Association of Depression and Anxiety with Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference among Middle Adolescent Females in Bathinda District, Punjab, India

Background: Adolescence is a crucial period marked by significant psychological and physical changes.Depression and anxiety during this stage may influence body composition, particularly body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC).Objective: To evaluate the association between depression, anxiety, and anthropometric parameters (BMI and WC) among middle adolescent females.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 600 adolescent females aged 15-17 years.Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS).Body mass index and WC were measured using standard anthropometric methods.Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation.Results: Nearly half of the participants had normal depression levels (49.2%), while the remaining participants exhibited varying degrees of depression severity.The majority of the adolescent females had normal BMI (74.5%) and normal WC (75.3%).Correlation analysis demonstrated a weak but statistically significant positive association between depression and BMI (r = 0.143, p = 0.044), as well as between depression and WC (r = 0.164, p = 0.021).Anxiety also showed weak positive correlations with BMI (r = 0.129, p = 0.068) and WC (r = 0.138, p = 0.051), although these associations were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are common among middle adolescent females.Both depression and anxiety demonstrated weak positive associations with BMI and WC, indicating that psychological distress may contribute to increased general and central adiposity.