Table 4.

First-Difference Estimation of BMI Change from Wave 1 to Wave 2

	Model 1		Model 2
Independent variables	Men	Women	Men	Women
Alcohol consumption variables (changes between waves)
Frequency change: days of drinking alcohol, past year (in 100s)	0.026 (0.018)	−0.010 (0.027)	0.032* (0.018)	−0.005 (0.027)
Intensity change: average number of drinks per episode, past year	0.0254*** (0.0068)	−0.013 (0.013)	0.0293*** (0.0068)	−0.002 (0.013)
Control variables (changes between waves)
Household income in $10,000s			0.0061* (0.0037)	0.0123*** (0.0046)
Number of persons in household			0.005 (0.014)	0.020 (0.016)
Norm-based (SF-12) mental health scale			0.0028** (0.0014)	−0.0035** (0.0015)
Current marital status (reference is no change)
Not married in Wave 1 → married in Wave 2			0.658*** (0.076)	0.667*** (0.090)
Married in Wave 1 → not married in Wave 2			−0.43*** (0.10)	−0.43*** (0.10)
Employment status (reference is no change)
Not employed in Wave 1 → employed in Wave 2			0.342*** (0.061)	0.253*** (0.065)
Employed in Wave 1 → not employed in Wave 2			0.011 (0.056)	0.374*** (0.059)
Smoking status (reference is no change)
Non-smoker in Wave 1 → smoker in Wave 2			0.115 (0.084)	−0.08 (0.12)
Smoker in Wave 1 → non-smoker in Wave 2			0.284*** (0.060)	0.569*** (0.086)
Living in MSA (reference is no change)
Non-MSA in Wave 1 → MSA in Wave 2			−0.032 (0.044)	−0.082 (0.050)
MSA in Wave 1 → non-MSA in Wave 2			0.051 (0.048)	−0.022 (0.054)
Constant	0.398*** (0.016)	0.567*** (0.018)	0.328*** (0.021)	0.483*** (0.024)

Notes: All specifications are estimated with the robust regression technique (StataCorp, 2005). The dependent variable is change in BMI from Wave 1 to Wave 2.

^*significant at the 10% level;

^**significant at the 5% level;

^***significant at the 1% level.