Marriage customs and nutritional status of men and women
利用印尼21年面板数据，分析基于种族的婚姻习俗（从夫居、从妻居、聘礼）与男女身体质量指数的关联，发现从夫居与女性低BMI相关，暗示性别歧视，而聘礼与男女高BMI相关，表明婚姻习俗可能加剧营养不平等。
• Analysis of links between marriage customs and nutritional status in Indonesia. • Patrilocality is linked to lower BMI in women, suggesting gender discrimination. • Matrilocality is associated with reduced discrimination against women. • Bridewealth practices are associated with higher BMI among both women and men. • Marriage customs should be explicitly considered in nutrition research and policy. Malnutrition remains a serious problem. While various nutrition policies exist, these often fail to consider cultural factors. We contribute to the literature on culture and nutrition, focusing on gendered differences in nutritional investment. Using representative panel data from Indonesia covering a period of 21 years, we analyze how ethnicity-based marriage customs are linked to the body mass index (BMI) of men and women. Patrilocal practices are positively associated with male BMI and negatively associated with female BMI, suggesting discrimination against women. Matrilocal practices are positively associated with female BMI when comparing with women in other cultural settings, but not when comparing with men. The practice of bridewealth is positively associated with male and female BMI when comparing to individuals in settings without this cultural practice. Wherever positive associations between marriage customs and BMI are observed, these are largest for those already overweight, whereas the negative association been patrilocality and female BMI is most pronounced among women who are underweight. Our findings suggest that marriage customs may reinforce nutritional inequalities. A better understanding of such links in different cultural settings is important for effective nutritional policies, especially given that different malnutrition problems coexist in many countries.