanford Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research, UnitedHealth Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Genentech, and the National Confectioners Association and has served as a medical consultant and advisor for Aimmune Therapeutics, Genentech, Before Brands, Kaléo, DBV Technologies, ICER, DOTS Technology, and FARE. Dr Bilaver has received research grant support from the NIH, Rho, Inc, Health Resources and Services Administration, Thermo Fisher Scientific, FARE, Genentech, National Confectioners Association, and Before Brands, Inc. Dr Assa'ad receives grant support from Aimmune Therapeutics, DBV Technologies, Sanofi Aventis, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Regeneron, and the NIH. Dr Tobin receives research grant support from the NIH and Stanford Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research. Dr Sharma receives research grant support from the NIH, DBV Technologies, Aimmune Therapeutics, and Regeneron, and has served as medical consultant and advisor for FARE. Dr Pongracic receives research grant support from the NIH, DBV Technologies, and Aimmune Therapeutics and consulting fees from Regeneron. Dr Pappalardo serves on the Chicago Asthma Consortium Board of Directors and as a consultant for Optum Rx or UnitedHealth Group. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to report. Funding: This study is funded by grant number R01 AI130384 from the NIH.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology
- Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
