ArticleJournal of health economics2018
The effect of weight on mental health: New evidence using genetic IVs.
Article in Journal of health economics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the role of obesity in predicting mental health disorders: analyzing the effects of diagnosis sequence order.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- The hidden cost of sophistication: economic complexity and obesity.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Article
- Nonlinear Association Between BMI and Depression Among Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: NHANES (2017-2018).Behavioural neurology · 2025Article
- Alcohol consumption and allergic diseases: Mendelian randomization evidence from China.Global health action · 2024Article
- The effect of social media use on mental health of college students during the pandemic.Health economics · 2024Article
- Article
- Life satisfaction and body mass index: estimating the monetary value of achieving optimal body weight.Review of economics of the household · 2023Article
- Mental health effects of education.Health economics · 2022Article
- Body shape and stable employment opportunity analysis of China's nonagricultural labor market.SSM - population health · 2022Review
- Body Mass and Income: Gender and Occupational Differences.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The impact of BMI on mental health: Further evidence from genetic markers.Economics and human biology · 2020Article
- The Impact of Psychological Resources on Body Mass Index in Obesity Surgery Candidates.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Alcohol Use and Depression: A Mendelian Randomization Study From China.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Article
- What is creating the height premium? New evidence from a Mendelian randomization analysis in China.PloS one · 2020Article
- Educational attainment and allostatic load in later life: Evidence using genetic markers.Preventive medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Average body mass index (BMI) and depression prevalence grew over the last several decades, increasing medical expenditures. There is a strong correlation between obesity and depression but limited evidence on the causal effect of weight on mental health. I use an index of genetic risk for high BMI as a source of exogenous variation in weight to provide novel evidence on the effect of weight on mental health. This is one of the first studies to use genetics as an instrument for BMI and to examine the causal relationship between weight and depression. Results are mixed; I find a meaningful and significant effect of weight on suicidal ideation but no effects on counseling and an index of depression. The effect on suicidal ideation is concentrated in white females. From respondent and interviewer opinions of respondent attractiveness, social stigma is a mechanism through which weight affects mental health for white women.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.