TY - JOUR
T1 - Young adults' BMI and changes in romantic relationship status during the first semester of college
AU - van Woerden, Irene
AU - Brewis, Alexandra
AU - Hruschka, Daniel
AU - Dunton, Genevieve
AU - Adams, Marc A.
AU - Bruening, Meg
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 van Woerden et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Purpose Identify how higher Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight discrimination are associated with romantic relationship formation and termination in young adults, and if the association was consistent for males and females. Methods First-year students (N = 1096) at entry to university (Time 1) provided BMI and self-reports of weight discrimination and romantic relationship status (in a relationship vs single); 550 were successfully resampled four months later (Time 2). Logistic generalized estimating equations (GEEs) examined if Time 1 relationship status was predicted by BMI and weight discrimination. Logistic GEEs were used to determine if Time 1 BMI and weight discrimination predicted Time 2 relationship status for the strata of students in, and out, of a relationship at Time 1. Results At baseline, students were less likely to be in a relationship if they had a higher BMI (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.92, 0.96) or reported weight discrimination (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.53, 0.90). When stratified by gender, the association between higher BMI and weight discrimination with relationship status was only observed for females. Longitudinally, a BMI-based selection effect was observed for romantic relationship formation, but not termination. Of the students who were single at Time 1, each one unit higher baseline BMI decreased the odds of the student transitioning to a relationship by 9% at Time 2 (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.85, 0.96). When stratified by gender the association of higher BMI decreased odds of relationship formation was only significant for females. No weight discrimination differences for selection in or out of a romantic relationship were observed. Conclusions These findings suggest a weight-related selection effect for romantic relationship initiation, but not termination, in young female adults with lower BMIs. Weight discrimination was not associated with romantic relationship initiation or termination in this sample.
AB - Purpose Identify how higher Body Mass Index (BMI) and weight discrimination are associated with romantic relationship formation and termination in young adults, and if the association was consistent for males and females. Methods First-year students (N = 1096) at entry to university (Time 1) provided BMI and self-reports of weight discrimination and romantic relationship status (in a relationship vs single); 550 were successfully resampled four months later (Time 2). Logistic generalized estimating equations (GEEs) examined if Time 1 relationship status was predicted by BMI and weight discrimination. Logistic GEEs were used to determine if Time 1 BMI and weight discrimination predicted Time 2 relationship status for the strata of students in, and out, of a relationship at Time 1. Results At baseline, students were less likely to be in a relationship if they had a higher BMI (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.92, 0.96) or reported weight discrimination (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.53, 0.90). When stratified by gender, the association between higher BMI and weight discrimination with relationship status was only observed for females. Longitudinally, a BMI-based selection effect was observed for romantic relationship formation, but not termination. Of the students who were single at Time 1, each one unit higher baseline BMI decreased the odds of the student transitioning to a relationship by 9% at Time 2 (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.85, 0.96). When stratified by gender the association of higher BMI decreased odds of relationship formation was only significant for females. No weight discrimination differences for selection in or out of a romantic relationship were observed. Conclusions These findings suggest a weight-related selection effect for romantic relationship initiation, but not termination, in young female adults with lower BMIs. Weight discrimination was not associated with romantic relationship initiation or termination in this sample.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0230806
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0230806
M3 - Article
C2 - 32214397
AN - SCOPUS:85082503407
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3
M1 - e0230806
ER -