Relative Body Weight and Psychological Distress in Late Life

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between relative body weight (measured with body mass index; BMI) and multiple forms of psychological distress and whether those associations are contingent on gender and race. METHOD: Interviews were conducted in 2001-2002 with persons 65 years and older in the District of Columbia and adjoining Maryland counties (N = 1,152). BMI is associated (a) positively with depression, anger, and physical symptoms among White women; (b) positively with physical symptoms among Black women and men; and (c) negatively with anxiety among White men. RESULTS: Tests for gender by race interactions find significant contrasts between White women and men when depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms are considered as outcomes; contrasts between White and Black women are significant for anger. DISCUSSION: Results underscore the importance of gender by race interactions, multiple forms of distress in analyses of effects of BMI, and the role of negative self-evaluations and health difficulties as explanations.

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