However, as a life-span developmental psychologist, I began to wonder...do women and men gain weight after they say "I do"? Apparently the answer is yes - although the amount is debated. Some studies, regardless of other factors that influence weight, find a gain of about 5 lbs (2.28 kg) amongst young adult newlyweds and others estimate the gain to be up to 20 lbs (9 kg) if we follow those married young adults through midlife.
Meltzer, Novak, McNulty, Butler, and Karney (2013) devised a study to evaluate this weight gain against two competing theories to explain this trend. The first theory is the Health Regulation Model: the argument here is that marriage encourages us to take care of each other. If our marriage going well, we would be more likely to go to the doctor, floss, eat well, and by extension maintain a healthy weight. Because marital satisfaction tends to decline within the first few years, that health maintenance would also decline leading to skipping the doctor, forgetting to floss, eating junk food, and by extension gaining weight.
The alternate theory is featured in our meme: it is supposed to be funny because the bride has snagged her man and no longer has to worry about looking a certain way to attract a mate. This is the premise of the Mating Market Model: if our marriage is going well we may gain weight because we are not interested in finding a new mate; if our marriage is going poorly we may lose weight because we are gearing up to attract a new partner within a culture that values thinness.
Meltzer et al. tracked more than 100 heterosexual young adult couples (average age 24 - which is younger than the average age of first marriage in the U.S.) for four years after their marriages. These participants were asked to complete questionnaires about their marital satisfaction and to self-report their heights and weights to calculate their Body Mass Indexes (BMIs). After controlling for pregnancy and childbirth, the trend of weight gain after marriage was confirmed: both men and women gained some weight after marriage, but weight gain was not in the unhealthy range. So our meme may be correct about weight gain but incorrect to imply that only women may experience this after marriage.
Lending strength to the Mating Market Model and to our meme, the authors also found that participants who reported greater marital satisfaction were more likely to report weight gain. If our bride (and groom) match the demographics of the Meltzer et al. study, perhaps they have the right to be smug: if they are happy with their marriage they may gain some weight and not care a bit. The Mating Market Model was further supported by another trend in their data: when participants reported that they were "thinking of divorce" they also tended to report a lower BMI than usual.
Interestingly, unlike thoughts of divorce, levels of overall marital stress did not correlate with changes in BMI. Using the Health Regulations Model we would have expected the couples who reported less marital stress to have steady or lower BMIs, but no such relationship was found. The authors note this as further evidence on the side of the Mating Market Model.
However, is marriage a leading correlate of weight gain? Currently about 51% of American adults are married (happily and otherwise) while 69% of American adults are overweight. Thus, there must be other factors involved. Also, if the majority of American heterosexual adults get married at some point and the majority of American adults are overweight, it also stands to reason that you don't have to be thin to get married in the first place. If you find happiness with another person just count your lucky stars instead of counting the numbers on the scale.
Further Reading:
The Meltzer et al. (2013) study can be accessed through your local college library or as a free pdf via Research Gate.
A piece by NPR that casts a critical view on the use of BMI as an accurate assessment of weight and health.
Information about body image from the National Eating Disorder Association. Their website has links to lots of excellent resources including this one about Size Diversity.
Find good information about health, food, and fitness from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
A post by Samantha Joel on the Science of Relationships blog: What makes a good spouse based on psychological research. See if you and your partner have what it takes.
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