Obesity and depression in adolescents

Objective: To determine whether there is a relationship between obesity and depression in adolescents. Method: the study design was correlational and cross-sectional. The study universe was 60 adolescents with a BMI of thirty or more indicating some degree of obesity. The instrument used was the Beck Depression Inventory (second edition) the BDI-II. The obesity variable was classified according to WHO guidelines. Results: Regarding the level of depression 68.3% of the participants were found to be within the normal range 20.0% had mild mood disturbance 10.0% had moderate depression and only 1.7% were found to be extremely depressed. In relation to obesity 66.7% of the participants are in class 1 25.0% in class 2 6.7% in class 3 and only 1.7% in class 4 which is the highest. In the application of Spearman''s correlation test to the data obtained no statistically significant relationship was observed between the variables obesity and depression.