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Abstract
Objective We examined the associations between body mass index (BMI), weight concern, body size perception, dieting and mental distress in a population-based study of 7350 adolescents.
Design Cross-sectional.
Settings Data from a Norwegian population-based cohort, The Young-HUNT3 (2006–2008) from the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway.
Participants A total of 7350 adolescents (13–19 years) who had both self-reported questionnaire data and anthropometric measures.
Primary outcome measures Odds for mental distress given sex, BMI, weight concern, body size perception and dieting. Analyses were performed in binomial logistic regression models.
Results Compared with being overweight/obese, having weight concern, irrespective of BMI, was associated with higher OR for mental distress (MD) among boys and girls. Body size overestimation was associated with an increase in the OR for MD, in participants who were overweight/obese, had weight concern or dieted. This effect was more pronounced in boys.
Conclusions Weight concern and body-size estimation are strongly associated with mental health in adolescent boys and girls. Routine assessment of adolescents’ attitudes towards their weight and body size is advised.
- EPIDEMIOLOGY
- MENTAL HEALTH
- Child & adolescent psychiatry
- Eating disorders
- PUBLIC HEALTH
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Data used in the current study are stored in the HUNT databank. In accordance with Norwegian Data Inspectorate, these data cannot be made publicly available. Data used from The HUNT Study in research projects will be made available upon written request to the HUNT Data Access Committee (hunt@medicine.ntnu.no). The HUNT data access information (available here: http://www.ntnu.edu/hunt/data) gives a detailed description of the policy regarding data availability.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
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Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. Data used in the current study are stored in the HUNT databank. In accordance with Norwegian Data Inspectorate, these data cannot be made publicly available. Data used from The HUNT Study in research projects will be made available upon written request to the HUNT Data Access Committee (hunt@medicine.ntnu.no). The HUNT data access information (available here: http://www.ntnu.edu/hunt/data) gives a detailed description of the policy regarding data availability.
Footnotes
Contributors FSS has conceived the idea, performed the analyses and drafted the manuscript. FSS and KK have contributed to interpretation of results and critical revision of the manuscript. FSS and KK have read and approved the final version of the manuscript before submission. Authors FSS and KK declare no conflict of interest or any competing financial interests.
Funding The Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study) is collaboration between HUNT Research Centre (Department of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)), Nord-Trøndelag County Council and Central Norway Health Authority. This study was funded through a PhD scholarship by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU (Grant/Award number 2011/11215).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.