Association Between Body Weight and Weight Misperception and Depressive Symptoms in Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) University Students: A Cross-National and Cross-Sectional Survey, 2014 - 2015

Abstract

Background: Little is known on the correlation between categories of the misperception of body weight and depression. Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the association between body weight, weight misperception categories, and depressive symptoms in ASEAN University students. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, 5,337 undergraduate university students from 8 ASEAN countries responded to a self-administered questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were taken in 2014 to 2015. Results: In logistic regression analyses adjusted for confounding variables, overweight female university students tended to report more depressive symptoms than female students with normal body mass index (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.11, 2.05), and male university students with self-perceived overweight tended to report more depressive symptoms (OR = 1.63, CI = 1.12, 2.35) than male students with normal body weight perception. Overweight male university students with normal body weight perception tended to experience less depressive symptomatology (OR = 0.33, CI = 0.15, 0.72) than male students who had accurate perceptions of their body weight, and underweight male university students who self-perceived their body weight as overweight tended to display more depressive symptoms (OR = 5.63, CI = 1.91, 16.62). Conclusions: Female university students who were overweight and male students with perceived overweight were having a higher prevalence of depression than students that had normal (perceived) weight. Male university students who underestimated their normal or overweight tended to have less depressive symptoms and male students that overestimated their underweight tended to report more depressive symptoms than male students who perceived their weight accurately.