Quality of family dinner interactions and child and adolescent well-being

Abstract

Despite evidence that predictors of family dinner quality, (e.g., atmosphere, priority and structure of shared family mealtimes) have been associated with a narrow range of child outcomes, no studies have broadly evaluated the relationship of many specific family dinner interactions across child outcomes. The current study extends existing research by testing whether a collection of 24 indicators of higher quality family dinner interactions (quality indicators) and a collection of 19 barriers to higher quality family dinner interactions (quality barriers) are associated with five child outcomes in a nationally representative sample of children. Data were obtained by The Family Room, a research firm studying children and families. Using quota sampling, a diverse nationally representative sample, consisting of 1000 children, ages 8-18, was recruited from a webbased panel. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that the main hypotheses were largely supported. After controlling for sociodemographics (children’s age and gender, parent’s race/ethnicity and household income), as well as other contributing predictors (family dinner frequency and family closeness), both quality predictor variables were significantly associated with four of the five outcomes above and beyond sociodemographic controls. Quality indicators were associated with four outcomes, but only one, emotional and social well-being, held up after controls for family dinner frequency and family closeness; whereas, three outcomes continued to be uniquely predicted by quality barriers after all controls: emotional and social well-being, life skills and developmental assets, and frequency of nutritious food intake. Exploratory analyses found that the strength of both quality predictor variables and outcomes were moderated by family dinner frequency for three outcome measures, with quality barriers more strongly predicting outcomes (emotional and social well-being, life skills, and level of physical activity) when children had family dinners more frequently. Age and income were significant moderators, but for only one outcome apiece. Findings suggest that children and adolescents are particularly sensitive to quality barriers in well-being, life skills and nutritious food intake. Family dinner frequency acted as a moderating influence differently for quality indicators then for quality barriers with outcomes and deserves more attention in future research. Implications for family professionals and future research are discussed.