The Benefits of Frequent Family Meals
Teens who eat frequently with their family are significantly less likely to use illegal drugs, abuse prescription
drugs, drink alcohol, or use tobacco . . .
In today’s hectic world, where parents and children alike are rushing from one activity to the next, it is difficult to get meals organized—let alone to find time to eat together as a family. While this only gets more complicated as children reach their adolescent years, recent studies have stressed the importance of these joint meals, especially for teenagers.
Neumark-Sztainer and colleagues1 recently looked at the effect of frequent family meals on the development of disordered eating among teenagers. During the 1998-1999 school year, the authors surveyed 4746 Minnesota teenagers in middle and high school, 2516 of whom again completed surveys 5 years later. The surveys included questions about the frequency of family meals, unhealthy weight control behaviors, chronic dieting, and binge eating with loss of control.
The authors examined the relationship between family meal frequency at the first survey and the presence of disordered eating at the time of the second survey. Overall, disordered eating patterns were more common in girls than boys—regardless of family meal frequency. However, girls who frequently ate with their families had fewer overall disordered eating behaviors than those who ate with their families less often. While the difference among the groups for many of these behaviors did not reach statistical significance, an association was seen.
A statistically significant decrease was seen in extreme weight control behaviors, including self-induced vomiting or the use of diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics among girls who ate with their families 5 or more times a week. This relationship held even after the authors controlled for socioeconomic factors, family “connectedness,” baseline extreme weight control measures, parental encouragement of dieting, and body mass index. Although the findings among girls in the study were impressive, the same results were not found among teenage boys.
Other recent studies, including one conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, have also shown the beneficial effects of family meals.2 The 2007 CASA study showed that teens who ate with their family 5 or more times a week were significantly less likely to use illegal drugs, abuse prescription drugs, drink alcohol, or use tobacco than teens who participated in family meals less frequently. The study also found that teens with frequent family dinners were more likely to say that they received mostly A’s and B’s on their report cards.
Despite the limitations of these studies, such as the dependence on self-reporting, the message should not be missed: frequent family meals serve an invaluable purpose in the lives of our children. By providing kids and teens with a forum to discuss their days and the activities in their lives, parents can maintain open communication. Healthy eating patterns can be modeled, and kids can learn to be a part of meal planning and preparation. As pediatricians, we should encourage family meals because they can foster a strong and supportive relationship among parents and their children.