Body mass index, socio-economic status and socio-behavioral practices among Tz’utujil Maya women

This study investigates the associations between body mass index (BMI), socio-economic status (SES) and related socio-behavioral practices including marriage and market visits in a population of adult Tz’utujil Maya women in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, aged 18-82. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods include cross-sectional anthropometric measurements and semi-structured interviews gathered in 2007, as well as participant observation and purposive interviews conducted in 2007-2008. The regional quota sample of 53 semi-structured interviews was designed to be representative of the cantones (municipal divisions) of Santiago Atitlán. BMI was positively associated with years of schooling, income and literacy, all measures of SES. A statistical analysis of our data indicates that increased income, increased market visits and being married are significantly positively associated with BMI. Qualitative analysis based on the grounded theory method reveals relevant themes including a preoccupation with hunger and undernutrition rather than obesity, a preference for food quantity over dietary diversity, the economic and social influence of a husband, the effects of market distance and the increasing consumption of food from tiendas. These themes help to explain how SES, socio-behavioral practices and BMI are positively associated and can inform future public health interventions related to obesity and undernutrition.     

Marriage,gender and obesity in later life

A large body of literature argues that marriage promotes health and increases longevity. But do these benefits extend to maintaining a healthy body weight, as the economic theory of health investment suggests they should? They do not. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I find that entry into marriage among both men and women aged 51–70 is associated with weight gain and exit from marriage with weight loss. I evaluate three additional theories with respect to the cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in the data. First, it may be that a broader set of shared risk factors (such as social obligations regarding meals) raises body mass for married couples. However, the shared risk factor model predicts that the intra-couple correlation should increase with respect to marital duration. Instead, it declines. Second, scholars have recently promoted a “crisis” model of marriage in which marital transitions, not marital status, determine differences in body mass. The crisis model is consistent with short-term effects seen for divorce, but not for the persistent weight gains associated with marriage or the persistent weight loss following widowhood. And transition models, in general, cannot explain significant cross-sectional differences across marital states in a population that is no longer experiencing many transitions, nor can it account for the prominent gender differences (in late middle-age, the heaviest group is unmarried women and the lightest are unmarried men). Third, I argue that pressures of the marriage market, in combination with gendered preferences regarding partner BMI, can account for all the longitudinal and cross-sectional patterns found in the data.     

Getting ready for the marriage market? The association between divorce risks and investments in attractive body mass among married Europeans

This article explores to what extent married middle-aged individuals in Europe are governed by the risk of experiencing divorce, when shaping their physical appearance. The main result is that divorce risks, proxied by national divorce rates, are negatively connected to body mass index (BMI) among married individuals but unrelated to BMI among singles. Hence, it seems that married people in societies where divorce risks are high are more inclined to invest in their outer appearance. One interpretation is that high divorce rates make married people prepare for a potential divorce and future return to the marriage market.     

The Influence of Change in Marital Status on Weight Change Over One Year

Marital status is an influence on body weight. Changes in marital status and body weight were examined in the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences, a telephone survey of 2,436 adults interviewed twice approximately 1 year apart. Two statistical methods for analyzing weight change were compared, and both produced similar results: regression analysis of weight change and regression analysis of weight at follow-up controlling for baseline weight. The findings revealed that women who entered marriage had greater weight change than women who remained married. Analysis of weight gain and weight loss separately showed that women who became married lost less weight than those who remained married. For men, there were no statistically significant relationships between marital change and weight change over a 1-year period. These findings support other literature showing that marital status plays a role in body weight changes. The results suggest gender differences may exist in the rate of body weight change after marriage, with more immediate changes in women than men.     

Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Associations between Body Mass Index and Marriage‐Related Factors

Objective: To assess the relationship between marriage and obesity. Research Methods and Procedures: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations were examined between participant body mass index (BMI), spouse BMI, and participant diet and exercise habits. Results: Spouse and participant BMI and BMI changes over 2 years were significantly associated. Participant BMI was associated with higher consumption of calorie‐dense foods and lower frequency of physical activity. Participants’ eating and exercise habits were only weakly related to spouse BMI. BMI did not predict the likelihood of marriage or divorce. However, marriage was associated with a significant 2‐year weight gain and divorce with a significant 2‐year weight loss. Discussion: The results suggest that spouse similarity in BMI is at least partly due to shared environment. The observed effects of marriage and divorce on weight may be due to the influence of marriage on inducements to eat (e.g., shared meals) or on motivation for weight control.     

The relationship between symptoms of depression and body weight in younger adults

A bidirectional relationship between obesity and depression may exist, though previous results are conflicting. The objectives of our study were to determine whether there is a bidirectional relationship between obesity and symptoms of depression in younger adults and whether this relationship varies with sociodemographic factors. We used data from 7,980 participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to examine whether baseline depressive symptoms (score ≥ 10 on a seven-item subscale of the CES-D) in 1992, predicted adjusted percent change in BMI between 1992 and 1994. We then examined whether obesity in 1992 predicted the development of symptoms of depression in 1994, after adjustment for confounders. We found that the presence of baseline depressive symptoms was not prospectively associated with increase in percent BMI, except in Hispanic women. Additionally, baseline obesity was not associated with higher risk of future symptoms of depression in the sample overall (adjusted risk ratio (RR) 1.20; 99% CI 0.91-1.60). However, in those of higher socioeconomic status, obesity was associated with almost double the risk of depressive symptoms compared to nonobese (highest income category: adjusted RR 1.97; 99% CI 1.14-3.40). We concluded that although obesity was not associated with risk of depression symptoms in the population overall, obesity was associated with an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms in those of higher socioeconomic status. Sociodemographic factors may be important modifiers of the relationship between obesity and depression.     

Comparing the role of the height of men and women in the marriage market

This paper explores how the role of men and women’s height in the marriage market has changed across generations. Using individual-level data from Japan, we compared the effect of height on marriages between men and women, and investigated how the effect of height on marriage has changed across generations. Our key findings are: (1) for men born before 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 0.56% increase in the probability of being married. Conversely, for women born before 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 0.56% decrease in the probability of being married. (2) For men born in or after 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 1.05% (0.18%) increase (decrease) in the probability of being married (divorced). However, the height effect was not present for women. Japan experienced astounding economic development after World War II, which resulted in changes in its economic and social structure. These changes may have also altered the role of height for Japanese men and women in the marriage market.     

成人脂肪肝与体重指数和血脂水平的关系研究

目的:研究成人脂肪肝与体重指数(BMI)和血脂水平的关系。方法:选取2012年1月到2014年11月我社区成年人800例,检测所有入选者的体重和身高,并计算BMI,检测入选者的血脂水平和脂肪肝情况,应用Logistic回归分析来分析脂肪肝与BMI和血脂之间的关系。结果:共检测出脂肪肝376例,占47.0%,肥胖者532例,占66.5%;肥胖者伴随脂肪肝的发生率64.7%,显著高于非肥胖者脂肪肝的发生率11.9%,两者比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);脂肪肝者总胆固醇(TC)、甘油三酯(TG)、低密度脂蛋白(LDL-C)显著高于非脂肪肝者,而高密度脂蛋白(HDL-C)显著低于非脂肪肝者,两者比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);Logistic回归分析显示:脂肪肝与BMI和血脂之间存在相关关系(P0.05)。结论:BMI和血脂水平与成人脂肪肝存在较大关系,应该注意控制体重,进而降低脂肪肝的发生率,改善脂肪肝的情况。     

Entry Into Romantic Partnership Is Associated With Obesity

BMI is highly correlated between spouses; however, less is understood about the underlying mechanism(s) by which the development of obesity in one individual increases the risk of obesity in his/her spouse. The objective of this study is to investigate whether romantic partnership and duration of cohabitation are related to incident obesity and obesity‐promoting behaviors. We used two data sets from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: (i) 6,949 US adolescents (wave II, 1996) followed into adulthood (wave III, 2001–2002) and (ii) 1,293 dating, cohabiting, and married romantic couples from wave III, including measured anthropometry and self‐report behavior data. In the longitudinal cohort, we used sex‐stratified logistic regression models to examine the risk of incident obesity by longitudinal romantic relationship status and duration of time spent living with a romantic partner. In the Couples Sample, we used multinomial logistic regression to predict concordance in outcomes: obesity, moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, and screen time by romantic partnership and duration of time living with a romantic partner. Individuals who transitioned from single/dating to cohabiting or married were more likely to become obese than those who were dating at both waves. Partner concordance for negative, obesity‐related behaviors was strongest for married couples and couples who lived together ≥2 years. The shared household environment may increase the likelihood of becoming obese, influence partner concordance, and may be an important target for obesity intervention.     

An actor-based model of social network influence on adolescent body size, screen time, and playing sports

Recent studies suggest that obesity may be "contagious" between individuals in social networks. Social contagion (influence), however, may not be identifiable using traditional statistical approaches because they cannot distinguish contagion from homophily (the propensity for individuals to select friends who are similar to themselves) or from shared environmental influences. In this paper, we apply the stochastic actor-based model (SABM) framework developed by Snijders and colleagues to data on adolescent body mass index (BMI), screen time, and playing active sports. Our primary hypothesis was that social influences on adolescent body size and related behaviors are independent of friend selection. Employing the SABM, we simultaneously modeled network dynamics (friendship selection based on homophily and structural characteristics of the network) and social influence. We focused on the 2 largest schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and held the school environment constant by examining the 2 school networks separately (N?=?624 and 1151). Results show support in both schools for homophily on BMI, but also for social influence on BMI. There was no evidence of homophily on screen time in either school, while only one of the schools showed homophily on playing active sports. There was, however, evidence of social influence on screen time in one of the schools, and playing active sports in both schools. These results suggest that both homophily and social influence are important in understanding patterns of adolescent obesity. Intervention efforts should take into consideration peers' influence on one another, rather than treating "high risk" adolescents in isolation.     

Body mass index,waist circumference and employment: Evidence from older Irish adults

Data from the first wave of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing are used to examine the relationship between fatness and obesity and employment status among older Irish adults. Employment status is regressed on one of the following measures of fatness: BMI and waist circumference entered linearly as continuous variables and obesity as a categorical variable defined using both BMI and waist circumference. Controls for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics in childhood and physical, mental and behavioural health are also included. The regression results for women indicate that all measures of fatness are negatively associated with the probability of being employed and that the employment elasticity associated with waist circumference is larger than the elasticity associated with BMI. The results for men indicate that employment is not significantly associated with BMI and waist circumference when these are entered linearly in the regression, but it is significantly and negatively associated with obesity defined either using BMI or waist circumference as categorical variables. The results also indicate that the negative association between obesity and employment status is larger among women. For example, the probability of being employed for the obese category defined using BMI is around 8 percentage points lower for women and 5 percentage points lower for men.     

Marriage as a reproductive contract: Patterns of marriage,divorce, and remarriage

Patterns of marriage, divorce, remarriage, and redivorce were examined in several representative Western cultures through survey questions and archival data to test the hypothesis that marriage and divorce can be understood as expressions of underlying gender-specific, fitness maximization strategies. Differences between males and females were found for the relationship between age and patterns of both marriage and divorce, with females being far more likely at almost all ages to initiate divorce proceedings than males. Once divorced, however, formerly married females were less likely to remarry than formerly married males. The presence of children from a prior marriage had the effect of further decreasing the likelihood of remarriage for females, but not for males. Formerly married males without children tended to remarry females who had never been married, whereas just the opposite was true for divorced males with children. Consistent with our view of marriage as a reproductive contract, the absence of children was not only conducive to divorce and remarriage, but appeared to increase the likelihood of redivorce as well.     

Getting ready for the marriage market? A comment

This text comments on the article by Lundborg et al. 'Getting ready for the marriage market? The association between divorce risks and investments in attractive body mass among married Europeans' published in July 2007 in this journal. This commentary presents differing results from the original data using multilevel analysis for calculation. The results presented here suggest there is no significant relation between divorce risk and body mass index (BMI) among married individuals in European countries. Therefore, the primary finding of Lundborg et al. (2007) is questioned.     

Social influences are associated with BMI and weight loss intentions in young adults

Christakis and colleagues have shown that health behaviors cluster in social networks and suggest social norms may account for the clustering. This study examined: (i) whether obesity clusters among young adults and whether social norms do in fact account for the clustering, and (ii) among overweight/obese (OW/OB) young adults, whether number of social contacts trying to lose weight is associated with weight loss intentions and whether social norms for weight loss account for this effect. Normal weight (NW) and OW/OB young adults (N = 288; 66% female; 75% white) completed measures assessing number of OW social contacts and social norms for obesity. OW/OB young adults also indicated number of OW social contacts currently trying to lose weight, social norms for weight loss, and weight loss intentions. Compared to NW, OW/OB young adults were more likely to have OW romantic partners and best friends and had more OW casual friends and family members (Ps < 0.05), but social norms for obesity did not differ between groups, and social norms did not mediate the relationship between OW social contacts and participants' weight status. However, among OW/OB young adults, having more social contacts trying to lose weight was associated with greater intention to lose weight (r = 0.20, P = 0.02) and social norms for weight loss fully mediated this effect (P < 0.01). This study is the first to show that social contacts and normative beliefs influence weight status and intentions for weight control in young adults. Findings underscore the importance of targeting social influence in the treatment and prevention of obesity in this high-risk age group.     

Height and marital outcomes in the Netherlands,birth years 1841-1900

Adult body height appears to be significantly associated with marital outcomes: taller men across contexts have been found to be more likely to be married, and more likely to be married at younger ages. We are interested in exploring both outcomes individually and simultaneously, while using an unique, individual-level dataset of Dutch men and their brothers born between 1841 and 1900. To do so, we exploit survival models and cure models. While survival models yield a single estimate for the hazard (or age at) marriage, cure models yield two: one for the likelihood of marriage, and one for the hazard of first marriage. Cure models thus account for selection into marriage, while survival models do not. We find that, in the survival analyses, being in the shortest 20 % of heights is associated with later ages of marriage, relative to being average height. However, when we account for selection into marriage with cure models, we find that height is no longer associated with age at marriage. Instead, we see that height is associated with the likelihood of being married, with being in the bottom 20 % of heights associated with a 56.1 % decreased likelihood of being married, relative to being average height. We therefore conclude that height may be a gatekeeper for access to marriage, but it appears that other factors – likely related to the ability to set up an independent household – are more important in determining the timing of marriage for our research population.     

Social Stress,Visceral Obesity,and Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis in Female Primates

Our previous work in cynomolgus monkeys demonstrated significant relationships between (i) social reorganization stress and visceral fat deposition, and (ii) central fat deposition and coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA). Nevertheless, direct relationships between CAA and visceral fat have not been demonstrated in people or animals, nor have relationships among stress, visceral obesity, and CAA been observed within a single study. Here, we examine the hypothesis that visceral obesity provides a link between social stress and CAA. Subjects were 41 socially housed females that consumed an atherogenic diet for 32 months. Social behavior and ovarian function were continuously recorded; dexamethasone suppression tests, telemetered overnight heart rate, BMI, visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous abdominal (SAT) adipose tissue were measured before necropsy. Females with high VAT:SAT were relatively subordinate, socially isolated, received more aggression and less grooming, desensitized to circulating glucocorticoids, had impaired ovarian function, higher heart rates late in the day, and more CAA than low VAT:SAT females. High‐BMI females had higher heart rates than low‐BMI females. Poor ovarian function in high VAT:SAT females is a novel observation suggesting the need for studies of fat distribution and ovarian function in women. The results of this study are the first to demonstrate a relationship between CAA and visceral obesity, and suggest that social stress may exacerbate CAA in part by increasing the ratio of visceral:subcutaneous fat mass in selected individuals susceptible to diet‐induced CAA. Further studies are needed to understand the complex and multifactorial temporal relationship among relative visceral obesity, physiological stress responses, and CAA.     

Examining the temporal relationships between childhood obesity and asthma

Childhood obesity has become an issue of increasing concern to health researchers and policymakers in the United States. One important chronic health condition linked to obesity is pediatric asthma. Although researchers have speculated that both conditions may have common origins, the majority of research in this area has focused on a unidirectional relationship between obesity and later asthma. However, much of the literature is limited by its reliance on cross-sectional data and its failure to examine the possibility that asthma may influence weight fluctuations through changes in physical and sedentary activity. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), I explore the bidirectional relationships between childhood obesity and asthma. The results in this paper suggest that past asthma levels are positively correlated with changes in BMI and the onset of obesity. However, only new onset asthma is positively correlated with subsequent changes in BMI. The potential mechanisms are unclear, as I find little evidence that asthma is structurally related to changes in physical or sedentary activity over time. When testing the prevailing hypothesis that obesity is related to subsequent asthma, I find that lagged weight status is strongly related to asthma prevalence levels but that the onset of overweight or obesity is not associated with the subsequent onset of asthma. These results suggest that the onset of asthma may be related to subsequent weight gain over time.     

Body Mass Index and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

Background

There are conflicting results about the association between body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms in older adults. The present study examined the relationship between weight and depressive symptoms over time in older adults in South Korea.

Methods

We used data from three waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging and ran a series of cross-lagged panel models to test the reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and obesity in older Korean adults. We assumed a temporally stable relationship between depressive symptoms and obesity and, thus imposed equality constraints over time.

Results

After controlling for the effect of depressive symptoms two years prior, underweight older adults had a higher depressive symptom score than those of normal weight. When controlling for obesity status from two years prior, older adults with higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to be underweight and less likely to be overweight than normal weight. The same patterns were observed in data from 2006 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2010.

Conclusions

These results show that there is a correlation between depressive symptoms and weight status. In middle-aged and elderly Asian populations, depression can lead to weight loss rather than obesity, and underweight may develop depressive symptoms.     

The relationship between legal abortion and marriage.

A study using the abortion-birth ratios for residents of each U.S. state for the second half of 1970 and for all of 1971 was done to determine if legal abortions reduced marriages. Data showed that trends were consistent with the hypothesis that a relationship exists between l egalized abortion-birth ratios and trends in crude marriage rates among states between 1967 and 1971 with reduction in crude marriage rates in the states with the relatively high abortion-birth ratios. Change in po licy on induced abortions may be responsible for the increased trend in the U.S. crude marriage rate from 1959-1970 and for its levelling off in 1971 and 1972. Analysis of data also suggested that there is a relation ship between less restrictive abortion policies and a decline in crude marriage rates. An estimation of the number of marriages postponed for at least one year following legal abortion indicated that about 1 abortion in 10 delays a marriage when all the decline in marriage rates were caused by increased abortions and when no legal abortions were subs titutes for illegal abortions. Results were obtained employing general measures for variables, but stronger relationships might be produced if more refined measures which consider race, age, parity, and marital status were introduced.     

Social and lifestyle factors associated with diabetes in the adult Bahraini population

This paper aimed to assess the prevalence of known diabetes among Bahraini adults, and to determine associated social and lifestyle factors. A community-based survey was carried out on 514 adults aged 30-79 years. The overall prevalence of known diabetes was 9%. Using multivariate analysis, the risk of diabetes was found to be higher among older (50-79 years), female, illiterate, currently married, non-smoking people, those who did not walk regularly, overweight and obese people (BMI > or = 25), those who had a history of hypertension and those who consumed fresh vegetables more than 3 times a week. However, only obesity was found to be significantly associated with diabetes (OR = 1.83, CI 1.48-4.15).