Determinants of Children's Use of and Time Spent in Fast-food and Full-service Restaurants

Objective: Identify parental and children's determinants of children's use of and time spent in fast-food (FF) and full-service (FS) restaurants. Design: Analysis of cross-sectional data. Setting: Parents were interviewed by phone; children were interviewed in their homes. Participants: Parents and children ages 9-11 or 13-15 from 312 families were obtained via random-digit dialing. Main Outcome Measures: Dependent variables were the use of and the time spent in FF and FS restaurants by children. Determinants included parental work schedules, parenting style, and family meal ritual perceptions. Analysis: Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis of use of restaurants. Least squares regression was used for multivariate analysis of time spent in restaurants. Significance set at P < .05. Results: Factors related to use of and time spent in FF and FS restaurants included parental work schedules, fathers' use of such restaurants, and children's time spent in the family automobile. Conclusions and Implications: Parenting style, parental work, parental eating habits and perceptions of family meals, and children's other uses of their time influence children's use of and time spent in FF and FS restaurants.