Partner’s Stress, Overall Marriage Quality May Play Role In Weight Gain, Research Suggests.

reports that a partner’s stress and the overall “quality of marriage” may “play a role in whether husbands and wives” gain weight. The findings of the four-year study, which included some 2,000 married people, were published online in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences. Wives were 1.6 times more likely to have an increase in waist circumference when their husbands reported greater stress and greater negative marriage quality," Birditt said. However, she added, husbands were more than twice as likely to have a 10 percent increase in waist size when their wives had greater stress but weren't complaining about marriage quality. Birditt said she couldn't explain that difference. While Monin can't explain the findings, she suggested that if spouses see that their partner is stressed out, they may eat more to cope. As for marriage quality's effect, Birditt said, "research shows that people who are more distressed in their marriage do eat more as a way to feel connected to each other to reduce their feeling of stress." https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/obesity-health-news-505/stressed-out-mate-bad-news-for-your-waistline-716030.html