Parents often try to corral their kids around dinnertime. In between band practice, work and hockey tournaments, finding quality family time can be tough. A family dinner represents a devoted slot of time where family members can talk and share details about their life. Many believe it is an important cornerstone of the family structure, but a new study questions this logic.
Not as important as once thought
A researcher from Cornell Unversity says her study shows the family meal does offer the instant bond many associate with it.
“We find that most of the association between family meals and teen well-being is due to other aspects of the family environment. Analyses that follow children over time lend even weaker evidence for causal effects of family meals on adolescent and young adult well-being,” said Kelly Musick, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell and lead author of “Assessing Causality and Persistence in Associations Between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well-Being,” to be published in the June edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Building family
Musick’s study shows family meal times are tied to other factors including, income, family dynamics and communication skills. Musick believes family dinners alone aren’t the reason a family functions well, instead, it’s a combination of factors.
“Meals may afford a regular and positive context for parents to connect with children emotionally, to monitor their social and academic activities, and to convey values and expectations. This is what we suspect is driving any causal relationship between family dinners and child well being. But, family dinners also appear to be part and parcel of a broader package of practices, routines, and rituals that reflect parenting beliefs and priorities, and it’s unclear how well family dinners would work unbundled from the rest of that package,” said Musick.
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