Associations of cooking practices and healthy eating habits among young Korean adults in their 20s

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the association between cooking practices and healthy eating habits among young Korean adults in their 20s. An online survey was conducted from 19th to 24th February 2021 among young Korean adults in their 20s and 1102 responses were collected. Cooking practices were measured using the Cooking and Food Provisioning Action Scale which comprises the three sub-scales of self-efficacy (13 items), attitude (10 items) and structure (5 items) to capture the participants' ability to procure and prepare food within the contexts of their social, physical and economic environment. The healthy eating habits were measured based on how much they adhere to the Common Dietary Guidelines for Koreans (11 items), which details the basic common rules for a desirable diet. Hierarchical linear multiple regressions were performed to examine the associations between cooking practices and healthy eating habits, controlling for participants’ socio-demographic characteristics. The overall model accounted for 21.6% of the variance in healthy eating habits, of which 16.5% was explained by cooking practices. However, among the three sub-scales of cooking practices, only self-efficacy was a significant predictor of healthy eating habits, whereas attitude and structure had no significant association. Most socio-demographic characteristics remained significant in the final model. Notably, there was a significant negative effect on healthy eating habits in single-person or lower income households, who are socially deprived. These results add further support for a growing concern to implement interventions and public policies to promote healthy eating habits integrating cooking self-efficacy among young adults.