Whenever someone goes through a major life transition, it can be stressful. Divorce is one of the more stressful transitions that can be experienced, and this stress can manifest itself in many ways. According to a recent university study, many people gain weight after they get married or divorced. Interestingly, women were more likely to gain weight after marriage, and men were more likely to gain weight after getting divorced.

The study, from OSU, looked at ten thousand people surveyed between 1986 and 2008. In the two years after marriage, women reported weight gain. In the two years after divorce, weight gain was reported by men. The study did not look at the period beyond two years, so it was inconclusive as to whether people later lost the weight or if there might have been more weight gain beyond the two year period.

Both genders reported more weight gain in the two year period after a marriage or a divorce than did people who were never married. The authors of the study did were not able to say conclusively what caused the weight gain, but they speculated that marital transitions disrupted the participants' routines, and that this led to changes in nutritional and exercise habits that caused the weight gain.

Torrance divorce attorneys noted that the study found the weight gain to be more prevalent among people over the age of thirty. This would be consistent with the theory of the weight gain being attributable to changes in routines. People over the age of thirty are more set in their routines, and marital transitions are more likely to create a shock to the system with a change in routine.

Source: USA Today "Weight gain hits women after marriage, men after divorce" Aug. 23, 2011