Abstract

Aim: To characterize typologies of university students according to the perception of their families' eating habits. Material and method: A questionnaire was applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 372 students of both genders at the Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. The instrument included: the Family Eating Habits Questionnaire (FEHQ), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Satisfaction with Food-related Life Scale (SWFL) and the Family Resources Scale (FRS). Estimated weight and height were asked about as well as sociodemographic variables. Results: Using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) three factors were detected in the FEHQ: importance of eating to family members, cohesiveness of family eating, and pressure to eat. The EFA detected two factors on the FRS: intangible and tangible support. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated the structure of the FEHQ and the FRS with good goodness-of-fit indicators. A cluster analysis distinguished four typologies that differed significantly in the scores of the components on the FEHQ and FRS, scores on the SWLS and SWFL, body mass index, gender and socioeconomic level. Typologies with higher scores in "cohesiveness of family eating" report greater intangible support from their families and higher scores on the SWLS and SWFL. Conclusions: The results show that the frequency and importance assigned to family meals are associated positively with perceived family support, particularly in intangible resources, as well as with the overall satisfaction with life and in the food domain.