For many families, eating meals together has become a rarity. Everyone has so many commitments that it seems impossible to find a time that fits everyone's schedule. For adolescents, family meals enhance their health and feeling of well being.
Only 27% of the 4,746 adolescents in a recent study ate seven or more family meals in the previous week and 23% ate two or less family meals. As the number of family meals went down, the frequency of tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and marijuana use went up. The same was found for poor school performance, depression, and suicide attempts.
Family meals are more than a nice tradition. They appear to have an important role in maintaining the health and well being of adolescents.
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 08/04.
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