Association of Household Type and Fast-Food Consumption in Korean Adolescents

Due to changing household types and weakening of family functions, children have fewer opportunities to develop healthy lifestyle patterns from contact with family members compared to the past. In this paper, we evaluate the association between household type and adolescents' fast-food consumption, focusing on whether they were living with their parents or not, and determine their reasons for not living with their parents.

This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior web-based survey between 2017 and 2020. The subjects were students in grades 7-12. The outcome variable was a frequency of fast-food intake of ≥5 times per week. The main independent variable was the type of household: (1) living with both parents; (2) living with a single parent (one of father, mother, stepfather, stepmother); (3) not living together, but having parents; and (4) having no parents.

Participants without parents were more likely to eat fast food frequently than those living with both parents. Among boys, not having parents and living in a dorm or boarding house or living with other family members or relatives were significantly associated with frequent fast-food intake; among girls, not having parents and living in a dorm or boarding house were significantly associated with frequent fast-food intake.

Adolescents having no parents have a higher risk of frequent fast-food intake than those living with both parents. Further studies are needed to address household types in greater detail.