Do relationship transitions affect body weight? Evidence from German longitudinal data

Abstract

Despite a considerable amount of empirical studies it is still unclear if changes in union status affect body weight. Using data from the first seven waves of the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) project, the current study aims to discover if changes in relationship status lead to changes in body weight considering multiple union transitions with fixed-effects panel regression estimations. Results show that women lose weight within the first year of a relationship, and then gain weight after entering into a non-married cohabiting relationship. Men tend to gain weight from the beginning of the partnership. The results clearly show that the transition from non-married cohabitation to marriage has no significant effect on body weight.