Gender,marital status,and body weight in older U.S. adults |
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Authors: | Jeffery Sobal Barbara S Rauschenbach |
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Institution: | (1) Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA |
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Abstract: | Marital terminations are life transitions that may lead to changes in diet, activity, and body weight. This investigation
examined how marital status was associated with relative body weight, underweight, overweight, and obesity among men and women
in the United States using cross-sectional nationally representative data from the 1992 HRS cohort age 51–61 and the 1993
AHEAD cohort age 70 and older. Results in the HRS cohort revealed that even when adjusting for demographic and behavioral
variables, widowed women were significantly more likely to be obese than married women, while men who were never married,
divorced, or separated were more likely to be underweight. Results in the AHEAD cohort showed few significant associations
between marital status and weight for either men or women when demographics were controlled. Clear gender variations appeared
to exist in how marriage is related to body weight among unmarried older adults, with widows in their 50s being obese and
divorced/separated/never married men being underweight. However, marital status differences in weight were not present among
much older adults of either gender.
Jeffery Sobal is a asociologist who is an associate professor at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. He has studied
food systems, food choice, and is currently examining social aspects of body weight and obesity, particularly marriage and
body weight.
Barbara S. Rauschenbach is a sociologist who is a research associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. She has studied
food insecurity and food assistance, and is currently examining marital status and body weight. |
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Keywords: | |
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