Relationship Between Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Weight Self-Stigma Among Youths in Saudi Arabia: A Nationwide Study

Background and objectives Many research studies show that self -stigma related to weight can exacerbate mental health issues. There is also evidence suggesting that depression, anxiety, and stress could be predictors of weight stigma. However, these connections have not been thoroughly investigated among young people in Saudi Arabia, where there is a high prevalence of obesity. This study aimed to explore the relationships between depression, anxiety, stress, and weight self -stigma in Saudi Arabian adolescents and young adults. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and March 2022 and utilized online surveys, including the Weight Self -Stigma Questionnaire (WSSQ) and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21). We conducted descriptive analysis, independent samples t -tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression for the statistical analysis using SPSS version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results A total of 1624 participants were enrolled in this survey. Most participants (889, 54.7%) were females. The mean age was 20.73 years (SD: 2.63). Males were more likely to report self -stigma compared to females (p = 0.018). Weight self -stigma demonstrated significant positive associations with body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.0001) and depression, anxiety, and stress (p = 0.0001) scores. Further analysis revealed weight self -stigma was positively correlated with psychological distress levels in the study population (p = 0.0001). The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between different regions of Saudi Arabia with weight self -stigma being more prevalent in the Al-Baha region and least prevalent in the Al -Madinah region. Conclusions The results of this study indicate robust positive correlations between weight self -stigma scores and depression, anxiety, and stress scale scores among adolescents and young adults in Saudi Arabia. Further epidemiological and clinical studies on the national level are warranted.