Healthy Eating Capability of One-person Households-The Effects of Eating Alone, Meal Types, and Dietary Lifestyles

Abstract

This study examined the effects of eating alone, meal type, and dietary lifestyles on healthy eating capability of one-person households. We analyzed the mediation effects of weekly frequencies of each meal type taken by oneperson households between eating habits such as eating alone and dietary lifestyles of one-person households and healthy eating capability. We also analyzed data from the 2019 Food Consumption Behavior Survey using a sample of 688 one-person households. Factor analysis, latent profile analysis, structural equation model analysis was conducted; direct and indirect effects of independent variables were tested using bootstrap method. The major results were as follows. Frequency of eating alone was about 10 times a week on average; one-person households had home-made meals about 12 times a week, for restaurant meals, 4 times, for delivered/take-out food, 0.39 times, and for other types, 0.44 times. Weekly frequencies of eating alone and meal types taken by one-person households were significantly different among the different socio-demographic groups. Dietary lifestyle was classified into four classes: traditional, health ignorant, food lifestyle ignorant, and balanced. Eating alone and dietary lifestyle had a significant effect on weekly frequency of each meal type. Frequencies of eating alone, balanced dietary lifestyle, and taking home-made meals had a positive direct effect on healthy eating capability, and frequency of taking delivered or take-out food and food consumption ignorant lifestyle had a negative direct effect. Eating alone, balanced and traditional dietary lifestyles had a positive indirect effect through the meal type; however, watching Mug-bang had a negative indirect effect.