Open AccessUnderstanding the Early Signs of Chronic Disease by Investigating the Overlap of Mental Health Needs and Adolescent Obesity
Author(s) -
Tyler C. Smith,
Besa Smith
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
aims public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2327-8994
DOI - 10.3934/publichealth.2015.3.487
Subject(s) - overweight , obesity , medicine , depression (economics) , mental health , context (archaeology) , population , logistic regression , odds ratio , odds , gerontology , psychiatry , demography , environmental health , paleontology , sociology , biology , economics , macroeconomics
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions with two to three-fold increases in prevalence in the past three decades. Sedentary lifestyles and nutrition have been linked to these increases though little is known about mental health illnesses in children and teens which may be precursors to negative modifiable health risk factors. The objective of this study was to investigate for a potentially more clinically practical indicator of depression over a multi-item screen in respect to reporting of overweight and obesity in adolescents. This study further investigated modifiers to this association and stability of association.