Weight status and mens positive mental health: : examining the Joll - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Weight status and men’s positive mental health: : examining the Joll lly fat hypothesis fr from a posit itive psychology perspective

Meunier, S., de Montigny, F., Cloutier, L., Cyr, C., & Houle, J. Fifth World Congress on Positive Psychology

July 13-16, 2017 Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Background

• The “Jolly fat” hypothesis
• Adults (especially men) with overweight or obesity are at lower risk of anxiety and
• depression. (Crisp & McGuiness, 1976; Crisp, Queenan, Sittampaln & Harris, 1980)
• Studies testing the association between weight status and mental health
• …have given inconsistent results
• …have mainly focused on mental illness (e.g. depression) rather than on positive

mental health.

• The association between weight status and men’s positive mental health

(emotional, psychological, and social well-being) has seldom been investigated.

Objectives

• Examine the association between weight status and men’s positive

mental health.

• Explore the moderating effect of marital status in this association.

Methods

• Cross-sectional study (n= 645)
• Self-reported questionnaire
• Body mass index (BMI) = Weight (kg)/ height (m2)
• Marital status: 0=single; 1=married or common-law partner
• Positive mental health: Mental health continuum short form (Lamers et al.,

2011)

Results

Normal weight Mean (SD) Overweight Mean (SD) Obesity Mean (SD) F p

Emotional well-being 3.86 (0.98) 3.98 (0.81) 3.88 (0.94) 1.22 .30 Psychological well-being 3.64 (0.91) 3.77 (0.83) 3.58 (1.02) 2.47 .09 Social well-being 2.43 (1.18) 2.57 (1.10) 2.41 (1.22) 1.34 .26

Results

Emotional well-being Psychological well-being Social well-being B SEB β B SEB β B SEB β (Constant) 3.84 0.30 3.87 0.33 1.26 0.42 Age 0.00 0.00 .01 0.00 0.00

• .04

0.01 0.00 .07 Years of education

• 0.02

0.02

• .04
• 0.01

0.02

• .01

0.08 0.03 .13** Perceived economic status (poor or very poor)

• 0.69

0.11

• .23**
• 0.44

0.12

• .14**
• 0.47

0.16

• .12**

Number of comorbidities

• 0.16

0.03

• .24**
• 0.10

0.03

• .14**
• 0.15

0.04

• .17**

Marital status 0.65 0.14 .31** 0.23 0.15 .11 0.10 0.19 .04 Overweight 0.39 0.15 .22* 0.09 0.16 .05 0.13 0.21 .06 Obesity

• 0.08

0.20

• .04
• 0.72

0.21

• .33**
• 0.56

0.28

• .20*

Overweight X marital status

• 0.46

0.17

• .25*
• 0.03

0.19

• .02
• 0.10

0.24

• .04

Obesity X marital status 0.06 0.23 .03 0.76 0.24 .33** 0.65 0.31 .22*

VI=Overweight Single men β = .17, p = .05 Men in a relationship β = -.04, p = .42 VI=Obesity Single men β = -.25, p < .01 Men in a relationship β = .02, p = .73 VI=Obesity Single men β = -.17, p = .06 Men in a relationship: β =.03, p = .58

Conclusions

• Overall, men in normal weight, overweight, and obesity categories did

not differ significantly in their levels of emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

• Marital status is an important variable to consider when examining

the association between weight status and men’s positive mental health.

Thank you!

Questions?

meunier.sophie@uqam.ca