Men who were grossly overweight at the age of 18 had nearly 50 percent less chance of being married by their 30s and 40s, said an international conference on obesity held in Amsterdam on Thursday.
The findings, which held true regardless of the men's intellectual performance or socio-economic position, could suggest that women rank a man's appearance higher than other traits when choosing a partner.
"Yes, that may be one explanation," researcher Malin Kark of the Swedish Karolinska Institutet, told reporters on the sidelines of the four-day gathering hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity.
Kark's study was conducted among more than 500,000 Swedish men born between 1951 and 1961.
It found that men who had been obese at 18 were 46 percent less likely to be married in 1991, when they were aged between 30 and 40, than men with no weight problem, and 45 percent less likely by 2004.
For men who were overweight but not obese at 18, the chances of marriage were somewhat higher - 10 percent lower than for men of normal weight in their 30s and nine percent lower in their forties.
"We think this shows that there is stigmatization of obese young men that continues into adulthood - in their working life and also in inter-personal relationships," said Kark.
While no information was available on the men's adult weight, other studies have found that obese adolescents were likely to become obese adults, she added.
The World Health Organisation estimates that in 2005 about 1.6 billion adults were overweight, of which at least 400 million were obese.
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(Agencies) |
上周四在阿姆斯特丹召開的一個(gè)國(guó)際肥胖研討會(huì)稱,18歲時(shí)體重就嚴(yán)重超標(biāo)的男性到三四十歲成婚的幾率(比正常體重的人)低近50%。
研究結(jié)果說(shuō)明,與其它因素相比,女性在擇偶時(shí)更看重對(duì)方的外表。該研究未將男性的智力表現(xiàn)或社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)地位等因素考慮在內(nèi)。
瑞典卡羅林斯卡研究院的研究員瑪林?卡克在會(huì)下接受記者采訪時(shí)說(shuō):“對(duì),這可能是一種解釋?!边@一為期四天的會(huì)議由歐洲肥胖研究協(xié)會(huì)主辦。
卡克對(duì)1951年至1961年間出生的50萬(wàn)名瑞典男性進(jìn)行了調(diào)查研究。
研究發(fā)現(xiàn),與正常體重的男性相比,18歲時(shí)就已肥胖的男性到1991年他們?nèi)氖畾q時(shí)結(jié)婚的幾率要低46%,到2004年結(jié)婚的幾率低45%。
對(duì)于體重超標(biāo)、但18歲時(shí)并不肥胖的男性來(lái)說(shuō),他們成婚的幾率稍高一點(diǎn)——他們?cè)?0多歲時(shí)成婚的幾率比正常體重男性低10%,40多歲成婚的幾率低9%。
卡克說(shuō):“我們認(rèn)為,這表明有關(guān)肥胖年輕男士的一種負(fù)面印象會(huì)持續(xù)到他們的成年時(shí)期——無(wú)論是在他們的工作中還是在人際關(guān)系中?!?/font>
她說(shuō),這些調(diào)查對(duì)象成年時(shí)期的體重信息不得而知,但其它研究發(fā)現(xiàn),青少年時(shí)期肥胖的人成年之后也很可能會(huì)存在肥胖問題。
據(jù)世界衛(wèi)生組織估計(jì),2005年全球體重超標(biāo)的成年人約為16億,其中至少有4億人肥胖。
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