Perceived rather than actual overweight is associated with mental health problems in adolescence |
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| Authors: | Vilma Lankinen Sari Fröjd Mauri Marttunen Riittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland;2. Faculty of Social Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland;3. Mental Health Unit, Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland;4. Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland;5. Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland |
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| Abstract: | Background: Overweight and perceived overweight are common among adolescents. The nature of the relationship between overweight/perceived overweight and mental health problems is still unclear.Aims: The aim of this study was to examine whether actual overweight, perceived overweight or both are associated with internalizing and externalizing disorders among adolescents.Methods: Data were collected by two similar school surveys in all Finnish-speaking secondary schools in Tampere (population 200,000) in the academic years 2002–2003 and 2012–2013. A total of 2775 acceptable responses were received. All the analyses were carried out separately for girls and boys. Mean age of the respondents was 15.6 years.Results: In multivariate analyses perceived overweight, not actual weight, was significantly associated with higher risk of self-reported depression (OR: 4.3, 95% CI: 2.9–6.3, p?p?p?=?.001) and self-reported social phobia (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.0–5.6, p?=?.05) in boys.Conclusion: Perceived overweight rather than actual weight status is associated with both internalizing and externalizing mental health problems in adolescents. |
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| Keywords: | Overweight perceived overweight adolescent mental health |
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