Psychological distress among late adolescents with obesity

Pages: 769-774
Samapika Das (Department of Basic Science and Humanities Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, West Bengal)
Sanjukta Das and Prabal Kumar Chattopadhyay (Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal)

To determine the impact of obesity on psychological distress in the form of state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression and self- esteem. The study was based on cross sectional design. A total of 120 students belonging of age range 17-19 years participated in the study as subjects. They were divided into 60 obese and 60 non-obese subjects, who were further categorized gender-wise into 30 males and 30 females. Obesity was measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) in which obese subjects were selected with BMI of 30 and above, while for non-obese subjects BMI ranged from 18.5 to 24.9. State anxiety, Trait anxiety, Depression and Self-esteem were assessed by standard psychological tests. Obesity was found to be a significant factor affecting psychological distress in terms of trait anxiety, depression and self- esteem, whereas the distress area of state anxiety was not affected by obesity. The obtained findings appeared to have contributed to further generalization with respect to adverse effects of obesity on mental health.