科学美国人60秒:Married Couples Pack On More Pounds

Bridget Jones, in print and on screen, called them the “Smug Marrieds”—the happy couples that seemed to have it all. But maybe the fictional Jones should have called them the “Plump Marrieds.” Because along with offering couples unbridled bliss, marriage can cause them to pack on some extra pounds. That’s according to a study in The Journal of Family Issues.
无论是在小说中还是在荧幕上，布里奇特·琼斯称他们自己为“令人羡慕的一对”——这对幸福的夫妻似乎拥有了一切。但是这对虚幻的夫妇应该称为“丰满的一对”。因为婚姻带给这对新人的除了无尽的幸福之外，同时也为附赠了他们增加的体重。这是根据《家庭问题杂志》的一项研究得出的结论。

Sociologist Jay Teachman, at Western Washington University, examined data from the National Longitudinal study of Youth. The data included info about more than 3,000 African Americans over a 20-year period.
社会学家杰伊·蒂奇曼，来自于西华盛顿大学。他审查了《青春的纵向研究》上的数据。数据中包含了20多年来，3000多名非裔美国人的数据信息。

Teachman tracked body-mass-index, BMI, a measure of obesity, from adolescence to middle age. And he analyzed the relationship between BMI, marital status and changes in marital status. It turned out that living without a partner usually equated to being thinner and having a lower BMI compared with married people and couples living together. The single folks included the never-marrieds and divorced.
蒂奇曼跟踪了这些人从青春期到中年时的身高体重指数，该指数可衡量人体的肥胖。蒂奇曼还分析了该指数与婚姻状态以及婚姻状态变化的关系。结果表明与已婚人士和同居人士相比，单身人士体重更轻，体重指数较低。单身人士包含未婚者和离异人士。

Both men and women gained weight but when it came to race, black women had the most rapid weight gain, followed by white women and then black and white men.
无论种族，男女在婚后体重都会增加，其中黑人女性排第一，白人女性排第二，黑人男性和白人男性次之。

The weight gain was just a few pounds—but even a slightly higher BMI is associated with weight-related health issues.
或许体重只是增加了几磅而已——但是体重指数略微增加，都可能引发健康问题。

Several reasons exist for the weight discrepancy between the single and married people. For example, married men and women may be less concerned about their body weight because they’re no longer actively seeking a mate. Plus, married people have a regular dining partner, possibly leading to more meals. On the single side, those who are widowed or have gone through a divorce may lose weight due to stress.
对于单身人士和已婚人士的体重差异存在几个原因。如，已婚人士可能不会再过度关心自己的体重问题，因为她们不再积极寻找伴侣了。此外，已婚人士有了正常的饮食伙伴，可能会导致其食量加大。而对于单身人士，丧偶者或离异着可能会由于压力导致体重减轻。

So while this news may not be good for the smug marrieds, it may be welcomed by Bridget Jones. The single, and very weight-conscious, Jones may actually have had the easier path to staying thin than her married friends.
因此这对于沾沾自喜的已婚人士可能不是一个好消息，但是对于《单身日记》这部电影而言，却是一大乐事。单身、在意体重的布里奇特·琼斯，与已经步入婚姻的朋友相比，可能更容易保持纤细的身材。