Married Women, Divorced Men Gain Weight

Aug. 22, 2011— -- Forget the "freshman 15." New research suggests marriage and divorce can lead to significant, often unhealthy weight gain.

A study of more than 10,000 people found that marital changes can leave both partners packing on the pounds, with the most worrisome weight gain in newlywed women and recently divorced men.

"After marriage or divorce, both men and women gain weight. But women tend to gain more weight after marriage, and men tend to gain more after divorce," said study author Zhenchao Qian, a sociology professor at Ohio State University. Qian and postdoctoral student Dmitry Tumin presented their findings today at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Previous studies have linked marriage -- considered a healthy union overall -- with weight gain, and divorce with weight loss.

"But those studies looked at average changes in weight, so you couldn't get a good picture of who was gaining or losing, or maybe gaining a lot of weight," said Qian. So Qian and Tumin sought to uncover how gender and age factor into the marital mass equation.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth -- a biannual survey of men and women from 1986 to 2008 -- the researchers tracked body mass index of people who were never married, stayed married or divorced. Within two years of marriage or divorce, some BMIs ballooned. Although they can't tell why from their study, Qian and Tumin have a theory.

"After marriage, women will take care of their families and maybe eat the way their husband does or their children so," he said, explaining that the change in routine can trigger weight gain for some women. Men, on the other hand, "tend to be healthier after marriage in terms of diet," Qian said.

Married men are also more likely to go for routine checkups. After divorce, Qian said, men may lose that protection.