Educational mobility and weight gain over 13 years in a longitudinal study of young women

Abstract

BackgroundLimited evidence exists about the role of education and own educational mobility on body weight trajectory. A better understanding of how education influences long term weight gain can help us to design more effective health policies.MethodsUsing random effects models, the association between i) highest education (n = 10 018) and ii) educational mobility over a 9 year period (n = 9 907) and weight gain was analysed using five waves of data (over 13 years) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health 1973–78 cohort (from 18–23 years to 31–36 years).ResultsHighest educational attainment was inversely associated with weight at baseline and weight gain over 13 years. Compared to high educated women, those with a low (12 years or less) or intermediate (trade/certificate/diploma) education, respectively, weighed an additional 2.6 kg (95% CI:1.9 to 3.1) and 2.5 kg (95% CI:1.9 to 3.3) at baseline and gained an additional 3.9 kg (95% CI:2.6 to 5.2) and 3.1 kg (95% CI:2.6 to 3.9) over 13 years. Compared to women who remained with a low education, women with the greatest educational mobility had similar baseline weight to the women who already had a high education at baseline (2.7 kg lighter (95% CI:-3.7 to -1.8) and 2.7 kg lighter (95% CI:-3.4 to -1.9), respectively) and similarly favourable weight gain (gaining 3.1 kg less (95% CI:-4.0 to -2.21) and 4.2 kg less (95% CI:-4.8 to -3.4) over the 13 years, respectively).ConclusionsWhile educational attainment by mid-thirties was positively associated with better weight management, women’s weight was already different in young adult age, before their highest education was achieved. These findings highlight a potential role of early life factors and personality traits which may influence both education and weight outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1219) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Flexible age-period-cohort modelling illustrated using obesity prevalence data

“…In addition, there was some over-representation of university educated women in ALSWH at survey 1 and this bias had increased at survey 6 [28]. We have shown that higher educational attainment is associated with lower initial weight and BMI, and less weight gain over time [29].…”

“…There is ample evidence that the prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing globally [1] and there are growing concerns about the consequences for the health of populations and health care costs in the future. Yet there is conflicting evidence about whether period or cohort effects predominate.…”

Combined effect of education and reproductive history on weight trajectories of young Australian women: A longitudinal study

“…An additional limitation is an over‐representation of high‐educated women in this cohort at baseline (12% compared with the 1991 Australian census estimate of 3%) , and the selective attrition over subsequent surveys, resulting in 54% of the sample having a high education at the most recent follow‐up. Within the epidemiological and public health literature, highest achieved education is a commonly used measure of SEP. An earlier analysis showed poor model fit when modeling education as a time‐varying exposure and, given the findings from a previous ALSWH study , we used highest achieved education as a suitable measure of our exposure, adult SEP.…”

“…There is a well established inverse association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and body weight among women in early to mid‐adulthood and mid‐late adulthood . Weight differences are also reportedly increasing among younger female cohorts , and there is evidence of educational differences in mean BMI having widened, particularly among the top 5% of the BMI distribution .…”

“…While the literature outlines associations between SEP and reproductive factors [number of children , age at first birth , and birth intervals ] with greater long‐term body weight, to our best knowledge no studies have investigated their combined effect. This study investigates the combined effect of education and reproductive history (including age at each birth, total number of children, and birth intervals) on the weight trajectory of young women, in order to establish paths through which reproduction may become a sensitive period for weight development.…”