Association of household composition with dietary patterns among adolescents in Brazil.

The present study identified dietary patterns (DP) and analyze their association with household composition. This is a cross-sectional school-based study, with a nationally representative sample of Brazilian adolescent students, aged 11-19 years-old, with data from National School Health Survey (N= 102,072). The independent variable was household composition. Food consumption was obtained through the weekly frequency of consumption of food markers and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied to examine the latent variables "Healthy" (beans, legumes/vegetables, and fresh fruit/fruit salad) and "Unhealthy" (ultra-processed foods, sweets, soft drinks, and snacks) DP. The association between household composition and DP was estimated using multiple linear regression models, considering lives with both parents as reference category. Among adolescents aged 11-14-years-old, adherence to Healthy DP was lower for boys who lived only with mother (β=-2.1); and boys (β=-4.9) and girls (β=-4.5) who lived without any parents. Adherence to Unhealthy DP was higher among boys (β=7.6) and girls (β=6.0) who lived only with mother, and boys (β=4.6) and girls (β=5.3) who lived only with father. For older adolescents (15-19-years-old), adherence to the Unhealthy DP was higher among boys who lived only with mother (β=3.9) or only with father (β=5.3) and girls who lived only with mother (β=6.3). Adherence to Healthy DP was lower among girls who lived only with father (β=-9.0). Thus, adolescents who lived in single-parent households had lower adherence to healthy DP and greater adherence to unhealthy DP. Among younger adolescents of both sexes, living without any parent contributed to lower adherence to healthy DP.