Psychological Problems Related to Obesity in Early Adulthood

Abstract

The study was aimed to investigate the relationship of psychological problems like depression, anxiety and low self-esteem among young adults suffering from obesity. Cross sectional analytical study design. This study was carried out in Riphah Institute of Clinical and Professional Psychology, Riphah International University, Lahore, Pakistan and data was collected from two private and two government universities of Lahore during the year June 2017- June 2018. Non probability purposive sample of 300 participants with age range 19 to 25 was incorporated in the present study. Depression was evaluated through the Hamilton Depression rating scale. Anxiety was measured in participants through the Hamilton anxiety rating scale and for self-esteem assessment Rosenberg self-esteem scale was applied. Urdu translated versions for all scales were used for present study. Both descriptive (frequencies, percentages bar graphs, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson product moment correlation, Hierarchical regression analysis, Independent sample t test) were used for the data analyses. Descriptive analysis identified obesity of young adults with Body Mass Index ≥25 kgm . Results indicated that 106 (35.3 %) young adults were suffering with very severe depression 40(13.3%) with very severe anxiety and 166 (55.3 %) with low self-esteem. Correlational analysis revealed significant positive relationship 0.480 **p< 0.01 between depression and anxiety. Regression analysis revealed that depressionand anxiety were not significantly predicting the self-esteem. No significant gender differences was found regarding all study variables (p>.05). Majority of young adults with obesity suffer from severe depression and very low self-esteem. There is a significant relationship between depression and anxiety among obese young adults. However, both depression and anxiety are not predictors of low self-esteem in this sample. Men and women score equally on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem.