Teenagers view their overweight peers as lazy, greedy and less attractive, new findings suggest.

According to UK researchers, while overweight and obesity is on the increase among children and teenagers, studies investigating how young people feel about body size are difficult to come by. They decided to look into this further.

They assessed six journals, 18 research databases and over 50 relevant websites that had published data on how young people view body size. They focused on those aged between 12 and 18.

From this, they were able to pinpoint 30 relevant studies involving over 1,400 young people.

The research revealed that overall, young people felt that the social implications of being overweight were more important than the health implications.

Overweight teenagers were viewed as being responsible for their own size and were considered greedy, lazy and possessing a lack of control. Young people also felt that their overweight peers were less attractive and left themselves open to being teased or bullied.

Those who were overweight blamed themselves for the situation and those who had severe weight problems admitted to being subjected to frequent bullying, especially at school. This included physical assaults, name-calling and deliberate isolation by their peers.

While some overweight teenagers tried to cope with the situation, many said that they felt ashamed, isolated, excluded and ridiculed. Some said they were humiliated on a regular basis and socialising had become difficult.

Many said they had suffered a loss of confidence and felt depressed and lonely as a result of other people's responses to them. This often lead to comfort eating and further weight gain.

These feelings also made it difficult for them to get involved with exercise.

Other factors which made achieving a healthy weight more difficult included the wide availability of junk foods and constant pressure to lose weight.

According to the researchers from the University of London, the perspective of these young people ‘paints a picture of a stigmatising and abusive social world'.

"Approaches that merely educate and admonish individuals about lifestyles and being overweight are not only insufficient but also potentially counterproductive," they added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, BMJ Open.