Changes in health-related behaviours and cardiovascular risk factors in young adults: associations with living with a partner
Introduction
There is worldwide concern about the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity, both in adults and children [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. Recently, the AusDiab study [7] reported that 60% of Australian men and women between the ages of 25 and 64 years were overweight or obese. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, the youngest age group reported in that study, 61% of men and 45% of women were overweight or obese, defined by the cutpoints for body mass index (BMI) of 25.0 kg/m2 for overweight and 30.0 kg/m2 for obesity. Relative to previous cross-sectional Australian surveys, this represents a 2.5-fold increase in prevalence of obesity over a period of 20 years. However, these reported rates are not based on longitudinal data and do not allow documentation of changes in early adult life.
Periods of transition in the life course may be associated with changes in health-related behaviours [8]. Transition includes events that are common in young adults such as leaving the family home, changing marital status or becoming a parent [9]. Changes in patterns of physical activity [8], food habits [10] and changes in weight [11] have been linked to change in marital status, whereas leaving home has been associated with changes in patterns of leisure-time activity [12]. Women report altered dietary patterns associated with adopting the role of a parent, tending to provide and eat more fruit and vegetables to promote optimal nutrition in their children [13]. King et al. [8] suggest that periods of transition may be important in health promotion by identifying stages in the life course when individuals or groups may be more receptive to interventions that aim to promote a healthy lifestyle.
Several reports suggest that, consistent with popular belief [14], becoming married is associated with weight gain, although change from married to unmarried status leads to weight loss [11]. However, not all data have been longitudinal and, in those that have, intervals of up to 10 years between observations have not allowed recognition of changes in the early stages of living with a partner [8], [11]. Australian studies that examined weight, diets and physical activity within the first 2–3 years of marriage, however, showed that men, but not women, gained weight in that interval [15], [16], [17], [18]. In contrast, data from the United States showed that women, but not men gained weight early in marriage [19]. Such reports are confounded by differences in socioeconomic status [20], failure to account for associations with parenthood, a factor that may interact with the marital state [21] and lack of information about young adults moving out of the family home.
In the present study, we report data from surveys of a Perth cohort of young adults examined at the ages of 18 and 25 years. We aimed to document changes in risk factors over that period and examine associations between changes in social circumstances and changes in risk factors and health-related behaviours with a focus on the effects of leaving the family environment, living with a partner and having children.
Section snippets
Participants and methods
In 2000, a cohort of 25-year-olds who had been participating from the age of 9 years in a longitudinal study of cardiovascular risk factors were re-surveyed. Surveys had been carried out at 3-yearly intervals between 1985 and 1994 beginning with 1066 nine-year-old children recruited from schools chosen randomly after stratification by socioeconomic group. Further recruiting in 1988 increased the sample size to 1565 students. In 1994 when participants were 18 years old, 583 individuals attended
Results
There were 569 eighteen-year-olds (301 men, 282 women) and 600 twenty-five-year-olds (266 men, 334 women) who attended the surveys; 405 individuals (194 men, 211 women) attended both surveys. At the age of 25 years, occupational status was: professional in 36% of men and 38% of women; blue collar in 27% of men and 31% of women; manual in 10% of men and 4% of women; 27% of both men and women were students.
Discussion
Overall, these young adults have shown substantial increases in weight, central obesity and the prevalence of overweight or obesity between the ages of 18 and 25 years, with accompanying deterioration in cardiovascular risk factors. We have also shown, for the first time, in a study that accounted for leaving home and for parenthood, that living with a partner is associated with weight gain, increased waist girth, higher cholesterol and, in men, less physical activity and lower physical fitness.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Healthway.
References (60)
- et al.
The epidemiology of overweight and obesity among Australian children and adolescents, 1995–97
Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health
(2001) - et al.
Proper meals in transition: young married couples on the nature of eating together
Appetite
(2002) - et al.
Marital status and body weight changes: a US longitudinal study
Soc. Sci. Med.
(2003) - et al.
Life-course influences on fruit and vegetable trajectories: qualitative analysis of food choices
J. Nutr. Educ.
(1998) - et al.
Marital status, fatness and obesity
Soc. Sci. Med.
(1992) Gender, marital status and the social control of health behavior
Soc. Sci. Med.
(1992)- et al.
Influence of gender and socio-economic status on dietary patterns and nutrient intakes in 18-year-old Australians
Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health
(1998) - et al.
Recent trends and socio-demographic determinants of exercise participation in Australia
Community Health Stud.
(1990) - et al.
The contribution of income, education, and changing marital status to weight change among US men
Int. J. Obes.
(1990) Cohabitation–gender effects on food consumption
Int. J. Biosoc. Res.
(1988)
Whose diet has changed?
Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health
Competing explanations for associations between marital status and health
Soc. Sci. Med.
The impact of the family on health: the decade in review
J. Marriage Fam.
Marital status of persons with spinal cord injury
Soc. Sci. Med.
Marital status and quality of relationships: the impact on health perception
Soc. Sci. Med.
Marital status and mortality: the National Longitudinal Mortality Study
Ann. Epidemiol.
The influence of marital adjustment on 3-year left ventricular mass and ambulatory blood pressure in mild hypertension
Arch. Intern. Med.
Social networks and marital status predict mortality in older women: prospective evidence from the study of osteoporotic fractures
Psychosom. Med.
Health promotion in couples adapting to a shared lifestyle
Health Educ. Res.
Diabesity and associated disorders in Australia—2000
Change in body mass index in Australian primary school children, 1985–1987
Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian children and adolescents: reassessment of 1985 and 1995 data against new standard international definitions
Med. J. Aust.
The obesity epidemic is a worldwide phenomenon
Nutr. Rev.
Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic
Overweight and obesity in Australia: the 1999–2000 Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle Study (AusDiab)
MJA
The effects of marital transition on changes in physical activity: results from a 10-year community study
Ann. Behav. Med.
Transition and stressful life events: a model for primary prevention
Leaving home, attending college, partnership and parenthood: the role of life transition events in leisure pattern stability from adolescence to young adulthood
J. Youth Adolesc.
A qualitative analysis of obesity and at-risk overweight in working men
Aust. J. Nutr. Diet
Dynamics of food habits of newly married couples: food related activities and attitudes towards food
J. Hum. Nutr. Diet
Cited by (51)
Testing obesity Kuznets curve for Türkiye
2024, Obesity MedicineCohabitation and marriage during the transition between adolescence and emerging adulthood: A systematic review of changes in weight-related outcomes, diet and physical activity
2020, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :Also, Winpenny et al. (2018) found a U-shape trajectory for the consumption of fruits and vegetables, with a decreasing trend between 15 and 20 years and an increasing trend between 20 and 30 years. Of five articles that included BMI as the outcome, three studies included measured body mass and stature (Burke, 2004; Chung et al., 2014; Kroeger and Frank, 2018), while two studies included self-reported measures (Averett et al., 2008; The and Gordon-Larsen, 2009). All included a follow-up of at least five years and three studies had a follow-up longer than 10 years (Averett et al., 2008; Chung et al., 2014; Kroeger and Frank, 2018).
The associations of self-reported physical fitness and physical activity with sleep quality in young adults: A population-based study
2018, Mental Health and Physical ActivityAdherence to antihypertensive medications and associations with blood pressure among African Americans with hypertension in the Jackson Heart Study
2017, Journal of the American Society of HypertensionCitation Excerpt :Uncontrolled BP at each examination was defined as mean clinic SBP ≥140 mm Hg or mean clinic DBP ≥90 mm Hg. Demographic, clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial characteristics as well as comorbid conditions associated with hypertension, uncontrolled BP, or antihypertensive medication adherence were selected as covariates.17–21 Covariates included age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking status (current vs. never/past smoker), education, employment status (full or part-time vs. unemployed/retired), diabetes status, depressive symptoms, stress and perceived social support.