Purpose This research work investigates the influence of children’s weight status on well-being and school context in a
sample of Spanish adolescences.
Methods The Spanish records from the 2013–14 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey are used, which gathers
9,565 adolescences aged 11, 13 and 15. Studies do not usually address the endogeneity of body mass index when analys-
ing their effect on life satisfaction and health complaints, thus resulting in biased estimates. Considering the endogeneity
of body mass index, we use the frequency of alcohol consumption as an instrumental variable in order to obtain consistent
estimates of its influence.
Results The two-stage least squares estimation shows that children’s body mass index has a significant negative influence
on health complaints and it conditions the way children relate to each other at school. Likewise, results report significant
influence on children’s subjective well-being and their self-assessment of general health.
Conclusions The results of this study provide compelling evidence that BMI plays a crucial role in shaping adolescents’
well-being and their interactions with peers at school. These findings underscore the importance of addressing childhood
overweight and promoting healthy body mass index levels. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for targeted policy
interventions to combat the social stigma associated with being overweight, fostering a more inclusive and supportive school
environment for all students.
