每日跟讀#575: Measuring the Rise of the Doughy, but Desirable, Dad Body

The Internet has burned recently with commentary about women’s alleged new interest in the soft, doughy “dad bod.”

網路最近發燒的話題是，柔軟不結實的「爸爸肚」成為女性的新寵。

How much softer a man’s body gets, on average, when he becomes a father?

為人父後，男性身材平均會變多軟？

Every few years the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the United States herds about 5,000 men and women into medical trailers to be poked, prodded, measured and weighed.

每隔幾年，美國「國家健康與營養體檢調查」就會召集約五千名男女上醫檢車，撥撥戳戳、量量稱稱。

On average, dads are 5 kilos heavier than non-dads; they’re carrying nearly an extra five centimeters on their waist; and their bellies stick out an extra centimeter or so.

平均而言，當爸爸比沒當爸爸的人重五公斤，腰圍差不多變寬5公分，小腹凸出約1公分。

Health care workers measure the sagittal abdominal diameter by having the subject lie flat on a table so that they can measure how high the navel sits above the table surface to get an objective, scientific assessment of the gut.

健檢人員讓受檢者平躺桌上，測量腹部矢狀面直徑，以測得肚臍高於桌面多少，對腹部有一個客觀科學的評估。

In the latest data from this survey, half the non-dads in the 18-to-45 bracket had a sagittal abdominal diameter of less than 20 centimeters, but only 29 percent of the dads did. But dads seem to wear their extra paunch with some degree of comfort. Despite the extra five kilos, nearly as many dads described themselves as being “about the right weight” as those who are not dads. (The exact proportions are 49 percent and 53 percent.)

最新的調查數據顯示，18到45歲年齡層腹部矢狀面直徑不到20公分者，非爸爸有一半達此標準，爸爸只有29%。但是爸爸們對鮪魚肚似乎怡然自得。儘管重了5公斤，自認體重「剛剛好」的爸爸人數卻和非爸爸不相上下。（精確的比率是49%與53%）。

Call this fatherly self-satisfaction a result of diminished expectations: When asked their ideal weight, dads volunteered a number that was two kilos heavier than what non-dads did.

父親們這種自我感覺良好，可說是期望降低的結果：被問到理想體重時，爸爸們自報的重量比非爸爸們重兩公斤。

And fathers seemed to be making no particular effort to fight the dad bod. They were no more likely than non-dads to say they had tried to lose weight in the last year, with 70 percent saying they hadn’t.

而且爸爸們似乎並未特別努力去對抗爸爸肚。與非爸爸們相比，他們表示過去一年曾試圖減肥的可能性沒有更高，七成的爸爸表示沒有試圖減肥。

We can’t definitively say that the dad bod is a consequence, rather than a cause, of fatherhood. After all, if the Internet is right that men with an extra layer of cushioning really are more attractive, perhaps they’re more likely to reproduce.

我們無法斷言爸爸肚究竟是父親身分產生的結果，還是成因。畢竟，如果網路所言為真，身上多幾層肉的男性確實較有魅力，或許是因為更能傳宗接代。

But two pieces of evidence suggest there is something about dads’ lives that causes the dad bod. Although dads weigh five kilos more than non-dads, when those 27 and older in both groups are asked how much they weighed at age 25, the weight difference was much smaller, only a kilo.

但是兩項證據顯示爸爸肚的生成與爸爸的生活有關。儘管爸爸比非爸爸重5公斤，兩組當中27歲及以上的男性被問到25歲時有多重時，體重差異小得多，只有1公斤。

And the dad bod is barely evident among recent dads while it is much more prominent among those with older children. Over the years, as these men relax into fatherhood, their waistline seems to relax with them.

爸爸肚在剛為人父的男性身上還看不太出來，但在子女比較大的爸爸身上就很明顯。隨著時間過去，男性放寬心成為人父，腰圍似乎也跟著放寬。

That relaxation does not seem to be just about getting older. Of the five-kilo difference found between dads and non-dads, one kilo can be attributed to age: In part, dads tend to be a little heavier than non-dads because they tend to be a little older. And married men tend to be heavier than unmarried ones. But even after adjusting for differences in age and marital status, a noticeable difference between dad and non-dad bods persists.

這樣的放鬆似乎不僅與年齡增長有關。爸爸和非爸爸的5公斤體重差異，有1公斤可以歸因於年紀：某種程度上，爸爸可能比非爸爸重，那是因為爸爸年齡通常比較大。而已婚男性又可能比未婚男性重。但即使是調整過年齡和婚姻狀態造成的差異後，爸爸與非爸爸之間的一個顯著差異仍舊存在。

Some in the news media have called the “dad bod” phenomenon a double standard. Nobody’s talking approvingly about the “mom bod,” even though the same data show approximately equal parenthood gains in weight, waistline and belly size for men and women.

有些新聞媒體人士認為爸爸肚的現象代表雙重標準。談起媽媽肚時，沒有人語帶肯定，縱然同樣的數據顯示為人父母後，體重、腰圍、腹部尺寸的增加，男女差不多。

Parents of both sexes adjust their expectations in the same way: Moms in our age bracket were four kilos heavier than the non-moms, but much like the dads, they adjusted their average desired weight targets up (by less than two kilos). Yet both moms and non-moms are much more likely than dads and non-dads to report that they tried to lose weight in the last year, and on average women report they would like to lose about twice as much weight as men.

為人父母後，男女用同樣的方式調整期望：媽媽在相同年齡層比非媽媽重4公斤，但是與爸爸很像的是，媽媽們調高理想體重的目標值（不到2公斤）。但是媽媽和非媽媽們，比起爸爸和非爸爸們，更可能表示過去一年曾試圖減肥。平均來說，女性表示希望減掉的重量是男性的兩倍。

The “dad bod” fascination seems to be one of the manifestations of the double standard, and perhaps it’s something men have already internalized, by deciding it’s O.K. to let themselves go at least a little.

「爸爸肚」的狂熱似乎是雙重標準的證明之一，而且可能是男性已經內化的一部分，決定讓自己稍微放縱一下，也無妨。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/281328/web/