Family Meals Appear To Be Associated With Adolescent Well-Being

A University of Minnesota study suggests that eating family meals may be associated with improved health and well-being in adolescents. The study is published in the August issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on mental health and one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Adolescents who ate five or six meals a week with their families were 7 percent to 24 percent less likely to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, drink alcohol, get lower grades, show signs of depression or think about or attempt suicide than teens who had three or four family meals a week, according to a University of Minnesota study led by Marla Eisenberg, Sc.D., M.P.H.,School of Public Health.

Family meals benefit adolescents by providing routine, consistency, and an opportunity to be taught about communication skills, manners, nutrition, and good eating habits, said Eisenberg.

"Frequent family meals have also been related to better nutritional intake and a decreased risk for unhealthy weight control practices, substance use, sex, and suicidal involvement," she said.

Eisenberg and colleagues examined data from Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), a survey of 4,746 middle school and high school students (average age, 14.9 years) during the 1998–1999 school year in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Students were surveyed about lifestyle choices and overall feelings of well-being, including how often they ate with their family; how often they used drugs or alcohol; self-esteem level; grade point average; feelings of depression; and suicide thoughts and attempts.

Of students surveyed, 26.8 percent reported eating seven or more meals with their family in the past week, while 33.1 percent ate with their family one to two times per week or never.

"Frequency of family meals was inversely associated with tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use; low grade point average; depressive symptoms; and suicide involvement," said Eisenberg.

"We found family mealtimes to be a potentially protective factor in the lives of adolescents for nearly all of these variables, particularly among adolescent girls," write the authors. "These associations held even after controlling for family connectedness, which provides additional evidence suggesting that eating meals as a family has benefits for young people above and beyond their general sense of connection to family members, and that these benefits may apply to a broad range of health domains."