A healthy weight improves life satisfaction

Abstract

SummaryIn this study, we examine the effects of having a healthy weight in form of a healthy body mass index (BMI) on life satisfaction using the data from a diverse sample of 27 post‐communist transitional countries. We find that a healthy BMI significantly raises life satisfaction, while an increase in BMI reduces life satisfaction. We also find that the positive effect of a healthy BMI on life satisfaction substantially diminishes as the political and economic situation improves. Equally, the positive effect of healthy BMI on life satisfaction is considerably lower for those who exhibit higher levels of institutional trust and express trust in government, parliament, and political parties. Classic regression models such as ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordered probit significantly underestimate the true effect of healthy BMI on life satisfaction. Such results suggest that unobserved confounders, measurement error, or their interplay appear to be the main source (s) of bias that eventually lead to a significant underestimation of the true effect of BMI on life satisfaction through classic regression models.

Height and life satisfaction: Evidence from 27 nations

“…This finding suggests that short term indicators of economic development, for instance, annual GDP growth, are more important in explaining life satisfaction than are long term indicators, for instance, GDP per capita. Although the positive effect of economic factors such as annual GDP growth is not in line with the Easterlin paradox (Easterlin, McVey, Switek, Sawangfa, & Zweig, ), it is in line with the results of previous studies on post‐communist countries (Gruen & Klasen, ; Habibov et al, ; Selezneva, ). Thus, economic development can a priori be more important for the less developed post‐communist countries, where objective indicators such as annual GDP growth are more important in explaining subjective wellbeing (Djankova et al, ; Guriev & Zhuravskaya, ; Habibov & Afandi, ).…”

“…Recent work has emphasized the role of height in explaining life satisfaction (Deaton and Arora, 2009; Denny, ; Habibov, Auchynnikava, Luo, & Fan, ; Montgomery, Netuveli, Hildon, & Blane, ; Rees, Sabia, & Argys, ; Rietveld, Hessels, & van der Zwan, ; Osika & Montgomery, ). Research on height and life satisfaction is inherently complex and interdisciplinary inasmuch as both height and life satisfaction is partly predetermined by genetics and partly by actual life conditions.…”

“…On the one hand, life satisfaction in post‐communist countries has been, and still is considerably lower than in developed countries (Djankova, Nikolova, & Zilinskyc, ; Guriev & Zhuravskaya, ; Habibov & Afandi, ). On the other hand, the predictors of life satisfaction in post‐communist countries may be substantially different than those in more developed countries (Gruen & Klasen, ; Habibov et al, ; Selezneva, ). Finally, the literature highlights the need to study whether the height to life satisfaction association has remained in place after the 2008 Great Recession, which is known to have considerably reduced life satisfaction (Denny, ).…”

The intergenerational effects of socioeconomic inequality on unhealthy bodyweight

“…Koepp, Snedden, & Levine, 2015). IOP in unhealthy weight is therefore likely to produce inequalities in opportunity for a broad range of other outcomes (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and so on—Pi‐Sunyer, 2009), including those directly related to well‐being such as self‐assessed happiness (Habibov, Auchynnikava, Luo, & Fan, 2019).…”

Subjective Well-Being in Non-Obese Individuals in View of Abdominal Fat Distribution and Muscle Mass Index: A General Population Study.

“…Several previous studies have shown obesity to be related to deterioration in LS (4,5), HRQL (6-8) and severity of depression (9)(10)(11). While obesity has been correlated with welfare in the general population, there is not much data on the in uence of body composition on welfare among the non-obese adult individuals.…”