Body Mass Index and Trait Anxiety Among College Students

Introduction: Overweight and obese adults are more likely than normal weight adults to have higher rates of mental health issues. The relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and mental disorders such as anxiety is still under investigation as the findings are equivocal. Most adults who have diagnosed anxiety disorder first experience symptoms of anxiety in their early adulthood. Therefore, examining the transition period from adolescence to young adulthood is critical. The purpose of this study was to 1) investigate the relation of socio-demographic variables, physical activity level, sedentary time, and BMI to trait anxiety; and 2) examine the association between BMI and trait anxiety among college students.

Methods: A convenient sample of college students (n=64, M age=23.1±3.81 years, female=38) were asked to fill out a medical questionnaire including socio-demographics (i.e., age, sex, race/ethnicity, years of education), physical activity level (MET/Min per week), sedentary time (Min/Day per week), as well as Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults (Cronback’s α=.904). BMI was calculated using measured height and weight. A bivariate correlation and a three stage hierarchical multiple regression were conducted to examine the relationships among variables and the association between BMI and trait anxiety.

Results: Trait anxiety was significantly associated with physical activity level (r=-.264, p<.05), sedentary time (r=.224, p<.05), and BMI (r=.294, p<.05), but not socio-demographics. The hierarchical multiple regression revealed that at Stage one, socio-demographics contributed significantly to the regression model, F(4,56)=2.92, p<.05 and accounted for 17.3% of the variation in trait anxiety. Introducing physical activity level and sedentary time explained 21.0% of variance in trait anxiety and R² was significant, F(6,54)=2.39, p<.05. Adding BMI to the regression model explained an additional 14.8% of the variation in trait anxiety and this change in R² was also significant, F(7,53)=4.23, p<.001. The most important predictor of trait anxiety was BMI which uniquely explained 15% of the variance in trait anxiety. Together all the independent variables accounted for 35.8% of the variance in trait anxiety.

Conclusions: Overweight and obese adults may be more vulnerable than normal weight students to face negative attitudes in school settings and interpersonal relationships. Future studies should focus on examining moderators, such as social support, which could help ameliorate the relationship. Longitudinal studies are also needed in order to find out the causal relationship between BMI and trait anxiety for developing preventive interventions.