Obesity and Psychopathology: Longitudinal Study of Youth

肥胖和精神疾病是美国目前面临的两个最大的健康问题，它们给社会带来的人类痛苦、医疗保健费用和生产力损失的负担是巨大的。肥胖的已知心理社会后果包括受教育程度降低和结婚率降低。在治疗肥胖的成人中，共病精神病理学增加。对肥胖儿童的普遍轻蔑表现在戏弄和社会压力的增加。 尽管如此，肥胖后的心理结果的流行病学尚未得到很好的表征，肥胖和精神病理学之间的关联经常在临床样本中进行评估，或采用横断面研究设计。 拟议的分析利用全面的数据，从纵向社区研究的心理健康的决定因素，从童年到成年早期，在青春期的肥胖症和相关协会的具体心理后果的特点，并评估心理病理学的作用，对肥胖症的发展。精神病理学根据标准的精神疾病诊断和统计手册（DSM）诊断标准以及症状量表进行评估。通过纵向统计建模，将评估青少年相对体重与焦虑症、心境障碍和总体精神病理学的双向关联。中介和调节因素在多大程度上有助于青少年肥胖的发展和影响随后的精神病理学将被检查。将根据根据自我报告的身高和体重计算的体重指数（BMI）评估相对体重。疾病控制中心的BMI生长参考将用于确定年龄和性别特异性BMI z评分。肥胖定义为BMI评分高于CDC生长参考的第85百分位数。了解肥胖的心理后果将使越来越多的重点研究的预防和治疗工作，旨在减少心理和身体上的痛苦，从肥胖和精神疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obesity and mental illness are two of the largest health issues the United States is currently facing, and their burden to society in human suffering, health care costs, and lost productivity is immense. The known psychosocial consequences of obesity include reduced educational attainment and lower rates of marriage. In adults presenting for the treatment of obesity, co-morbid psychopathology is increased. Widespread stigmatization of obese children is manifested through teasing and increased social stress. Nonetheless, the epidemiology of psychological outcomes subsequent to obesity has not been well characterized, and associations between obesity and psychopathology have frequently been assessed in clinical samples, or have used cross-sectional study designs. The proposed analyses make use of comprehensive data, from a longitudinal community study of determinants of psychological health from childhood to early adulthood, to characterize the specific psychological consequences of obesity and associations with relative weight during adolescence, and to assess the role of psychopathology on the development of obesity. Psychopathology is assessed based on standard Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnostic criteria as well as by symptom scales. With longitudinal statistical modeling, the bi-directional associations of adolescent relative weight with anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and overall psychopathology will be assessed. The extent to which mediating and moderating factors contribute to the development of adolescent obesity and influence subsequent psychopathology will be examined. Relative weight will be assessed based on body mass index (BMI) calculated from self-reported height and weight. The Centers for Disease Control's BMI growth reference will be used to determine age- and sex-specific BMI z-scores. Obesity will be defined as a BMI score above the 85th percentile from the CDC growth reference. Understanding the psychological consequences of obesity will allow for increasingly focused research in prevention and treatment efforts aimed at reducing psychological and physical suffering from obesity and from mental illness.