title: The relationship between body size and depression symptoms in adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the relationship between body size and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating effects of age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES), in a sample of young adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group comprised 678 young adolescents (age 11 to 14 years). Body mass index (BMI) z scores were used to estimate body size. Depression symptoms were assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). The spline function was used to examine the shape of the relationship between BMI z score and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the total sample, CDI scores were lowest for BMI z scores between -1 and -0.5. CDI scores increased progressively for BMI z scores > 0. In boys, CDI scores increased for BMI z scores > 2, whereas in girls, CDI scores increased for BMI z scores > -0.5 and < -1. Age did not have a significant moderating effect. SES had a moderating effect only in boys (P = .011).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relationship between body size and depressive symptoms in young adolescents is curvilinear and is moderated by sex. Heavier-than-average and underweight girls, as well as obese boys, had the highest depression scores.
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, G. B. Rossi Hospital, Verona, Italy. samuele.cortese@gmail.com
authors.forename: Samuele
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cortese
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Falissard
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Angriman
authors.forename: Yolande
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pigaiani
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Banzato
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bogoni
authors.forename: Maristella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellegrino
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pajno-Ferrara
authors.forename: Bernardo Dalla
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Bernardina
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mouren
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maffeis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013851:Thinness / Q000503:physiopathology