What Is This Study About?

In our study on relationships and health habits we seek to better understand how health habits change as people age. We are interested in learning more about how different social ties - such as those with children, a spouse, friends, or church groups - affect your health and health habits over your life.

The first part of our study used national survey data from the Americans' Changing Lives Study. This study involved interviews with several thousand Americans over a fifteen year period. We have written a number of articles on the subject of social ties and health habits based on these interviews. For example, we've addressed the question how marital status and marital transitions, like getting married or divorced, affect weight gain and weight loss. We've also begun to study how stress in people's lives affect their health habits. Please visit our Publications section to see some of our published and working papers.

Now Conducting Interviews... We Want YOU!

The second part of our study involves in-depth interviews with individuals in the Austin area. We are currently looking for people to interview for our study on health habits. If you think you might be interested in participating, please visit our Interviews page.

What are Health Habits?

You are probably already very knowledgeable about things you do that can be good and bad for your health. Health habits include a wide variety of lifestyle choices that affect the way you think and feel about yourself and your body. These can include the amount of sleep you get in a night, how much you exercise, the kinds of foods you eat, how much alcohol you drink, and whether or not your smoke.

Many aspects of our social lives can influence our health habits - for better and for worse. For example, some people eat or drink more when they are feeling a lot of stress while others are more likely to exercise in response to stress. Sometimes other people are a good influence on our health habits and sometimes other people may influence us in ways that lead us to eat or drink more than we think we should. Our interviews will focus on how your health habits have changed over time and how your social life may have influenced those habits.

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