{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,10]],"date-time":"2025-07-10T14:10:04Z","timestamp":1752156604523,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]],"date-time":"2025-07-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752019200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Body mass index (BMI) is widely used as an indicator of physical health and has been associated with various psychological and social outcomes. While previous studies have explored the link between BMI and mental wellbeing, findings remain inconsistent, especially among young adults. This study aimed to examine the associations between BMI and self-reported happiness among young adults in Taiwan.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary datasets from the Taiwan National Physical Activity Survey, a nationally representative survey of the Taiwanese population. A total of 10,638 young adults aged 18\u201344\u202fyears were enrolled in this study between August and October 2020. Demographic characteristics, self-reported health status, self-evaluations (comprising height, body weight, BMI, and happiness levels), and residence zip codes were among the data obtained through the national telephone survey.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results revealed that, participants in very happy (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f3.167, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), happy (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f3.239, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), fair (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f3.058, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), and unhappy (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u202f2.942, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001) groups exhibited a significantly higher BMI than did participants in very unhappy group. After adjusting for potential confounders, the very happy, happy, fair, and unhappy groups showed statistically associated with underweight risk reduction (OR\u202f=\u202f0.196, 95% CI: 0.061\u20130.633; OR\u202f=\u202f0.258, 95% CI: 0.085\u20130.785; OR\u202f=\u202f0.271, 95% CI: 0.083\u20130.882; OR\u202f=\u202f0.222, 95% CI: 0.069\u20130.714).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Overall, this study revealed that happiness levels were positively associated with BMI, and the increments of happiness levels may have reducing the risk of underweight occurrence.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1566383","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,10]],"date-time":"2025-07-10T05:46:54Z","timestamp":1752126414000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Association between body mass index and happiness among young adults in Taiwan: a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Chi-Fang","family":"Lin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yan-Jhu","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hsiao-Fang","family":"Kao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Po-Fu","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mei-Ling","family":"Chao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ding-Peng","family":"Yeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiann-Cherng","family":"Shieh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chien-Chang","family":"Ho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1217","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-14504-0_157","article-title":"Global trends in obesity","volume-title":"Handbook of eating and drinking: interdisciplinary perspectives","author":"Lim","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.2165\/00007256-200636030-00005","article-title":"The role of diet and exercise for the maintenance of fat-free mass and resting metabolic rate during weight loss","volume":"36","author":"Stiegler","year":"2006","journal-title":"Sports Med"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1186\/s12891-015-0527-0","article-title":"Physical activity and health-related quality of life in chronic low back pain patients: a cross-sectional study","volume":"16","author":"Schaller","year":"2015","journal-title":"BMC Musculoskelet Disord"},{"key":"ref4","year":""},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"192","DOI":"10.1093\/pubmed\/fdv007","article-title":"Do we need to think beyond BMI for estimating population-level health risks?","volume":"38","author":"Green","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Public Health"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(15)00505-2","article-title":"Estimating the true global burden of mental illness","volume":"3","author":"Vigo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Lancet Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychsport.2012.01.003","article-title":"Sport participation and stress among women and men","volume":"13","author":"Asztalos","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychol Sport Exerc"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1758-0854.2009.01008.x","article-title":"Psychological well-being: evidence regarding its causes and consequences","volume":"1","author":"Huppert","year":"2009","journal-title":"Appl Psychol Health Wellbeing"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.2471\/BLT.11.020411","article-title":"The happiness effect","volume":"89","author":"Vaillant","year":"2011","journal-title":"Bull World Health Organ"},{"key":"ref10","first-page":"307","article-title":"Material wealth and subjective well-being","volume-title":"The science of subjective well-being","author":"Biswas-Diener","year":"2008"},{"key":"ref11","volume-title":"Happiness by design: Change what you do, not how you think","author":"Dolan","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4337\/9781849801973.00015","article-title":"Does inequality matter to individual welfare? 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