A study by the University of Minnesota has validated what some parents have known all along: Sharing regular family meals may enhance the health and well-being of adolescents.
The study, published in the August edition of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, surveyed nearly 5,000 Minnesota teens about how often they had eaten with their family in the previous week, whether they thought their parents loved them and whether they could talk to their parents about problems, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reported. Researchers asked teens about grade-point averages and behavior such as drinking, smoking and thoughts of suicide.
“Each additional family meal per week had some benefit to kids,” especially girls, Maria Elsenberg, lead author of the study and a research associate at the University of Minnesota Medical Schools’ Center for Adolescent Health and Development, said in the Star-Tribune.
Results showed about half of the girls who had not eaten with their families in the previous week reported smoking cigarettes, compared to 17 percent of girls who had eaten with their families each day. The spread for boys was 36 and 22 percent respectively. The more times teens reported eating with their families, the less likely they were to report substance abuse, mood disorders or poor academic performance. One-fourth of teens said they ate seven or more meals with their families in a week. (BP)
Share with others: