The Relationship between Overweight Adolescents and Depression - Research Proposal Example

 The Relationship between Overweight Adolescents and Depression Problem statement The world in general, is going through a bad patch as far as mental health is concerned. Busy work schedules and life styles have immensely increased the stress levels of the people. Even though, science and technology has eased lot of things for human life, it has failed in decreasing or controlling the stress levels of the people. In fact, along with the advancements and developments in human life, the mental problems are also increasing day by day. “Obesity has become a major public health problem. More than 300 000 deaths each year have been linked to obesity and it causes multiple medical complications. Although obesity is increasing in all age groups and among all racial/ethnic groups and educational levels, young adults ages 18 to 29 are experiencing the highest rate of increase” (Goodman &Whitaker P. 497) Obesity or overweight is considered as a major reason for some kind of mental problems like depression by many psychologists. “The prevalence of obesity (BMI≥30) continues to be a health concern for adults, children and adolescents in the United States. Data from the most recent NHANES survey shows that among adult men the prevalence of obesity was 31.1% in 2003—2004, and 33.3% in 2005—2006, a small but not statistically significant change. Among adult women, the prevalence of obesity in 2003—2004 was 33.2%, and in 2005—2006 was 35.3%, again a small but not significant change” (Overweight and Obesity). Overweight or obesity is a severe health problem faced mostly by the people of advanced or developed countries. The advancements in science and technology have reduced the human efforts a lot and physical hard work is considerably reduced due to the invention of modern equipments and advanced strategies and methods. On the other hand, malnutrition problems have almost evaporated in the developed countries and at the same time fatty fast foods have replaced conventional foods. The introduction of computer, internet, videogames like modern leisure activities have forced young generation to spend much time on such activities rather than going for physical workouts. The combined result of improved quality of food along with less physical workouts resulted in overweight or obesity. Obesity is not a crime as it happens unintentionally. Moreover, obesity is a personal matter like the height. Height and weight is gained by a person due to his genetic factors and food habits. “Children whose parents are obese have a much greater chance of becoming obese themselves” (Dr. Clayson) Obese people are "functionally disabled", according to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada (Hooper) Though obese people are different from physically handicapped people, their functionality will be similar to that of a physically handicapped person. Overweight has many negative effects on physical and mental health of a person. High blood pressure, diabetics, cholesterol, heart problems are some of the physical problems associated with overweight. Lack of self esteem, depression, emotional problems etc is some of the psychological problems associated with overweight. “Obesity is a stigmatized condition, with numerous reports documenting social exclusion, occupational and educational discrimination, and widespread expression of negative attitudes. Children and adults have been shown to stereotype the obese as lazy, weak-willed, lacking in self-confidence and emotionally disturbed, among many other negative characteristics” (Wardle et al, p.634) Thus obesity or overweight can cause psychological problems like depression and the cause and effects of this problem should be thoroughly researched in order to develop a healthy future generation free from the dangers of overweight. This paper analyses the overweight related depression problems thoroughly using previous research reports or journals published. Description of study “Previous studies have shown that obese individuals; 1) may suffer from low self-esteem, 2) tend to have a more negative self-image, 3) may think that others dislike them, and 4) may suffer from higher levels of depression than normal weight individuals” (Cline et al, p.2) Obese individuals are often witnessed by the society in a peculiar manner. While traveling in buses, trains or flights, obese people always need extra space which will bring unnecessary comments and teasing from others. Moreover, obese people cannot actively participate in physical activities like sports, walking or running which need extra physical efforts. All these things can cause development of negative feelings, thoughts and emotions which may finally lead to more severe psychological problems like depression. In most of the cases, obese individuals develop depression simply because of his anxiety over what others think about him. He will visualize all the behaviors and comments made by others as a deliberate attempt to tease him because of his obesity. In other words he will lose self esteem and he will value other’s opinion and comments more rather than taking things positively. Socialization is an important aspect of human life. Socialization is the process by which children and adults learn from others. It provides the individual with the skills and habits necessary for leading a successful social life. Obese people often find difficulties when they try to interact with the society. They feel double standards often when they try to interact with others. For example, while traveling in a train or flight nobody wants to sit near an obese person because of some inconveniences. Thus the inability and difficulty in socializing with others often lead the obese people to think negatively. The relationship between depression and health has been clearly established by previous researches. But the results obtained in different researches were inconsistent and new researches are definitely required to measure the magnitude of dangers caused by obesity to the mental state of an individual. “Whereas some studies have found an association between obesity and psychological impairment, other studies has found that no association exists” (Cline et al, p.2) This study is based on various hypotheses and conclusions made by previous researches on the same topic. The data used in this study are all from previous researches and other published journal articles. This study is aimed at answering the two questions; 1) Are obese individuals more likely to have higher levels of depression than individuals in other weight categories? 2) What are the reasons behind the increased depression levels among obese individuals? Part 2- Literature Review “Food can often be comforting, especially for someone who is already obese, and obese individuals may have used food to comfort themselves over time. When they are depressed, eating food is the mechanism they use to cope” (Cline et al, p.10). Surprisingly previous studies have shown that obese people eat more food when they are under depressed or tensed state against the traditional belief that a person under depressed mental state may lose the appetite for food. Over eating will make them more obese again and all the problems associates with obesity will be doubled for them. One of the major causes for obesity is over eating and lack of physical workout sessions. A person who eats more will develop uncontrollable appetite for foods just like drug and alcohol addiction. In fact they eat more and also they eat more times compared to other normal persons. Man is a social animal and in fact no one can survive in this world by completely avoiding others. Society is the place where people often interact. But the people in the society are of different nature. Some people may make unnecessary comments about others while some others may refrain from such things. In fact some people are waiting for some subjects in order to criticize or tease others. Overweight people are often a subject for criticism and teasing in the society. Children are mostly vulnerable to such teasing by their friends and peers. “Peer teasing is common in schools, not only from other pupils but also from teachers. Teasing in childhood is associated with body dissatisfaction, binge eating and emotional difficulties in obese adults. There is no doubt that obese adolescents have a more negative view of their physique. There is also no doubt that obese adolescent experience difficulty with teasing, bullying and social exclusion” (Wardle et al, p.634) For obese adolescents, it was hypothesized that victimization would serve to reinforce already negative feelings of self-concept concerning appearance and that these negative feelings about their physical appearance would, in turn, lead to higher ratings of depression and changes in body mass. The higher rates of peer victimization for obese adolescents suggests that they are targeted for peer victimization because of their physical appearance, and even if their victimization is not due to being obese, it is likely that obese adolescents would perceive their obesity as the cause of their victimization. For all of these reasons it was thought that for obese adolescents, compared to non-obese adolescents, victimization would lead to negative self-perceptions about physical appearance and that this in turn would be linked to increases in depression and changes in body mass(Adams & Bukowskip. 859) Recognition from the society is a basic need, most of the general public interested to achieve. Everybody leads their life controlled by their own emotions. These emotions are developed partly due to their interactions with the society. It is not possible to develop positive emotions or feelings in a society which criticize personal matters like physical appearances’ and obesity. Society has certain prejudices and norms while recognizing a person. For example, in schools, colleges, night clubs or other public gathering places, obese people are teased either for a joke or for some purposes. These teasing might avoid obese people form properly interacting in the society which will finally lead towards depression like psychological problems. “Adolescents with a distorted perception of body weight may set unrealistic goals and choose unhealthy behaviors to control their weight” (Latha et al, p.82) Most of the obese people doesn’t know much about how to control their body weight. They often engage in unrealistic activities to reduce their weight which may not yield the desired results. The failure in their attempt to reduce weight will make them more depressed and anxious about their appearance and its social consequences. “The association between weight preoccupation and depression may be moderated by certain personality characteristics that act as vulnerability factors to depression. Weight concerns are more salient for those who need and overvalue the approval and praise of others” (Johnson & Decourville, p.1158) People who values social approval more than others are vulnerable to the obesity related depression problems. Others may not care much about the social criticism and hence may not develop much psychological problems because of obesity. So far we have discussed the findings of previous researches which proved depression as a result of obesity. “However, a study using a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents demonstrated that depressive symptoms predicted later obesity; adolescents who had depressive symptoms at baseline were twice as likely to be obese 1 year later “(Jaser et al, p.287) The above findings is interesting since it is contradicting to the findings of others. It shows that depression leads towards obesity rather than obesity causing depression. So the question who is the villain; obesity or depression needs to be researched thoroughly in order to get a clear answer. One thing is sure that both obesity and depression have close relationship, but the question which one leads to the other need to be answered only after in depth analysis. “Relationship between relative body weight and clinical depression and suicidal tendencies was different for men and women. Obesity was associated with an increased risk of depression among females but a decreased risk of depression among males. Among women, obesity was associated with a 37% increase in the probability of being diagnosed with major depression, while for men; obesity was associated with a decrease of similar magnitude” (Carpenter et al, p.254) Even though obesity is a curse for both men and women the impacts of obesity varies for them. Women are more concerned about their body shapes and beauty concepts compared to men. In fact majority of the people consider slim body figure as the symbols of women beauty. Women, generally have less control over their emotions compared to men and they will often suffer more mental problems with respect to their body shapes compared to men. There is no reason to believe depression increases or decreases with age. Moreover females found to be having more depression compared to males (Teri, p.104) Physical appearance differs in meaning and importance for males and females; concerns surrounding body weight and shape also differ. Many women want to be slim, since slim is regarded as beautiful, while being overweight is viewed negatively Body image is closely connected to a person's self-esteem. While men tend to obtain their self-esteem through achievements, power status and control, women's self-concept and self-esteem is often based on desirability and attractiveness. Thus, women are under greater pressure than men to lose weight (Latha et al, p.78) Men are mostly proud of their achievements rather than their appearances. On the other hand females are more interested in their physical attributes rather than their achievements. For example, beautiful women with slim physical figures and beauty will be attracted by males more than females who are high caliber professionals, but with less beauty or attractiveness. On the other hand females are more interested in male candidates who are in good positions even if they are less attractive. The beauty concepts of both males and females are entirely different and hence the depression among obese males and females are also different. On the other hand some other studies failed to establish the dominance of women in obesity related depression problems. Journal of School Health, June 2009, published by American School Health Association, has published a study conducted by Sarah Jaser and her associates, in which they found no significant sex difference in depressive symptoms (Jaser et al, p.291) The above results are contrary to the general beliefs and findings. The above studies show some conflicting results because of their random selection of subjects. Sarah Jaser and company have conducted their research mainly on school children where as Lath and company has concentrated mainly on adolescent people. Age plays vital role in one’s perception about his/her appearances. Only adults or adolescent people will be more cautious about their physical figures whereas children may not care it much. Even after controlling for self-esteem, physical activity, parental obesity, and parental education, depressed mood remained a significant predictor of obesity. A longitudinal study of adolescent girls also found that depressive symptoms predicted onset of obesity, with each additional depressive symptom increasing the likelihood of becoming obese. These findings suggest that depressive symptoms are an important predictor of obesity, but there is still a need to determine the pathways of risk to inform prevention strategies (Jaser et al, p.287) “The two studies of the relationship between perception of weight and perceived attractiveness in general samples of college students report conflicting findings: one study found such a relationship and the other did not. The relationship between the perception of weight and depressive symptoms in adolescents has yet to be investigated” (Kalpan et al, p.108) Most of the researchers have approached the obesity related depression problems on a general basis. They have not spent much time in finding out the role of age or different life stages of a person in determining the obesity related depression problem. Even among college students, some extremely obese people are behaving normally. In other words, it is not necessary that all the obese people became depressed or all the depressed people became obese. There is something between these two; obesity and depression, which actually determines whether an obese person would become depressed or not. The question of which comes first; obesity or depression, has not been studied or researched well so far. Since researches have shown different results, more elaborate studies needed to determine the exact relationship between obesity and depression. The role of gender differences in analysing the obesity related depression problem also need to be thoroughly researched. Conclusions Obesity and depression have some close relationships. Some research has shown that obese people were victims of depression whereas some other studies have proved that depressed people have every chance of becoming obese. In any case one thing is sure that both obesity and depression have close association. Females are generally believed to be more concerned about their physical figures because of the role of slimness in their beauty concepts. Most of the researchers have established the fact that the percentage of depressed obese females are more compared to depressed obese males. But again some other studies have questioned these arguments. They have proved that age plays an important role in determining whether a person may be affected by depression due to obesity, or not. Irrespective of sex, children may not have many concerns about their physical figures and hence obesity related depression is not prominent among them. On the other hand adolescents, especially the females seem to be more concerned with their physical appearances which accounts for the increased depression rates among obese females. References 1. Adams Ryan E. and Bukowski William M., 2008, Peer victimization as a predictor of Depression and body mass index in obese and non-obese adolescents, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2008) 2. Carpenter Kenneth M.. PhD. Hasin Deborah S. PhD. Allison David B.. PhD. and Faith Mvles S.. PhD, 2000, Relationships Between Obesity and DSM-IV Major Depressive Disorder, Suicide Ideation, and Suicide Attempts: Results From a General Population Study, American Journal of Public Health, February 2000. Vol. 90, No. 2 3. Cline Krista M. C., Rainey Michelle R., Ferraro Kenneth F., & Smederovac Does Weight Change Lead to Higher Levels of Depression for Obese Individuals? 4. Dr. Clayson  Mark, Hereditary Factors In Childhood Obesity, Retrieved on 17 September, 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Hereditary-Factors-In-Childhood- Obesity&id=459412 5. Goodman Elizabeth, MD, and Whitaker Robert C., MD, MPH, A Prospective Study of the Role of Depression in the Development and Persistence of Adolescent Obesity PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 3 September 2002 6. Hooper Rowan, Are the obese 'functionally disabled'? Retrieved on 17 September, 2009 from http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/11/are-the-obese-functionally-dis.html 7. JASER SARAH S., PhD, HOLL MARITA G., PhD, JEFFERSON VANESSA, MSN, GREY MARGARET, DrPH, RN, FAAN, 2009, Correlates of Depressive Symptoms inUrban Youth at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Journal of School Health June 2009, Vol. 79, No. 6, 2009, American School Health Association 8. 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