Table 1.

Unadjusted associations between eating alone and demographic and physical characteristics among US adolescents (aged 12–17 years) who completed Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study surveys, April–October 2014

			Eating alone group*
	All (n 1652)		Often eat alone (n 343)		Does not often eat alone (n 1309)
Demographic and weight characteristics	n †	%†	n †	%†	n †	%†	P value‡
Adolescent age group (n 1632)
12–13 years	545	33·4	92	27·3	453	35·0
14–17 years	1087	66·6	245	72·7	842	65·0	0·008
Adolescent sex (n 1628)
Male	807	49·6	161	47·9	646	50·0
Female	821	50·4	175	52·1	646	50·0	0·496
Adolescent race/ethnicity (n 1616)
Hispanic	160	9·9	31	9·3	129	10·1
Non-Hispanic Black alone	271	16·8	81	24·2	190	14·8
Non-Hispanic White alone	1033	63·9	188	56·1	845	66·0
Other	152	9·4	35	10·4	117	9·1	0·0003
Adolescent weight status (n 1592)
Underweight (BMI<5th percentile)	66	4·2	6	1·8	60	4·8
Normal weight (BMI 5th–<85th percentile)	1080	67·8	201	61·1	879	69·6
Overweight (BMI 85th–<95th percentile)	245	15·4	68	20·7	177	14·0
Obese (BMI≥95th percentile)	201	12·6	54	16·4	147)	11·6	0·0001
Parent education (n 1632)
High school/General Equivalency Diploma or less	293	17·9	61	18·1	232	17·9
Some college or more	1339	82·1	276	81·9	1063	82·1	0·937
Household income (n 1619)
<$US 100 000	1284	79·3	274	81·8	1010	78·7
≥$US 100 000	335	20·7	61	18·2	274	21·3	0·208
Parent age group (n 1637)
18–34 years	188	11·5	35	10·3	153	11·8
35–44 years	710	43·4	140	41·3	570	43·9
45–59 years	692	42·3	157	46·3	535	41·2
≥60 years	47	2·9	7	2·1	40	3·1	0·315
Parent sex (n 1637)
Male	421	25·7	82	24·3	339	26·1
Female	1216	74·3	256	75·7	960	73·9	0·491
Parent employment status (n 1630)
Employed for wages	937	57·5	205	60·8	732	56·6
Self-employed or not employed§	693	42·5	132	39·2	561	43·4	0·163
Parent hours worked/week║ (n 1067)
0–14 h	59	5·5	14	6·1	45	5·4
15–30 h	197	18·5	50	21·7	147	17·6
31–40 h	513	48·1	115	49·8	398	47·6
≥41 h	298	27·9	52	22·5	246	29·4	0·169
Parent marital status (n 1619)
Married	1175	72·4	224	66·7	951	73·9
Divorced, widowed, separated	200	12·3	54	16·1	146	11·3
Never married	157	9·7	42	12·5	115	8·9
Member of unmarried couple	91	5·6	16	4·8	75	5·8	0·013

^*Responses to the statement ‘In my family, I often eat alone’ were used to identify eating alone groups: ‘does not often eat alone’ group=‘strongly disagree’, ‘somewhat disagree’ and ‘neither disagree nor agree’ responses; ‘often eat alone’ group=‘strongly agree’ and ‘somewhat agree’ responses.

^† n and % of total with non-missing data.

^‡ P value for χ ² test; P<0·008 is significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons (Bonferroni correction).

^§Not employed includes out of work, homemaker, student and retired.

^║Work hours not available if parent was not employed for wages or self-employed.