ArticleBMC public health2013
Body mass index and subjective well-being in young adults: a twin population study.
Article in BMC public health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association Between Affect and Adiposity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- Analysis of the association between adolescent physical activity and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Association between living arrangement and psychological well-being among patients with major depressive disorder: the moderating role of body mass index.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Body mass index having a mediating role between diet quality & mental and physical health among women.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- L-shaped association of triglyceride glucose-body mass index and self-rated mental health among the middle-aged and older adults: a national cohort study in China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Utility of an online well-being assessment in targeting employee well-being programmes: a cross-sectional survey study in Finland.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Investigating the effects of rurality on stress, subjective well-being, and weight-related outcomes.Wellbeing, space and society · 2023Article
- BMI and well-being in people of East Asian and European ancestry: a Mendelian randomisation study.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Predicting wellbeing over one year using sociodemographic factors, personality, health behaviours, cognition, and life events.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Identify travel and health factors influencing well-being of the older adults-a case study in China.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Gendered Body Mass and Life Satisfaction Among Youth in Three Western European Immigrant-Receiving Countries.Frontiers in sociology · 2021Article
- Understanding subjective well-being: perspectives from psychology and public health.Public health reviews · 2020Review
- Health-Related Lifestyles, Substance-Related Behaviors, and Sexual Habits Among Italian Young Adult Males: An Epidemiologic Study.Sexual medicine · 2020Article
- Body Satisfaction, Weight Stigma, Positivity, and Happiness among Spanish Adults with Overweight and Obesity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Analysis of Factors Affecting the High Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Residents Based on the 2014 China Family Panel Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- A Mental Health Survey of Different Ethnic and Occupational Groups in Xinjiang, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2017Article
- Does Low Body Mass Index Matter? Relationship between Body Mass Index and Subjective Well-Being among Long-Lived Women over 95 Years of Age.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2016Article
- Epidemiology of eating disorders, eating disordered behaviour, and body image disturbance in males: a narrative review.Journal of eating disorders · 2015Review
- Are total, intensity- and domain-specific physical activity levels associated with life satisfaction among university students?PloS one · 2015Article
- Outcome of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and subsequent self-reported life satisfaction.PloS one · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBody mass index (BMI) is associated with subjective well-being. Higher BMI is believed to be related with lower well-being. However, the association may not be linear. Therefore, we investigated whether a nonlinear (U-shaped) trend would better describe this relationship, and whether eating disorders might account for the association in young adults.
methodsFinnTwin16 study evaluated multiple measures of subjective well-being, including life satisfaction, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20), satisfaction with leisure time, work, and family relationships, and satisfaction with sex life in young adulthood in the 1975-79 birth cohorts of Finnish twins (n=5240). We studied the relationship between indicators of subjective well-being and BMI both in full birth cohorts and in subgroups stratified by lifetime DSM-IV eating disorders.
resultsWe found an inverse U-shaped relationship between all indicators of subjective well-being and BMI in men. There was no overall association between BMI and subjective well-being in women. However, there was an inverse U-shaped relationship between BMI and indicators of subjective well-being in women with a lifetime eating disorder and their healthy female co-twins. Subjective well-being was optimal in the overweight category.
conclusionsBoth underweight and obesity are associated with impaired subjective well-being in young men. The BMI reflecting optimal subjective well-being of young men may be higher than currently recognized. Categorization of body weight in terms of BMI may need to be reassessed in young men. BMI and subjective well-being are related in women with a lifetime eating disorder, but not in the general population of young women.
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