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. 2010 Winter;22(1):205-16.
doi: 10.1017/S0954579409990356.

The relation of weight change to depressive symptoms in adolescence

Julia Felton  1 , David A Cole, Carlos Tilghman-Osborne, Melissa A Maxwell
Affiliations

The relation of weight change to depressive symptoms in adolescence

Julia Felton et al. Dev Psychopathol. 2010 Winter.

Abstract

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists weight gain or weight loss as a symptom of depression at all ages, but no study of adolescent depression has examined its relation to actual (not just self-reported) weight change. In the current longitudinal study, 215 adolescents provided physical and self-report measures of change in weight, body mass, and body fat over a 4-month time interval. They also completed psychological measures of body dissatisfaction, problematic eating attitudes, and depressive symptoms. The relation between physical measures of weight change and depressive symptoms varied with age. These relations were explained by individual differences in body dissatisfaction, eating attitudes, and behaviors, leading to questions about weight change as a symptom of depression in adolescence.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The relation of self-reported depression to three objective measures of physical growth: interactions with age; BMI, body mass index; NIR, near infrared.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The relation of self-reported depression to one objective and one subjective measure of physical growth: interactions with gender; BEI, bioelectrical impedance; SABS, silhouette assessment of body shape.
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