Examining the role that weight perception and social influences have on mental health among youth in the COMPASS study

PURPOSE: We investigated whether social health mitigates the association between weight perception and anxiety and depression 1 year later in a large sample of Canadian youth in a prospective, gender-specific analysis. METHODS: We used 2 years of linked survey data from 20,485 grade 9–11 students who participated in wave 6 (2017/18) and 7 (2018/19) of the COMPASS study. Mental health outcomes included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder—7 item (GAD-7) scale and the 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-10-R). Social health encompassed students’ perceived relationships with friends, family, teachers, and within schools. Multilevel, prospective, linear models regressed mental health (at wave 7) on social health (at wave 6) and weight perception (at wave 6) while controlling for weight status, ethnicity, and grade (at wave 6). Interaction terms were used to test social health factors as moderators in the association between weight perception and mental health. RESULTS: Overweight perceptions were associated with higher anxiety and depression scores among youth; this was more pronounced among females. Social health was associated with lower anxiety and depression scores. Among females only, an overweight perception had the highest predicted scores for significant depressive symptoms. Among males only, underweight perceptions were associated with higher anxiety scores. No social health factors had moderating effects in females, and only two interactions were significant among males: feeling safe at school had protective associations with anxiety scores among those with underweight perceptions while those with overweight perceptions had higher depression scores when they reported rewarding social relationships. CONCLUSION: Overweight perceptions in all youth, and underweight perceptions in males, predicted anxiety and depression symptoms 1 year later. The role of social health should not be discounted as a means of preventing anxiety and depression in youth, although this study suggests it is not sufficient to protect against adverse associations with overweight perceptions for all youth, and underweight perceptions for males. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00127-022-02219-9.