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s [9].
The association between obesity and anxiety or substance use disorders is poorly understood. In epidemiology study, anxiety symptoms have indicated moderate positive associations with obesity in community and clinic samples [16]. Alcohol abuse has been associated with a lower risk of obesity [17].
We conduct this research to seek for the answer to the paradoxical results regarding the ethnicity differences and to investigate the relationship between obesity and substance use disorders. Meanwhile, to our knowledge, none of the studies to date has been conducted based on the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey (BRFSS). In the 2006 BRFSS, depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) instead of using just a single question in the 2001 BRFSS. The PHQ can evaluate the severity of depressive symptoms as well as establish provisional diagnoses of major and minor depression. Findings from this research can give instructions to government officers on making social policy decisions to help people in need of mental health services.

Background and Significance

Understanding the causes of obesity is pivotal for improving health balance and reducing obesity-related diseases. Most researchers have investigated that the combination of a redundant nutritional food intake and a sedentary lifestyle are the main reasons for the rapid acceleration of overweight and obesity in Western countries in the last quarter of the 20th century. In spite of the widespread availability of nutritional information in schools, doctors’ offices, on the Internet and on groceries, it is evident that overeating remains a substantial problem. For instance, reliance on energy-dense fast-food meals tripled between 1977 and 1995, and calorie intake quadrupled over the same period. However, dietary intake in itself is inadequate to explain the phenomenal increase in levels of obesity in many of the industrialized world in recent years [18].
Weight regulation is very complex due to series of individual-level influences. In the United States, the prevalence of obesity is higher among middle-aged and older adults than that among younger adults [19]. Besides, obesity is more common among women than men [20]. In developed countries, obesity is inversely related to income and education level [21,22].
Previous researches indicated that obesity might be significantly associated with depression [4,5]. Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders [6]. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2000 estimated that 9.5% of the U.S. populations suffer from a depressive illness in any given year [7]. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimated that, during the years 2005-2006, 11.29% of total U.S. adults had experienced serious psychological distress in past year [8]. Several researches conducted in the United States and Canada have indicated associations between obesity and depressive symptoms [9], measures of psychological distress [10], and history of depression [11]. It is reported that the relationship between depression and obesity is dependent upon different gender, age, and race/ ethnics [9]. One previous study examined the association between obesity and depression dependent on sex differences, reporting a significant positive association among women but not men [12,13,14]. Another national study which examined the association between the depressive mood and obesity base本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。