A new study suggests that your high school years may have a lasting impact on your weight decades later.
Researchers from Penn State, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Minnesota found strong links between what students experience in high school and their body weight in their 50s. The study was published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
Many people already know that education can affect long-term health. For example, previous research has shown that people who attend college or earn a degree tend to be healthier. But this new study takes a closer look at what happens before college—during high school—and how those experiences might shape a person’s health far into the future.
The researchers used data from a national survey that began in the 1980s, called the High School & Beyond Study. The study followed thousands of students into midlife and looked at their academic, social, and personal lives in high school. Then it compared those early experiences with their weight in their early 50s.
The team found that certain factors during high school were linked to a healthier weight decades later. These included going to a private school, attending schools with more resources, taking advanced classes, and being more popular among classmates.
In simple terms, students who came from wealthier families or went to better-resourced schools were more likely to have a lower body weight in midlife.
Interestingly, these patterns were especially strong for women. The study found that women who were popular or took tougher courses in high school were more likely to maintain a healthier weight later in life.
Even when the researchers accounted for whether someone went to college or got a degree, the impact of their high school experience remained significant—especially for women.
According to lead author Michelle Frisco, a professor at Penn State, this shows that the path to good health doesn’t just start in college or adulthood. It begins much earlier, with the kinds of social and educational experiences students have as teenagers.
The researchers believe that one reason for these differences may be related to the messages and habits young people learn about health, food, exercise, and body image. Families, schools, and peer groups can all influence how a person views their body and health.
For instance, students in higher-income schools may be more exposed to healthy eating habits or have more access to sports and fitness activities. In addition, girls and women face more pressure from society to be thin, which may explain why their school environment had a stronger effect on their weight later in life.
The study also highlights a big shift over time. When these participants were in high school, only about 5% of students were obese. Today, that number is much higher. Frisco points out that some aspects of high school life in the past may have protected students from becoming overweight as they aged, even as obesity rates rose sharply in the U.S.
This research shows that high schools do much more than prepare students for college or careers. They can also play a big role in shaping long-term health. The study suggests that schools can make a real difference by promoting healthy habits early on.
The research team plans to continue studying different groups of students to see if the same patterns apply to younger generations. They also want to explore how education affects other areas of adult health.
In summary, the study shows that high school experiences—both academic and social—can influence a person’s weight well into adulthood. This effect is especially noticeable for women. The findings suggest that helping students build healthy habits and strong social connections in high school may lead to better health decades later.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that could increase high blood pressure risk, and people with severe high blood pressure should reduce coffee intake.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and results showing plant-based foods could benefit people with high blood pressure.
The research findings can be found in Social Science & Medicine.
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