Study: Women Gain Weight After Marriage, Men Gain Weight After Divorce

A new study finds that men and women's waistlines are affected differently by marriage and divorce.

Researchers from the sociology department at Ohio State University looked at a nationally representative sample of over 10,000 men and women from 1986 to 2008. The sample participants were between the ages of 22 and 29 at the start of the study, and between 43 and 51 at the end.

The researchers focused on weight changes during the time period after a marriage or divorce and found that women tended to gain more weight within the two-year period after a marriage. Men, on the other hand, gained more weight than women in the two-year period after divorce.

Based on previous studies, the researchers theorize that women's weight gain following marriage could be due to increased eating and reduced excercise because of the stresses of raising a family and maintaining a household. The researchers believe that more men gain weight after divorce, on the other hand, because wives often encourage husbands to eat healthier during marriage.

The researchers found that people over the age of 30 were more likely to gain weight after these life-changing events.

 

"As you get older, having a sudden change in your life like a marriage or a divorce is a bigger shock than it would have been when you were younger, and that can really impact your weight," said Dmitry Tumin, a doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State University.