Associations between family structure and adolescents' food habits.

Otto Robert Frans Smith,Ellen Haug,Anne-Siri Fismen,Arnfinn Helleve,Oddrun Samdal

doi:10.1017/s1368980020004334

Abstract

To investigate family structure differences in adolescents' consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and sugar-added soft drinks with adjustments for socio-demographic and socio-economic variables. Cross-sectional data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Norwegian primary and secondary schools. Adolescents (n 4475) aged 11, 13, 15 and 16 years. After adjusting for covariates, living in a single-mother family was associated with lower vegetable consumption (OR 0·76, 95 % CI 0·63, 0·91) and higher soft drink consumption (OR 1·29, 95 % CI 1·06, 1·57). Living in a mother and stepfather family was negatively associated with fruit (OR 0·71, 95 % CI 0·54, 0·95) and vegetable (OR 0·72, 95 % CI 0·54, 0·97) consumption. Living in a single-father family was associated with lower sweets consumption (OR 0·48, 95 % CI 0·32, 0·72). No significant interactions were demonstrated between family structure and socio-demographic or socio-economic covariates. The study suggests that an independent association between family structure and adolescents' food habits exists.

Highlights

The present study aims to investigate the association between family structure and intake of fruit, vegetables, sweets and sugar-added soft drinks in Norwegian adolescents aged 11, 13, 15 and 16 years, with adjustments for socio-demographic and socio-economic variables
The present findings are in line with a systematic review of family structure differences[41] in which it was concluded that family structure differences persist after adjusting for material wealth
The present study suggests that the Norwegian welfare policy does not eliminate family structure differences and that the role of family cohesion should be addressed in public nutrition initiatives

Summary

Methods

Cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey 2014. School class was the primary sampling unit and a sample of 11 (n 1353), 13 (n 1030), (n 869) and (n 1223)-year-old schoolchildren (n 4475) participated. At a school/class level, a high workload and frequent requests regarding survey participation were reported as the main reasons for non-participation. A detailed information letter was given both in paper form and electronically to parents or custodians for all participants below the age of 16. Those who did not want their child to participate had to sign and return a form to the teacher. More details on the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study procedures can be found elsewhere[33]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion