Stressful life events, gender and obesity: A prospective, population-based study of adolescents in British Columbia

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether stressful life events are related to levels of obesity in a group of ethnically diverse Canadian youth and the extent to which the relationship differs by gender. METHODS: This study of 905 adolescents (age 13–17 years) from a BC population-based cohort (BASUS) used self-reported data from Wave 5 (2011 fall) on stressful life events and socio-demographic factors and from Wave 6 (2012 spring) on weight and height. Multivariable logistic regression models conditioned on known confounders and used a cross-product term for effect modification by gender. Post-estimation analysis calculated gender-specific predicted mean probabilities of having obesity associated with greater frequency of stressful life events. RESULTS: Compared to young men reporting no stressful life events in the previous year, young men reporting one event were nearly 50% more likely to have obesity at 6-month follow-up (OR 1.47 [95% CI: 0.63, 3.41]) and those reporting multiple stressful life events were twice as likely to have obesity at 6-month follow-up (OR 2.07 [95% CI: 0.79–5.43]). Only young women reporting multiple events showed a higher likelihood of having obesity at the end of the study (OR 1.32 [95% CI: 0.41–4.18]) than their counterparts reporting no life events. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the frequency of major life events may be an important social stressor associated with obesity in adolescents, particularly for young men. However, findings should be replicated in larger samples using measured anthropometry to inform future obesity prevention strategies.