title: Family composition and children's dental health behavior: evidence from Germany.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether children's dental health behavior differs between family compositions of either natural parents or birth mothers together with stepfathers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use data from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) public use file. This is the first nationally r ep resentative sample on child health in Germany and particularly contains variables for dental attendance, tooth care, and eating behavior of 13,904 children below 14 years of age. A series of zero-inflated Poisson, ordinary least squares, binary, and ordered logistic regression models was set up in order to identify whether family composition is a significant explanatory variable for children's dental health behavior.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family composition turned out as a significant parameter for some aspects of children's dental health behavior. Specifically, children who grow up in families with a birth mother and a stepfather have only half the probability to access dental services but, once seeking treatment, the number of visits is significantly higher in comparison with children raised by their natural parents. Moreover, children growing up in such a patchwork family setting consume a higher amount of sugary foods and drinks. This appears mainly attributable to differential consumption habits for juices, cookies, and chocolate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children who grow up in settings other than the nuclear family may develop different dental health behaviors than children who grow up with both natural parents, albeit more research is needed to identify the extent to which such behavioral changes lead to variations in caries occurrence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging. stefan.listl@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Listl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000300:Adoption; D001628:Beverages; D002099:Cacao; D002182:Candy; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002669:Child Welfare; D003729:Dental Care; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005190:Family; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005858:Germany; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010290:Parents; D015406:Single Parent; D014099:Toothbrushing; D014100:Toothpastes / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D014100:Toothpastes; D005459:Fluorides