Lacey, RE;
Sacker, A;
Bell, S;
Kumari, M;
Worts, D;
McDonough, P;
Kuh, D;
(2016)
Work-family life courses and BMI trajectories in three British birth cohorts.
International Journal of Obesity
, 41
pp. 332-339.
10.1038/ijo.2016.197.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Combining work and family responsibilities has previously been associated with improved health in mid-life, yet little is known about how these associations change over time (both biographical and historical) and whether this extends to body mass index (BMI) trajectories for British men and women. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between work-family life courses and BMI trajectories across adulthood (16–42 years) for men and women in three British birth cohorts. / SUBJECTS/METHODS: Multiply-imputed data from three nationally-representative British birth cohorts were used—the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (1946 birth cohort, n=3 012), the National Child Development Study (1958 birth cohort, n=9 614) and the British Cohort Study (1970 birth cohort, n=8 140). A typology of work-family life course types was developed using multi-channel sequence analysis, linking annual information on work, partnerships and parenthood from 16–42 years. Work-family life courses were related to BMI trajectories using multilevel growth models. Analyses adjusted for indicators of prior health, birthweight, child BMI, educational attainment and socioeconomic position across the life course, and were stratified by gender and cohort. / RESULTS: Work-family life courses characterised by earlier transitions to parenthood and weaker long-term links to employment were associated with greater increases in BMI across adulthood. Some of these differences, particularly for work-family groups which are becoming increasingly non-normative, became more pronounced across cohorts (e.g. increases in BMI between 16 and 42 years in long-term homemaking women: NSHD: 4.35 kg/m2, 95% CI: 3.44, 5.26; NCDS: 5.53 kg/m2, 95% CI: 5.18, 5.88; BCS: 6.69 kg/m2, 95% CI: 6.36, 7.02). / CONCLUSIONS: Becoming a parent earlier and weaker long-term ties to employment are associated with greater increases in BMI across adulthood in British men and women.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Work-family life courses and BMI trajectories in three British birth cohorts |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ijo.2016.197 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2016.197 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1522239 |
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