Depressive symptoms in adolescence: a poor indicator of increases in body mass index

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between depressive symptoms and subsequent body mass index (BMI) z scores among early-to-mid adolescents, extending previous research by using objectively measured weight and height data.

Latent growth curve analysis was used to examine whether growth parameters of zBMI could be predicted by depressive symptoms (n = 2,051 adolescents, 48.5% female, at baseline; 1,465 with data at all three time points). Specifically, we tested whether depressive symptoms were associated with the initial assessment of BMI (intercept) as well as with changes in BMI over time (slope). Analyses were performed for the total group, and separately for boys and girls.

Depressive symptoms were not associated with the slope of zBMI. In girls, but not boys, depressive symptoms were positively associated with the intercept of zBMI.

Findings suggest that although depressive symptoms among females are associated with a higher zBMI, they do not predict excessive weight gain during early-to-mid adolescence.