The multidimensional relationship between early adult body weight and women's childbearing experiences

► US Women's early adult weight can influence lifetime childbearing trajectories, not just single birth events. ► Women's weight does not similarly influence childbearing in dissimilar historical weight contexts. ► Obese women are less likely to have children in leaner historical weight contexts; their odds of marrying are low. ► Social factors shape the link between weight and childbearing because obesity's social consequences are gendered.