Body-weight and psychological well-being in the UK general population.
J Public Health (Oxf)
; 40(2): 245-252, 2018 06 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28505347
ABSTRACT
Background:
While the consequences of body weight for physical health are well explored, the evidence for psychological well-being is less straightforward. An instrumental variable approach is used to address the endogenous relationship between body weight and well-being in the UK general population.Methods:
Data from the Health Survey for England (2003, 2004 and 2006) are used to fit linear and ordered probit instrument variable models for a sample of 13 862 individuals, with frequent white meat consumption instrumenting for body-weight. Non-linearities in the relationship, robustness to weak instruments and relaxation of strict exogeneity assumption are further examined.Results:
Accounting for endogeneity and conditional on health a protective effect on well-being is observed. A unit increase in body mass index (BMI) improves General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) by 0.17 (95% CI 0.02-0.31) points and reduces the probability of reporting very low GHQ by 2.5% (95% CI 0.01-0.05). Empirical testing showed that the instrument performs well, with increased meat consumption adding 0.58 points (95% CI 0.42-0.74) to ones' BMI.Conclusions:
We present support for the jolly-fat hypothesis, however, caution is recommended in drawing inferences. Further research needs to resolve the mixed findings in the literature.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Peso Corporal
/
Ajustamento Emocional
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Public Health (Oxf)
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido