Weight status and mental health in Italy: Evidence from EHIS2 microdata

Barone, Adriana and Barra, Cristian (2019): Weight status and mental health in Italy: Evidence from EHIS2 microdata.

Abstract

This paper tested the association between weight status (proxied by BMI) and mental health in Italy, using EHIS2 microdata, which provide the usual information(demographic, socio-economic, etc.), and also information on weight/height, and eight mental health variables (low interest, depression, sleep disorders, tiredness, eating disorders, sense of failure, low concentration, slow moving/speaking). The empirical results show that there is a strong positive association between weight status and all mental health variables (except of slow moving/slow speaking) with an interesting gender difference in the association between weight status and sleep disorders and eating disorders in that females suffer more than males. Moreover, the empirical results reveal that between weight status there is: a negative association with a high level of education, a high source of income and a high type of dwelling; a positive association with the marital status, a poor social network to count on in case of difficulty and a high degree of urbanization. Finally, the empirical findings sustain that a) there is a positive association between weight status and health variables (chronic anxiety and chronic diseases) and b) the association between weight status and the living area is negative when Northern italian regions are taken into account. The positive association between weight status and new emerging types of mental health problems such as sleep disturbances and eating disturbances suggests some considerations on the higher economic costs, at individual and social level, because of these new mental health problems associated to weight status. Moreover, the negative association between weight status and a high level of education suggests that educational policies could help individuals to raise barriers against obesity and sleep/eating disturbances associated to it.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Human capital; Weight status; Mental health; Microeconometrics.
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C20 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity

References

Akay A., Martinsson P., Ralsmark H. (2019). Relative concerns and sleep behaviour. Economics and Human Biology, 33, 1-14.

Amin V., Flores C.A., Flores-Lagunes (2019). The impact of BMI on mental health: further evidence from genetic markers, GLO Discussion Paper, no. 385, Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen.

Assari S. (2014). The link between mental health and obesity: Role of individual and contextual factors. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 5(3), 247-249.

Averett S. (2011). Labor market consequences: Employment, wages, disability, and absenteism in Cawley J. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of the Social Science of Obesity, Oxford University Press.

Barone A., O’Higgins N. (2010). Fat and out in Salerno and its province: Adolescent obesity and early school leaving in Southern Italy. Economics & Human Biology 8(1), 44-57.

Barone A., Nese A. (2016). Educational outcomes, Gender and Body Weight: Evidence from Italy. Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, n. 3-4, 257-82.

Barone A., Nese A. (2019). Investment in education, obesity and healthy behaviours of young Italian adults. Economia e Lavoro, 1, 135-150.

Barone A., Barra C. (2018). The association between obesity and the choice of the type of school (Lyceum vs. other types of school): Evidence from 14-17 years Italian adolescence), mimeo.

Blehar M.D., Oren D.A. (1995). Women’s increased vulnerability to mood disorders: Integrating psychobiology and epidemiology. Depression, 3, 3-12.

Burkhauser R.V., Cawley J. (2008). Beyond BMI: the value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science, Health Economics, 27, 519-529.

Cawley J. (ed.) (2011). The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity, Oxford University Press.

Cawley J. (2015). An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity’s causes, consequences, and solutions. Journal of Health Economics, 43(C), 244-268.

Chou S.Y., Grossman M., Saffer H. (2004). An economic analysis of adult obesity: Results fron the behavioral risk factor surveillance system. Journal of Health Economics, 23(3), 565-587.

Chu D., Minh Nguyet N.T., Nga V.T., Thai Lien N.V., Vo D.D., Lien N., Nhu Ngoc. V. T., Son L.H., Le D., Nga V.B., Van Tu, P. (2019). An update on obesity: Mental consequences and psychological interventions, Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 13(1), 155-160.

Costa-Font J., Gil J. (2004). Social interactions and the contemporaneous determinants of individuals’ weight. Applied Economics, 36, 2253-2263.

Costa-Font J., Gil J. (2006). Revisiting the ‘Fat and Jolly’ hypothesis: socio-environmental determinants of obesity and depression in Spain. Socio-Economic Review, 4, 513-542.

Cronin C., Forsstrom M., Papageorge N. (2017). Mental health, human capital and labor market outcomes, November 19.

Crosnoe R., Muller C. (2004). Body mass index, academic achievement, and school context: Examining the educational experiences of adolescents at risk of obesity. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45(4), 393-407.

Danisi J., Fernandez-Mendoza J., Vgontzas A.N., Boder E. O. (2019). Obesity and sleep disturbances, in Murillo-

Rodriguez E. (ed.) The behavioral, molecular, pharmacological, and clinical basis of the sleep-wake cycle, ch.7, Academic Press.

Danubio M.E., Miranda G., Vinciguerra M.G., Vecchi E., Rufo F. (2008). Comparison of self-reported and measured height and weight: Implications for obesity research among young adults. Economics and Human Biology, 6(1), 181-190.

Dixon J.B. (2010). The effect of obesity on health outcomes. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 316, 104-108.

Farrè L., Fasani F., Mueller H. (2018). Feeling useless: the effects of unemployment on mental health in the Great Recession. IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 7(8).

Ferraro K.F., Kelley-Moore J.A. (2003). Cumulative disadvantage and health: Long-term consequences of obesity, American Sociological Review, 68, 707-729.

Fuchs V. R. (2004). Reflections on the socio-economic correlates of health. Journal of Health Economics, 23, 653-661.

Granberg E. (2011). Depression and obesity. In J. Cawley (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity, Oxford University Press, ch. 20, 329-342.

Grossman M. (1972). On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. Journal of Health Economics, 80, 223 -255.

Grossman M. (2000). The human capital model. In A.J. Culyer, J.P. Newhouse (eds.). Handbook of Health Economics, vol. 1, ch. 7, Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, 347-408.

Kenkel D. (1991). Health behaviour, health knowledge and schooling. Journal of Political Economy, 99, 287-305.

Kocjan G. K., Lavtar D. (2016). Initiative for the Measurement of Mental Health and Well-Being in the third Wave of the European Health Interview Survey, National Institute of Public Health, NIJZ, Slovenia.

Kroenke K., Spitzer R.L. (2002). The PHQ-9: A new depression and diagnostic severity measure. Psychiatric Annals, 32(9), 509-521.

Kroenke K., Strine T., Spitzer R.L., Williams J.B.W., Berry J.T., Mokdad A.H. (2009). The PHQ-8 as a measure of current depression in the general population. Journal of Affective Disorders, 114, 163-173.

Krul A.J., Daanen H.A.M., Choi H. (2011). Self-reported and measured weight, height and body mass index (BMI) in Italy, the Netherlands and North America. European Journal of Public Health, 21(4), 414-419.

Muscogiuri G., Barrea L., Annunziata G., Di Somma C., Laudisio D., Colao A., Savastano S. (2019). Obesity and sleep disturbances: the chicken or the egg?. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 59(13), 2158-2165.

Otsuka, Y., Kaneita, Y., Itani, O. et al. (2019). Association between unhealthy dietary behaviors and sleep disturbances among Japanese adolescents: a nationwide representative survey. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 17(1), 93-102.

Puhl R.M. (2011). Bias, stigma, and discrimination. In J.H. Cawley (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity. Oxford University Press, New York.

Propper C., Jones A., Bolster S., Burgess R., Johnston R., Sarker R. (2004). Local neighbourhood and mental health: Evidence from the UK. Social Science and Medicine, 61(10), 2065-2083.

Rashad I., Grossman M., Chou S.Y. (2005). The super size of America: an economic estimation of body mass index and obesity in adults. NBER Working Paper no. 11584

Ruhm C.J. (2000). Are recessions good for your health?. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115, 617-650.

Sabia J.J. (2007). The effect of body weight on adolescent academic achievement. Southern Economic Journal, 73(4), 871-900.

Sabia J.J., Rees D. (2015). Body weight, mental health, and academic achievement. Review of Economic of the Household, 13(3), 653-84.

Stroebele N., McNally J., Plog A., Siegfried S., Hill J.O. (2013). The Association of Self-reported Sleep, Weight Status and Academic performance in fifth Grade Students. Journal of School Health, 83(2), 77-84.

Tefft N., (2018). The Economics of childhood and adolescent obesity, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance.

World Health Organization (1946). Constitution of the World Health Organization, Geneva.