Juggling a career along with being a wife or partner and parent may help to keep women healthy, scientists said on Monday.

After analyzing data from a study that tracked the health of Britons born in 1946, they found that women who had multiple roles were less likely than homemakers, single mothers or childless females to report poor health or to be obese in middle age.

"Women who occupied multiple roles over the long term reported relatively good health at age 54," said Dr Anne McMunn, of University College London.

"It looks like women are relatively healthy as a result of combining work and family life."

In the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, McMunn and her team analyzed self-reported health records of more than 2,000 women at the ages of 26 and 54 and their body mass index, a method of measuring obesity.

Information on their marital status, work history and whether they had children was also included.

The researchers found that women who had been homemakers most of their lives were most likely to report poor health, followed by single mothers and childless women.

Homemakers tended to gain weight more quickly and had the highest rate of obesity at 38 percent while women who were employees, wives and mothers had the lowest.

McMunn said it has been known for some time that women who combine employment with motherhood and partnership have better health. But it was not clear whether they were working and having children because they were healthy, or whether they were healthy because they were combining the two.

"This study is the first to show which way that direction runs," she added.

"There may be potential long-term health benefits of being able to participate in all areas of society."

中文译文：

英国科学家日前表示，女性同时担当多种社会角色（同时为公司职员、妻子和母亲）可能有利于她们保持身体健康。而那些专职家庭主妇或单身母亲则更容易出现健康问题，同时也更容易发胖。 

据路透社5月14日报道，伦敦大学学院的研究人员们在对数千名英国女性的健康报告进行了认真分析后发现，那些“身兼数职”的女性与那些社会角色单一的女性（如单纯的家庭主妇、单身母亲或无子女的女性）相比，前者则更不容易出现健康问题或是在中年时发胖。

此项研究的负责人、伦敦大学学院的安妮·麦克姆恩博士表示，那些长期以来一直身兼多重角色的妇女步入中老年时，其健康状况会相对较好。麦克姆恩说：“看起来，这些妇女身体相对较为健康是她们的工作与家庭生活相结合的结果。”

研究过程中，麦克姆恩博士和她的研究小组分析了2000余名1946年出生的英国妇女26岁至54岁期间的健康状况和体重指数的自我报告。另外，有关她们的婚姻状况、工作经历以及是否生育子女等信息也包括在内。

研究人员发现，那些生命中大部分的时间都用来充当家庭主妇的女性最容易出现不佳的健康状态，其次是单身妈妈和没有子女的女性。另外，专职家庭主妇也更容易发胖，其肥胖率在这些人群中是最高的，为38％；而那些既是公司雇员、又同时担当妻子和母亲角色的女性则最不容易发胖，其肥胖率最低。

麦克姆恩博士说，目前人们尚不清楚女性的身体健康状况和工作及生育等因素间的因果关系究竟是怎样的。这些女性是因为身体健康才能“身兼数职”，还是因为她们“身兼数职”才享受到健康的体魄？人们对此还不得而知。

报道说，此项研究结果发表在最新一期的英国《流行病学与公共健康杂志》上。