Campus Units
Economics
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2014
Journal or Book Title
Research in Applied Economics
Volume
6
Issue
3
First Page or Article ID Number
129
Last Page
142
DOI
10.5296/rae.v6i3.4968
Abstract
The paper investigates the effects of changes in marital status and health related behaviors (smoking and drinking) on the body mass index (BMI) in Russian adults over a ten-year period. Smoking and drinking behavior changes have played an important part in health status changes over 1994 to 2004. The results indicate that the individual weight/BMI changes asymmetrically in health determinants; the sign and the magnitude of the response are different depending on the starting point and whether there is an increase or a decrease in
the explanatory variable. Males’ BMI decreases with smoking and increases with quitting smoking, but females’ BMI increases with drinking alcohol and decreases with stopping drinking. Losing a partner decreases only the females’ BMI, but gaining a spouse/partner is associated with increases in BMI for both genders. For married females and males, the change in spousal BMI is significantly positively related. Understanding interactions between individual health-related behaviors and the set of determinants that contribute to such behaviors is a fundamental step in the design of effective interventions.
Copyright Owner
Macrothink Institute
Copyright Date
2014
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Huffman, Sonya K., "BMI Changes in Russian Adults: The Role of Health Related Behaviors and Spousal Relationships" (2014). Economics Publications. 54.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_las_pubs/54
Comments
This article is from Research in Applied Economics 6 (2014): 129, doi: 10.5296/rae.v6i3.4968. Posted with permission.