Table 4.
Unadjusted associations between eating alone and parenting practices regarding junk food (JF) and sugary drinks 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) | |||||
| Agreement with statements* | n ‡ | %‡ | n ‡ | %‡ | n ‡ | %‡ | P value§ |
| If I’ve had a bad day, my parent(s) let me have JF or sugary drinks to make me feel better (n 1649) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 1331 | 80·7 | 249 | 73·0 | 1082 | 82·7 | |
| Agree | 318 | 19·3 | 92 | 27·0 | 226 | 17·3 | <0·0001 |
| My parent(s) don’t buy a lot of JF or sugary drinks for me (n 1648) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 805 | 48·9 | 190 | 55·9 | 615 | 47·0 | |
| Agree | 843 | 51·2 | 150 | 44·1 | 693 | 53·0 | 0·004 |
| My parent(s) try to avoid eating JF or sugary drinks when I’m around (n 1642) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 981 | 59·7 | 219 | 64·6 | 762 | 58·5 | |
| Agree | 661 | 40·3 | 120 | 35·4 | 541 | 41·5 | 0·041 |
| My parent(s) and I decide together how much JF or sugary drinks I can have (n 1647) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 979 | 59·4 | 210 | 62·0 | 769 | 58·8 | |
| Agree | 668 | 40·6 | 129 | 38·0 | 539 | 41·2 | 0·292 |
| My parent(s) have to make sure that I don’t eat too much JF or drink too many sugary drinks (n 1646) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 848 | 51·5 | 183 | 54·0 | 665 | 50·9 | |
| Agree | 798 | 48··5 | 156 | 46·0 | 642 | 49·1 | 0·308 |
| My parent(s) decide how much JF or sugary drinks I can have (n 1648) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 899 | 54·6 | 202 | 59·2 | 697 | 53·3 | |
| Agree | 749 | 45·4 | 139 | 40·8 | 610 | 46·7 | 0·051 |
| It’s OK for parent(s) to make rules about how much JF or sugary drinks I can have (n 1645) | |||||||
| Disagree/neither agree nor disagree | 713) | 43·3 | 176 | 51·6 | 537 | 41·2 | |
| Agree | 932 | 56·7 | 165 | 48·4 | 767 | 58·8 | 0·0005 |
Adolescents responded to the following question for each statement: ‘How much do you disagree or agree with statements regarding what your parent(s) say and do when it comes to eating junk food or drinking sugary drinks?’ Disagree/neither agree nor disagree=‘strongly disagree’, ‘somewhat disagree’ and ‘neither agree nor disagree’; agree=‘somewhat agree’ and ‘strongly agree’.
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<0·007 is significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons (Bonferroni correction).