Obesity and Mental Health Longitudinal Study in Germany and China

9,371 participants from Germany (364) and China (9,007) were included in a longitudinal study examining the relationship between obesity and mental health. The research, authored by Norbert Hermanns of Ruhr University Bochum, used structural equation modeling with mediators and moderators. It found significant relationships between overweight/obesity and later depression and anxiety in Chinese males, with effects mediated by factors like attractiveness, physical health, and life satisfaction.

Use Cases

• Modeling the mediating role of attractiveness on mental health based on the described structural equation models.
• Analyzing cross-cultural differences in obesity-mental health pathways based on the German and Chinese participant groups.
• Investigating gender-specific effects on depression and anxiety outcomes based on the separate analyses for female and male students.
• Studying longitudinal effects of obesity on life satisfaction based on the identified mediator for German females.

Strengths

• Longitudinal design with baseline and one-year follow-up data.
• Cross-cultural sample from two distinct countries (Germany and China).
• Analysis includes multiple mediators (attractiveness, physical health, life satisfaction) and a moderator.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the underlying dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and demographic bias inherent to the specific participant groups.

Provenance

Source

Norbert Hermanns, Ruhr University Bochum

Collection Method

Longitudinal study using structural equation modeling.

Time Range

Baseline and one-year follow-up (specific years unknown).

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Germany and China