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Cross-sectional and Prospective Examination of Weight Misperception and Depressive Symptoms Among Youth with Overweight and Obesity

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Abstract

This study aims to determine the association between weight misperception (considering oneself average or underweight) and depressive symptoms among youth with overweight/obesity. Linear regression models (adjusted for age, BMI, parental education, percent poverty) were used to examine cross-sectional (wave II, 1996, n = 3898, M age = 15.9, SD = 0.13) and longitudinal (from wave II to IV, 1996–2008/2009, n = 2738, M age = 28.5, SD = 0.06) associations between weight misperception and depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale) in a subsample of White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Multi-racial male and female youth with overweight/obesity participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Average BMI was 29.0 (0.16) at wave II and 35.7 (0.23) at wave IV. Thirty-two percent misperceived their weight status as average weight (n = 1151, 30 %) or underweight (n = 99, 3 %). In fully adjusted cross-sectional models, White (β = −1.92, 95 % CI = −2.79, −1.06) and Multi-racial (β = −4.43, 95 % CI = −6.90, −1.95) youth who perceived themselves as average weight had significantly lower depressive symptoms compared to accurate weight-perceivers. In fully adjusted longitudinal models, White youth (β = −0.41, 95 % CI = −0.81, −0.004) who perceived themselves as average weight had significantly lower depressive symptoms 12 years later. Findings suggest that weight misperception may be protective against depression among White adolescents and young adults with overweight/obesity. Clinical and population interventions should consider potential harmful effects of correcting weight misperceptions on the mental health of youth with overweight/obesity.

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Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, 310 Psychology Building, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA

    Idia B. Thurston & Rebecca C. Kamody

  2. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kendrin R. Sonneville

  3. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Kendrin R. Sonneville, Holly C. Gooding & Tracy K. Richmond

  4. Clinical Research Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Carly E. Milliren

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  1. Idia B. Thurston
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  3. Carly E. Milliren
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  4. Rebecca C. Kamody
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Correspondence to Idia B. Thurston.

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Idia Thurston declares that she has no conflict of interest. Kendrin Sonneville declares that she has no conflict of interest. Carly Milliren declares that she has no conflict of interest. Rebecca Kamody declares that she has no conflict of interest. Holly Gooding declares that she has no conflict of interest. Tracy Richmond declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which has approval by the IRB at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Thurston, I.B., Sonneville, K.R., Milliren, C.E. et al. Cross-sectional and Prospective Examination of Weight Misperception and Depressive Symptoms Among Youth with Overweight and Obesity. Prev Sci 18, 152–163 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0714-8

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