Korean J Fam Pract 2019; 9(4): 373-382  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2019.9.4.373
Differences between One-Person and Multi-Person Households on Socioeconomic Status, Health Behavior, and Metabolic Syndrome Across Gender and Age Groups
Young Kyung Cho1, Kyung Won Shim1,*, Hye Won Suk2, Hong Soo Lee1, Sang Wha Lee1, A Ri Byun1, Han Na Lee1
1Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womens University school of Medicine; 2Department of Psychology, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea
Kyung Won Shim
Tel: +82-2-2650-5165, Fax: +82-2-2654-2439
E-mail: ewhashim@ewha.ac.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8289-9301
Received: August 7, 2018; Revised: April 2, 2019; Accepted: July 17, 2019; Published online: August 20, 2019.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: The rising popularity of one-person households makes the health hazards they are prone to, highly relevant in epidemiological studies. This study aimed at comparing health-related characteristics like the socioeconomic status, health behavior, and metabolic syndrome of one-person households, to multi-person households in Korea.
Methods: The participants required for this study included 9,423 Koreans aged 19 and above, who took the Sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The household types were classified into “one-person” and “multi-person.” The differences between the two, based on their annual socioeconomic status, health behavior, anthropometric variables, and blood test results were analyzed.
Results: The percentage of men and women in one-person households was 7.2% and 10.5%, respectively. Such households had a lower annual income and education than multi-person households. The odds ratios (OR) for alcohol consumption (OR, 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–2.46) and smoking (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.77–5.95) were significantly higher for one-person households of women, aged 60 and above, compared to multi-person households. The OR for metabolic syndrome was considerably higher in one-person households of middle-aged people in contrast to multi-person households for both men (OR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.14–2.95) and women (OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.21–2.99).
Conclusion: The socioeconomic status was lower, and the health behaviors were worse in one-person households as compared to multi-person households. Considering the growing popularity of one-person households, it is suggested that medical plans be customized to suit the characteristics of the specific group.
Keywords: Family Characteristics; Social Class; Health Behavior; Metabolic Syndrome
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