Table 2.

Demographic characteristics^* of young adults by family meal frequency patterns at EAT-IV; data from Wave 4 (EAT-IV; 2015–2016) of Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults)

	Total sample		Family meal frequency trajectory†
	n or Mean	% or sd	Nevers (%)	Stoppers (%)	Starters (%)	Maintainers (%)
Overall, n and %	726	100·00	18·3	9·4	41·2	31·1
Age of young adult (years), mean and sd ‡	31·4	1·5	31·5	30·7	31·3	30·7
Age of children in household (years), mean and sd ‡	4·5	3·2	7·4	7·0	5·7	5·8
Number of children in household, mean and sd	2·1	1·1	1·8	1·9	2·0	2·0
Sex of young adult, n and %
Male	263	36	19·2	12·7	39·2	28·9
Female	463	64	16·1	8·6	42·6	32·7
Race/ethnicity of young adult, n and %
White	489	68	16·3	10·8	42·5	30·3
African American	58	8	30·3	10·4	32·1	27·2
Hispanic	28	4	16·6	5·2	35·1	43·1
Asian	104	14	12·6	10·9	42·8	33·7
Mixed/other	39	5	28·1	5·4	34·4	32·1
Socio-economic status of young adult, n and %
Low	112	16	15·6	12·7	40·8	31·0
Mid/low	120	17	23·0	12·4	36·1	28·6
Middle	171	24	18·8	8·9	41·7	30·6
Mid/high	213	30	16·1	5·9	48·3	29·7
High	106	15	12·7	13·7	34·3	39·4
Young adult’s parents’ marital status, n and %‡
Married	492	69	16·0	11·3	38·0	34·7
Divorced	139	19	24·3	7·7	47·1	20·8
Separated	26	4	5·5	8·6	61·8	24·1
Never married	43	6	10·0	7·1	63·8	19·0
One or both have died	17	2	24·4	9·7	33·6	32·3
Young adult’s relationship status, n and %‡
Casually dating	11	2	9·4	20·9	48·4	21·3
Committed dating relationship or engaged	120	18	21·2	16·4	33·3	29·1
Married	530	78	16·4	7·2	43·7	32·6
Domestic partner	20	3	24·1	35·4	19·8	20·6

^*Values of polytomous variables may not sum to 100 % due to rounding.

^†Models comparing trajectories of family meals are mutually adjusted.

^‡Variable is significantly related to family meal trajectory at P<0·05.