A second intriguing result was the absence of a simple association between depression symptoms and obesity (see Model 1)—a finding that challenges the common view (Dragan & Akhtar-Danesh, 2007; Moreira et al., 2007). Instead, effects of depression were only apparent in the context of the variance it shares with conduct problems, stimulant dependence, and CNV amplitude. One possible interpretation suggested by the analyses is that depressed mood is an insufficient predictor of obesity. Instead, it is the combination of depressed mood with a dysregulated behavioral control and monitoring system (Alciati et al., 2007; Cugini et al., 1999; McIntyre et al., 2006) that appears essential. In keeping with this interpretation, we chose to assign a label of “mood dysregulation” to the variance shared by these indicators.
