Union Status, Educational Attainment, and Body Mass Index Among Emerging Adults

Abstract

This study uses fixed-effects regression modeling and three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine whether union status and educational attainment interact to influence change in body mass index (BMI) during emerging adulthood. The results support the hypothesis that the effect of union status on change in BMI is smaller for those with more educational attainment. In particular, emerging adults with no college education experience significant increases in BMI associated with both marriage and cohabitation. The increases in BMI associated with marriage and cohabitation are significantly smaller for those with some college education—but are still somewhat present. Among emerging adults with college degrees, however, involvement in cohabitation/marriage is not associated with increases in BMI at all. Potential explanations for this pattern of results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Do the Health Benefits of Marriage Depend on the Likelihood of Marriage?

“…Despite these limitations, our study extends an active line of inquiry into the health consequences of marriage. Recent studies have questioned whether marriage indeed protects health and sought to identify groups for which it is most beneficial (Kalmijn, ; Kroeger, ; Williams et al, ). An underlying assumption of marriage promotion, that the benefits of marriage are strong and consistent across people, reoccurs as a foil in these studies.…”

“…As an example, among Black women, who are less likely to marry than White women, marriage increases the risk of health limitations, whereas among men, marriage reduces the risk of health limitations more strongly for Whites when compared with Blacks (Teachman, ). Similarly, the beneficial influence of marriage on lower substance use is weaker among Black young adults than White or Hispanic young adults (Harris, Lee, & DeLeone, ), and the adverse association between marriage and weight gain is strongest for adults with lower educational attainment, who are relatively less likely to marry (Kroeger, ).…”

Race‐Ethnicity, Union Status, and Change in Body Mass Index in Young Adulthood

“…A second group of explanations for why there may be racial/ethnic variation in the influence of union status on body weight concerns environmental stressors. In the realm of intimate unions, recent evidence suggests that the increases in BMI associated with both marriage and cohabitation are significantly larger for those with no college or some college compared to those with college degrees (Kroeger 2017). If members of disadvantaged racial/ethnic minority groups are navigating their intimate unions in a lower socioeconomic context, this may increase their risk of weight gain.…”