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Title: For Better or Worse: Relationship Status and Body Mass Index
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Averett, Susan L. Sikora, Asia Argys, Laura M. |
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For Better or Worse: Relationship Status and Body Mass Index Working Paper, Research Department Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, September 2007. Also: http://www.atl-res.com/macro/papers/Averett%20paper.pdf Cohort(s): NLSY79 Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Ethnic Differences; Gender Differences; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Marriage; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Obesity; Racial Differences Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Recent increases in the incidence of obesity and declines in marriage have prompted policymakers to implement policies to mitigate these trends. There are four hypotheses (selection, protection, social obligation and marriage market) that might explain the relationship between marital status transitions and changes in BMI. The selection hypothesis indicates that those with a lower BMI are more likely to be selected into marriage. The protection hypothesis states that married adults will have better physical health due to the increased social support and marriage and reduced incidence of risky behavior among married individuals. The social obligation hypothesis states that those in relationships may eat more regular meals and/or richer and denser foods due to social obligations one of which may be marriage. Finally, the marriage market hypothesis, as we term it, indicates that when adults are no longer in the marriage market they may not maintain a healthy BMI because doing so is costly and they are in a stable union—or on the other hand, adults may prepare for the marriage market by losing weight. Taking advantage of the longitudinal aspect and complete marriage histories provided in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we estimate individual fixed effects model to examine the change in log body mass index (BMI) and the incidence of overweight and obesity, as a function of changes in relationship status controlling for the effects of aging and other respondent characteristics. We find no support for the marriage protection hypothesis. Rather we find evidence supporting the social obligation and marriage market hypotheses--BMI increases for both men and women during marriage and the course of a cohabiting relationship. Separate analyses by race and ethnicity reveal substantial differences in the response of BMI to relationship status. |
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Bibliography Citation
Averett, Susan L., Asia Sikora and Laura M. Argys. "For Better or Worse: Relationship Status and Body Mass Index." Working Paper, Research Department Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, September 2007. |