1. Running head: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BMI AND MENTAL HEALTH STATUS
The Relationship between BMI and Mental Health Status among IIUM Students
Research proposal
Nuramal Hayati bt Mohd Amron
1126844
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
Paper submitted as a partial fulfillment to the requirement of PSYC 4990, Undergraduate
Research Project, Section 1, instructed by Dr. Syarifah Azizah at the Department of Psychology,
International Islamic University Malaysia, Semester 2, 2014/2015.
2. Abstract
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the association between BMI and mental health status which includes
depress,anxiety and stress among IIUM students.
DESIGN: Correlational research design.
SUBJECTS: A total of 100 local undergraduate students, age 20 - 26 years old, from International Islamic
University Malaysia’s student.
MEASUREMENTS: Proceduralof body mass index measurement, DASS Inventory to measure mental
health status
RESULTS: We found an association between BMI and mental health status. Obese students had the
highest rate of mental disorders. Most importantly, obese students suffered from an anxiety disorder
significantly more often than who were not obese.
CONCLUSIONS:Obesity is related to increased rates of mental disorders, most notably depressed,
anxiety and stress.
Keywords: BMI, Mental Health Status, Body Weight
Introduction
It is reported that a lot of children having emotional issues such as depression, stress,
anxiety and PTSD when it is relates to physical body. The level of well-being among
obese/overweight children are decrease compared to children who are in the state of normal
weight. What is more astonishing, the level of depress among children who are in the state of
severely obese is same to children who are having cancer (Lee & Yen, 2014). There was also
reported that people who are obesity tend to suicide. The higher potential risk of people who are
getting suicide is from man who are obese (Mukamal et al., 2007). This is proved that body
weight linked with the emotional welfare. There was a study in German by Becker et al (2001),
stated that they found the connotation between mental disorder and body weight. The study
assumed that overall, the highest mental disorders are women who are obese. The subject who
were suffers anxiety disorder also frequently from women who were obese rather than not obese.
Therefore, these phenomena shows us that BMI or body weight does give a link and relation
upon mental health status among public. Other than mental health status, body weight also have
association with physical health such as chronic diseases.
A study conducted by Mumford et al (2013), which examined between concurrent
trajectories of BMI and mental health patterns in emerging adulthood. It showed that individuals
with unhealthy weight related to mental health which can turn to depression to an individual.
Nevertheless, this study was conducted among adulthood people which show further research in
teenagers specifically student should be examined in the future.
3. There was a study conducted among student of University Malaysia Sarawak which
related on Gender Differences in Body Mass Index Body Weight, Perception and Weight Loss
Strategies (Kuan et al, 2011). Generally, females were more concerned about body weight than
males. They diet more frequently, had self-induced vomiting, and used laxatives and exercise as
their weight-loss strategies. Even though this study could give some pictures in term of the
subjects, yet it was not emphasized on mental health status thus make this present study need to
be conducted. Plus, this study also has been conducted long time ago so there might be some
changes in student behavior as time goes by.
It is clear from the above literature review that a number of studies and research has been
done and looked into the relationship of BMI and mental health status. More specifically, the
research has been conducted between body weight and their emotional status whether they have
positive or negative psychological well-being among people in general. Hence, this topic is
important to be reviewed because there are arising cases of morbidity and suffer from chronic
illnesses are people who are in the state of obesity. In an additional analysis, people who are
obese and not in the ideal state of BMI trajectory, suffers the highest in statistical analysis stated
of depression, anxiety and stress. Therefore, this research is an awareness for people to stay
healthy and in the state of best BMI to be in a positive well-being. The question is how does BMI
can be related to mental health status? Does it a bidirectional relationship?
However, there is a lack of research whether the research has been conducted on
Malaysia. Currently, the tendency of obesity fostered among Malaysian. The factors contributed
to this phenomena are the lack of physical exercise and uncontrolled of food intake
(Gopalakrishnan , Ganeshkumar & Prakash, 2012). Commonly, youth and young adult are group
of people who really care the most upon their appearances. They are fear of teasing from people
surrounding on their looks and body weight. According to Eisenberg and Sztainer (2003), teasing
about body weight on an individual can be associated with low self-esteem, depression and even
attempting suicide. Therefore, this present study aims to examine the relationship between BMI
and mental health status among youth specifically on undergraduate students of International
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
The aim of this research is to investigate the association between BMI and mental health
status which includes depress, anxiety and stress among IIUM students. Therefore, it is
reasonable to hypothesize that people whose BMI is in the state of overweight and obese may
have higher level of depress, anxiety and stress rather than those who are in the average body
weight. However, to confirm this hypothesis further research is needed. From this research, what
can be learnt is the importance of maintaining a good state of BMI in order to sustain a positive
mental and physical well-being. The indicator that lead to mental health status such as depress,
anxiety and stress may be obesity and overweight. Therefore, researcher will make a public
awareness which relates to weight management to sustain fitness among people especially youth.
4. Operational Definitions
Body Mass Index (BMI) or body weight. BMI is a formula to measure the ideal body mass by
calculating weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The Depression scale
assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of
interest/involvement, anhedonia, and inertia. The Anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal,
skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The
Stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing,
nervous arousal, and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient. Mental
health status will be measured by using DASS Inventory Scale.
Method
Participant
The participants of this research was enrolled from local student of International Islamic
University Malaysia specifically undergraduate students. There is 100 students which are 50
males and 50 females. The participant will be recruited by using convenience sampling design.
Participants must be in the range of age from 20 to 26 years old. The participants also must be a
single people which means not getting married yet.
Instruments
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body weight and height will be measured by using weight and height measuring tool that already
located in the psychological lab. Then, the BMI will be calculated by using calculator (weight
[kg]/ height x height [m]). From the BMI result, it will be classified into four categories which
are “underweight”, “normal weight”, “overweight” and “obese”. This categories is classified by
referred Department of Statistics Malaysia, Official Portal which categorized “underweight”
(BMI < 28kg/m), “normal weight” (BMI 19-23.9 kg/m), “overweight” (BMI 24-28 kg/m), and
“obese” (BMI > 29 kg/m).
DASS Inventory
DASS Inventory Scale is a scale to measure Depression, Anxiety and Stress emotional states. In
this study, DASS Inventory with 21-item self-administered questionnaire that used four-point
evaluation scale to assess the level of mental health status which focus more on depression,
anxiety and stress. The higher the scores, the severe the emotional status.
Procedure
The study will be divided into two parts: data collection part and data analysis part. Firstly, the
researcher should ask permission from the Psychology Laboratory Assistant, Brother Faizul in
5. order to use weight-height instrument to measure the BMI of the participants. Before the data
collection period, researcher should determine the potential risk upon this research either it is no
risk research, minimal risk research or full review risk research. Before collecting the data,
participants will be informed consents the purpose of the research, expected duration and
procedures. Participants also will be informed that they have rights to decline to participate and
to withdraw from the research once it has started. After that, the researcher will collect the data
by measuring participant’s BMI and distributing DASS Inventory to the participants afterwards.
After done collecting data, participants will be debriefed. During this stage, the research
questions will be addressed and any misconception will be discussed. Participants also will be
briefed that their details and information are private and confidential. It will not be exposed and
disclosed to the public as it will against the ethics of research. After data collection finished, the
researchers will analyse the data by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).
References
Becker, E. S., Margraf, J., Turke, V., Soder, U., & Neumer, S. (2010). Obesity and
Mental Illness in a Representative Sample of Young Women. International Journal of
Obesity, 25, 1, S5–S9.
Lee, J. I., & Yen, C. F. (2014). Associations between Body Weight and Depression,
Social Phobia, Insomnia, and Self-Esteem among Taiwanese Adolescents. Kaohsiung
Journal of Medical Sciences, 30, 625-630.
Mukamal, K. J., Kawachi, I., Miller, M., & Rimm, E. B. (2007). Body Mass Index and
Risk of Suicide among Men. Arch Intern Med, 167, 468-475.
Mague, S., Madden, E., Cohen, B., Bertenthal, D., & Neylan, T. (2013). The Relationship
between Body Mass Index and Mental Health among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.
J Gen Intern Med, 28, S563–70.
Mumford, E. A., Liu, W., Hair, E. C., & Yu, T. C. (2013). Concurrent Trajectories of BMI and
Mental Health Patterns in Emerging Adulthood. Journal of Social Science and Medicine.
Kuan, P. X., Ho, H. L., Suhaili, M. S., Siti, A. A., & Gudum, H. R. (2011). Gender Differences
in Body Mass Index, Body Weight Perception and Weight Loss Strategies among
Undergraduates in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Jr Nutr 17 (1), 67-75.
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