许多研究表明，肥胖是我们社会的一个严重的健康问题。经验分析往往忽略了一些方法问题和对健康的相关影响。本文通过实证研究了忽视这些项目是否会导致系统不同的估计。基于德国社会经济小组的数据，本研究得出以下结果。(1)体重和身高的多种组合导致相同的健康状况。(2)肥胖人群的健康状况明显较差。(3)体重是健康的外源性影响的假设必须被否定。(4)高收入有助于改善男性的健康，而期望和实际工作时间之间的偏差会产生负面影响。(5)女性的兄弟姐妹越多，父亲的社会地位越低，其健康状况就越差。吸烟有害健康，这是众所周知的事实。 Especially for underweight individuals we detect the negative influence on health. Women are less affected. (7) A healthy diet strengthens the resilience for individuals who are not obese. (8) Long but not too long sleeping hours and sporting activities during youth contribute to a good health status. (9) Weight fluctuations induce negative effects on the health of women only. (10) Four of the big five components of personality, namely openness, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness, contribute to resilience against health problems for underweight people.