Premium
Shared household environment and marriage, cohabitation, and dating: Living together increases the likelihood of obesity
Author(s) -
The Natalie S.,
GordonLarsen Penny
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a324-d
Subject(s) - cohabitation , obesity , demography , odds , general partnership , anthropometry , multinomial logistic regression , national survey of family growth , psychology , logistic regression , romance , odds ratio , marital status , developmental psychology , medicine , geography , sociology , endocrinology , political science , population , archaeology , machine learning , family planning , computer science , research methodology , pathology , psychoanalysis , law
The obesity status between spouses has been shown to be highly correlated. However, few studies have examined the extent to which shared household environment influences obesity of neither, one, or both partners within a relationship. We used the unique romantic partnership subsample of wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (2001; ages 18–43 years; N=1,341 romantic pairs living together for over 3 months duration), which includes measured anthropometry and self‐reported behavior data for each individual in a romantic pair. We examined the association between partnership status [married/cohabitating (70% of couples) vs. dating (30% of couples)] and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m 2 ). Multinomial logistic regression, controlling for each partners' race, education, and age, assessed odds of obesity in neither, one or both romantic partners by partnership status. Within couples, 11% were both obese and in 29% one partner was obese. Couples that were married/cohabitating were more likely to have an obese partner (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.27, 2.29) than couples that were dating. Married/cohabitating couples were more likely to both be obese (OR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.27, 3.20) than dating couples. The results suggest that obesity in both romantic partners may be attributed to the type of relationship and sharing a household environment. Funding: NIH R01‐HD39183; K01‐HD044263.