Avinun R, et al. - Given the association of increasing childhood obesity rates with mental health outcomes, including depression, researchers examined if a genetic risk for higher BMI can predict higher early life stress, which in turn may predict higher depressive symptoms in adulthood. They used a polygenic score of BMI derived from a recent large GWAS meta-analysis to determine the genetic risk. The discovery sample consisting of 524 non-Hispanic Caucasian university students from the Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS; 278 women, mean age 19.78±1.23 years) showed a significant mediation effect. In the independent replication sample consisting of 5,930 white British individuals from the UK biobank (UKB; 3,128 women, mean age 62.66±7.38 years), the significant mediation effect was replicated. Findings suggest the possible contribution of evocative gene-environment correlation to weight-related mental health problems and emphasize the necessity for interventions that intend to decrease weight bias, especially during childhood.