CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 720Obesity, Physical Activity, DietObesity and Health PracticesEating Disorders and Behaviors

Psychological consequences of childhood obesity: psychiatric comorbidity and prevention

Open access
Rankin, Jean, Matthews, Lynsay, Cobley, Stephen, Han, Ahreum, Sanders, Ross, Wiltshire, Huw D, Baker, Julien S·2016·Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics
DOI 10.2147/ahmt.s101631PMC PMC5115694
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century with far-reaching and enduring adverse consequences for health outcomes. Over 42 million children <5 years worldwide are estimated to be overweight (OW) or obese (OB), and if current trends continue, then an estimated 70 million children will be OW or OB by 2025. The purpose of this review was to focus on psychiatric, psychological, and psychosocial consequences of childhood obesity (OBy) to include a broad range of international studies. The aim was to establish what has recently changed in relation to the common psychological consequences associated with childhood OBy. A systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library for articles presenting information on the identification or prevention of psychiatric morbidity in childhood obesity. Relevant data were extracted and narratively reviewed. Findings established childhood OW/OBy was negatively associated with psychological comorbidities, such as depression, poorer perceived lower scores on health-related quality of life, emotional and behavioral disorders, and self-esteem during childhood. Evidence related to the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and OBy remains unconvincing because of various findings from studies. OW children were more likely to experience multiple associated psychosocial problems than their healthy-weight peers, which may be adversely influenced by OBy stigma, teasing, and bullying. OBy stigma, teasing, and bullying are pervasive and can have serious consequences for emotional and physical health and performance. It remains unclear as to whether psychiatric disorders and psychological problems are a cause or a consequence of childhood obesity or whether common factors promote both obesity and psychiatric disturbances in susceptible children and adolescents. A cohesive and strategic approach to tackle this current obesity epidemic is necessary to combat this increasing trend which is compromising the health and well-being of the young generation and seriously impinging on resources and economic costs.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.2147/ahmt.s101631

Cites

4 of 4 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 83

  1. [2]Ng M Fleming T Robinson M Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 Lancet 2014 384 9945 766 781 24880830 PMC4624264
  2. [3]Pulgaron ER Childhood obesity: a review of increased risk for physical and psychological comorbidities Clin Ther 2013 35 1 A18 A32 23328273 PMC3645868
  3. [4]Sanders RH Han A Baker JS Cobley S Childhood obesity and its physical and psychological co-morbidities: a systematic review of Australian children and adolescents Eur J Pediatr 2015 174 715 746 25922141
  4. [5]Marks S Shaikh U Hilty DM Cole S Weight status of children and adolescents in a telepsychiatry clinic Telemed J E Health 2009 15 10 970 974 20028189 PMC2993056
  5. [6]Wilfley DE Vannucci A White EK Early intervention of eating- and weight-related problems J Clin Psychol Med Settings 2010 17 4 285 300 20960039 PMC3705973
  6. [7]Goodman E Whitaker RC A prospective study of the role of depression in the development and persistence of adolescent obesity Pediatrics 2002 110 497 504 12205250
  7. [8]Schwimmer JB Burwinkle TM Varni JW Health-related quality of life of severely obese children and adolescent JAMA 2003 289 14 1813 1819 12684360
  8. [9]Williams J Wake M Hesketh K Maher E Walters E Health-related quality of life of overweight and obese children JAMA 2005 293 1 70 76 15632338
  9. [10]Pine DS Goldstein RB Wolk S Weissman MM The associations between childhood depression and adulthood body mass index Pediatrics 2003 107 1049 1056 11331685
  10. [11]Goldstein BI Birmaher B Axelson DA Preliminary findings regarding overweight and obesity in pediatric bipolar disorder J Clin Psychiatry 2008 69 12 1953 1959 19026266 PMC2911030
  11. [12]Roth B Munsch S Meyer A Isler E Schneider S The association between mothers’ psychopathology, childrens’ competences and psychological well-being in obese children Eat Weight Disord 2008 13 3 129 136 19011370
  12. [13]Sanderson K Patton GC MrKercher C Dwyre T Vem AJ Overweight and obesity in childhood and risk of mental disorders: a 20-year cohort study Aust N Z J Psych 2011 45 384 392 21500955
  13. [14]Anderson SE Cohen P Naumova EN Must A Association of depression and anxiety disorders with weight change in a prospective community-based study of children followed up into adulthood Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2006 160 3 285 291 16520448
  14. [15]Bell LM Byrne S Thompson A Increasing BMI z-scores is continuously associated with complications of overweight children, even in healthy weight ranges J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2007 92 517 522 17105842
  15. [16]Bell LM Curran JA Byrne S High incidence of obesity comorbidities in young children: a cross sectional study J Pediatr Child health 2011 47 911 917 21902753
  16. [17]Eschenbeck H Kohlmann CW Dudey S Schurholz T Physician-diagnosed obesity in German 6- to 14-year-olds. Prevalence and comorbidity of internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, and sleep disorders Obesity Facts 2009 2 2 67 73 20054208 PMC6444606
  17. [18]Anderson SE Cohen P Naumova EN Jacques PF Must A Adolescent obesity and risk for subsequent major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder: prospective evidence Psychosom Med 2007 69 8 740 747 17942847
  18. [19]Anton SD Newton RL Jr Sothern M Martin CK Stewart TM Williamson DA Association of depression with body mass index, sedentary behavior, and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors in 11 to 13-year old children Eat Weight Disord 2006 11 3 e102 e108 17075232
  19. [20]Bjornelv S Nordahl HM Homen TL Psychological factors and weight problems in adolescents. The role of eating problems, emotional problems and personality traits: the Young-HUNT study Soc Psychiatry Psychiatri Epidemiol 2011 46 5 353 362 20238097
  20. [21]Gibson LY Byrn SM Blair E Davies EA Jakobi P Zubrick SR Clusters of psychological symptoms in overweight children Aust N Z J Psych 2008 42 118 125 18197506
  21. [22]Hoare E Millar L Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M Associations between obesogenic risk and depressive symptomatology in Australian adolescents: a cross sectional study J Epidemiol Community Health 2014 68 767 772 24711573
  22. [23]Koch F Sepa A Ludvigsson J Psychological stress and obesity J Pediatr 2008 153 839 844 18657829
  23. [24]Phillips BA Gaudette S McCracken A Psychosocial functioning in children and adolescents with extreme obesity J Clin Psychol Med Settings 2012 19 3 277 284 22437944
  24. [25]van Wijnen LG Bolujit PR Hoeven-Mulder HB Bernelmans WJ Wndel-Vos GC Weight status, psychological health, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts in Dutch adolescents: results from the 2003 E-MOVO project Obesity 2010 18 1059 1061 19834472
  25. [27]Swanson SA Crow S Le Grange D Prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in adolescents Arch Gen Psychiatry 2011 68 7 714 723 21383252 PMC5546800
  26. [28]Cortese S Angriman M Maffeis C Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity: a systematic review of the literature Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2008 48 6 524 537 18568858
  27. [29]Anderson SE Cohen P Naumova EN Must A Relationship of childhood behavior disorders to weight gain from childhood into adulthood Ambul Pediatr 2006 6 297 301 17000421
  28. [30]Anderson SE He X Schoppe-Sullivan S Must A Externalizing behavior in early childhood and body mass index from age 2 to 12 years: longitudinal analyses of a prospective cohort study BMC Pediatr 2010 10 49 20630082 PMC2912880
  29. [31]Duarte CS Sourander A Nikolakaros G Child mental health problems and obesity in early adulthood J Pediatr 2010 156 1 93 97 19783001 PMC3586427
  30. [32]Khalife N Kantomaa M Glover V Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms are risk factors for obesity and physical inactivity in adolescence J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2014 53 4 425 436 24655652
  31. [33]Cortese S Isnard P Frelut ML Association between symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and bulimic behaviors in a clinical sample of severely obese adolescents Int J Obes 2007 31 2 340 346 16733525
  32. [34]Dubnov-Raz G Perry A Berger I Body mass index of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder J Child Neurol 2011 26 3 302 308 20929910
  33. [35]Erhart M Herpertz-Dahlmann B Wille N Sawitzky-Rose B Hölling H Ravens-Sieberer U Examining the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and overweight in children and adolescents Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2012 21 1 39 49 22120761
  34. [36]Kim J Mutyala B Agiovlasitis S Fernhall B Health behaviors and obesity among US children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by gender and medication use Prev Med 2011 52 3–4 218 222 21241728
  35. [37]Waring ME Lapane KL Overweight in children and adolescents in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results from a national sample Pediatrics 2008 122 1 e1 e6 18595954
  36. [38]Byrd HCM Curtin C Anderson SE Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obesity in US males and females, age 8–15yrs: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2004 Pediatr Obes 2013 8 445 453 23325553 PMC3638065
  37. [39]Graziano PA Bagner DM Waxmonsky JG Reid A McNamara JP Geffken GR Co-occurring weight problems among children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: the role of executive functioning Int J Obes 2012 36 4 567 572 22158266
  38. [40]Rojo L Ruiz E Dominquez JA Calaf M Livianos L Comorbdiity between obesity and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: population study with 13–15 year olds Int J Eat Disord 2006 3 519 522 16609984
  39. [41]Yang R Mao S Zhang S Li R Zhao Z Prevalence of obesity and overweight among Chinese children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a survey in Zhejiang province, China BMC Psychiatry 2013 13 133 13 133 23663690 PMC3655086
  40. [42]Pauli-Pott U Neidhard J Heinzel-Gutenbrunner M Becker K On the link between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obesity: do comorbid oppositional defiant and conduct disorder matter? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2014 23 7 531 537 24197170
  41. [43]Racicka E Hanc T Giertuga K Brynska A Wolanczyk T Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with ADHD: the significance of comorbidities and pharmacotherapy J Atten Disord Epub 20 4 2015 25895508
  42. [44]White B Nicholls D Christie D Cole TJ Viner RM Childhood psychological function and obesity risk across the lifecourse: findings from the 1970 British Cohort Study Int J Obes 2012 36 4 511 516 22234279
  43. [45]Nigg JT Johnstone JM Musser ED Galloway Long H Willoughby MT Shannon J Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and being overweight/obesity: new data and meta-analysis Clin Psychol Rev 2016 43 67 79 26780581 PMC4800333
  44. [46]Neumark-Sztainer D Wall M Haines J Story M Sherwood NE van der Berg P Shared risk and protective factors for overweight and disordered eating in adolescents Am J Prev Med 2007 33 359 369 17950400
  45. [47]Wake M Canterford L Patton GC Comorbidities of overweight/obesity experienced in adolescence: longitudinal study Arch Dis Child 2010 95 3 162 168 19531529
  46. [48]Wake M Clifford SA Patton GC Morbidity patterns among the underweight, overweight and obese between 2–18yrs: population-based cross-sectional analysis Int J Obes 2013 37 86 93 22689070
  47. [49]Franklin J Denyer G Steinbeck KS Caterson ID Hill AJ Obesity and risk of low self-esteem: a statewide survey of Australian children Pediatrics 2006 118 2481 2487 17142534
  48. [51]Jansen PW Mensah FK Clifford S Bidirectional associations between overweight and health-related quality of life from 4–11 years: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Int J Obes (Lond) 2013 37 10 1307 1313 23736370
  49. [52]Sawyer MG Miller-Lewis L Guy S Wake M Canterford L Karlin JB Is there a relationship between overweight and obesity and mental health problems in 4–5yr old Australian children Ambul Pediatr 2006 6 306 311 17116602
  50. [53]Taner Y Torel-Ergur A Bahcivan G Gurdag M Psychopathology and its effect on treatment compliance in pediatric obesity patients Turkish J Pediatr 2009 51 5 466 471 20112602
  51. [55]Bolton K Kremer P Rossthorn N The effect of gender and age on the association between weight status and health-related quality of life in Australian adolescents BMC Public Health 2014 14 898 25183192 PMC4158070
  52. [56]Gerke CK Mazzeo SE Stern M Palmberg AA Evans RK Wickham EP 3rd The stress process and eating pathology among racially diverse adolescents seeking treatment for obesity J Pediatr Psychol 2013 38 7 785 793 23853156 PMC3721190
  53. [57]Johnston CA Fullerton G Moreno JP Tyler C Foreyt JP Evaluation of treatment effects in obese children with co-morbid medical or psychiatric conditions Georgian Med News 2011 196–197 93 100 21873759
  54. [58]Madowitz J Knatz S Maginot T Crow SJ Boutelle KN Teasing, depression and unhealthy weight control behaviour in obese children Pediatr Obes 2012 7 6 446 452 22991215 PMC4744833
  55. [59]Quinlan NP Hoy MB Costanzo PR The effects of teasing on psychosocial functioning in an overweight treatment-seeking sample Soc Dev 2009 18 978 1001 26166950 PMC4497589
  56. [60]Sawyer MG Harchark T Wake M Lynch J Four year prospective study of BMI and mental health problems in children Pediatrics 2011 128 677 684 21930536
  57. [61]Walders-Abramson N Nadeau KJ Kelsey MM Psychological functioning in adolescents with obesity co-morbidities Child Obes 2013 9 4 319 325 23763659 PMC3728721
  58. [62]Wille N Bullinger M Holl R Health-related quality of life in overweight and obese youths: results of a multicentre study Health Qual Life Outcomes 2010 8 36 44 20374656 PMC2868813
  59. [63]Zeller MH Modi AC Predictors of health-related quality of life in obese youths Obesity (Silver Spring) 2006 14 122 130 16493130
  60. [64]Guerdjikova AI McElroy SL Kotwal R Stanford K Keck PE Jr Psychiatric and metabolic characteristics of childhood versus adult-onset obesity in patients seeking weight management Eat Behav 2007 8 2 266 276 17336797
  61. [65]Lebow J Sim LA Kransdorf LN Prevalence of a history of overweight and obesity in adolescents with restrictive eating disorders J Adolesc Health 2015 56 1 19 24 25049202
  62. [66]Zeller MH Roehrig HR Modi AC Health-related quality of life and depressive symptoms in adolescents with extreme obesity presenting for bariatric surgery Pediatrics 2006 117 1155 1161 16585310
  63. [67]Daniels SR Jacobson MS McCrindle BW American Heart Association childhood obesity research summit report Circulation 2009 119 e489 e517 19332458
  64. [68]Neumark-Sztainer D Falkner N Story M Perry C Hannan PJ Mulert S Weight-teasing among adolescents: correlations with weight status and disordered eating behaviors Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2002 26 123 131 11791157
  65. [69]Hayden-Wade HA Stein RI Ghaderi A Saelens BE Zabinski MF Wilfley DE Prevalence, characteristics, and correlates of teasing experiences among overweight children vs. non-overweight peers Obes Res 2005 13 8 1381 1392 16129720
  66. [70]Maloney AE Pediatric obesity: a review for the child psychiatrist Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am 2010 19 353 370 20478504
  67. [71]Puhl RM Latner JD Stigma, obesity, and the health of the nation’s children Psychol Bull 2007 133 4 557 580 17592956
  68. [72]Rancourt D McCullough MB Overlap in eating disorders and obesity in adolescence Curr Diabet Rep 2015 15 10 78 26303593
  69. [73]Martin A Saunders DH Shenkin SD Sproule J Lifestyle intervention for improving school achievement in overweight or obese children and adolescents Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014 3 CD009728 24627300
  70. [74]Fenner AA Howie EK Davis MC Straker LM Relationships between psychosocial outcomes in adolescents who are obese and their parents during a multi-disciplinary family-based healthy lifestyle intervention: one year follow-up of a waitlist controlled trial Health Qual Life Outcomes 2016 14 100 116 27389034 PMC4936224
  71. [75]Barlow SE Expert Committee. Expert committee recommendations regarding the prevention, assessment and treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity: summary report Pediatrics 2007 120 Suppl S164 S192 18055651
  72. [76]Wilfley DE Stein RI Saelens BE Efficacy of maintenance treatment approaches for childhood overweight: a randomized controlled trial JAMA 2007 298 14 1661 1673 17925518
  73. [77]Armstrong MJ Mottershead TA Ronksley PE Motivational interviewing to improve weight loss in overweight and/or obese patients. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Obes Rev 2011 12 709 723 21692966
  74. [78]Reilly JJ Armstrong J Dorosty AR Early life risk factors for obesity in childhood: cohort study BMJ 2005 330 1357 15908441 PMC558282
  75. [79]Kalarchian MA Marcus MD Psychiatric comorbidity of childhood obesity Int Rev Psychiatry 2012 24 3 241 246 22724645
  76. [80]Harriger JA Thompson JK Psychological consequences of obesity: weight bias and body image in overweight and obese youth Int Rev Psychiatry 2012 24 3 247 253 22724646
  77. [81]Kalra G De Sousa A Sonovane S Shah N Psychological issues in pediatric obesity Ind Psychiatry J 2012 21 11 17 23766572 PMC3678172
  78. [82]Wardle J Williamson S Johnson F Depression in adolescent obesity: cultural moderators of the association between obesity and depressive symptoms Int J Obes 2006 30 634 643 16570093
  79. [83]Tang-Péronard JL Heitmann BL Stigmatization of obese children and adolescents, the importance of gender Obes Rev 2008 8 6 522 534 18643945
  80. [84]Gadalla T Piran N Psychiatric comorbidity in women with disordered eating behavior: a national study Women Health 2008 48 4 467 484 19301534
  81. [85]Reilly JJ Long term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood; systematic review Int J Obes 2011 35 7 891 898 20975725
  82. [86]National Center for Health Statistics Health, United States, 2011: With Special Features on Socioeconomic Status and Health Hyattsville, MD 2012 22812021
  83. [88]World Health Organisation A Snapshot of the Health of Young People in Europe Geneva European Commission Conference on Youth Health 2009

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Rankin, J., Matthews, L., Cobley, S., Han, A., Sanders, R., Wiltshire, H. D., & Baker, J. S.
Affiliations
  • University of the West of Scotland (GB)
  • MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (GB)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
  • Cardiff Metropolitan University (GB)
Corresponding author
Rankin, Jean
ORCID
Venue
Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2016-11
Volume
Volume 7
Pages
125-146
ISSN
1179-318X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2147/ahmt.s101631
PMC
PMC5115694
OpenAlex
W2552663534
Cited by
720
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 87 · 2024: 93 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 107 · 2021: 92 · 2020: 118 · 2019: 52 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 1
FWCI
5.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Adolescent Health Medicine and Therapeutics (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Cardiff Metropolitan Research Repository (Cardiff Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12017/11, MC_UU_12017/14)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
Keywords
childhood obesity, overweight, psychiatric comorbidity, depression, health-related quality of life, emotional and behavioral disorders, self-esteem, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, stigma, bullying, teasing, psychosocial problems, obesity prevention

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review