Family Dinners Boost Teen Mental
Health
Regular family dinners are good for teens, even those who
say they can’t talk to their parents easily, a new study finds.
“More frequent family dinners
related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional
well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life
satisfaction,” says Frank Elgar, an associate professor in the McGill
University Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry.Straight from the Source
The study, conducted by Elgar and
colleagues at Queen’s University, examined the relation between frequency of
family dinners and positive and negative aspects of mental health.
The researchers used a national
sample of 26,069 adolescents aged 11 to 15 years who participated in the 2010
Canadian Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study.
The researchers found the same
positive effects of family mealtime on the mental health of the young subjects,
regardless of gender, age, or family affluence.
“We were surprised to find such
consistent effects on every outcome we studied,” says Elgar. “From having no
dinners together to eating together 7 nights a week, each additional dinner
related to significantly better mental health.”
During the study, the adolescents submitted
data on the weekly frequency of family dinners, ease of parent-adolescent
communication, and five dimensions of mental health, including internalizing
and externalizing problems, emotional well-being, more helpful behaviors, and
life satisfaction.
The authors suggest that family
mealtimes are opportunities for open family interactions which present teaching
opportunities for parents to shape coping and positive health behaviors such as
good nutritional choices, as well as enable adolescents to express concerns and
feel valued, all elements that are conducive to good mental health in
adolescents.
Posted By Cynthia Lee-
On March 27, 2013
The results of this research are
published in the Journal of Adolescent Health [1].
The Canadian Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study was part of a World
Health Organization collaboration of 43 countries and was funded by the Public
Health Agency of Canada.
Article printed from Futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org
URL to article: http://www.futurity.org/society-culture/family-dinners-boost-teens%e2%80%99-mental-health/
URLs in this post:
[1] Read the original study: http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(12)00317-5/abstract
[2] McGill University: https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/family-dinners-nourish-mental-health-adolescents-225489
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