Modern body mass index values, marital status, and household size: 1980s to the present

The body mass index (BMI) is the primary means of classifying obesity and reflects a complex set of interactions related to the institution of marriage and household characteristics. There is an inverse relationship between BMI and height, and height reflects the cumulative price of net nutrition during childhood and resources devoted to an off-spring’s health from care-givers. There are gender specific relationships between BMI and marital status, and after controlling for height, single women have lower BMIs than women in other household relationships. While causal mechanisms may have changed over time, there is a positive relationship between BMIs and household size.