Research
Current Research
Family Meals during Adolescence Are Associated with Higher Diet Quality and Healthful Meal Patterns during Young Adulthood

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2007.06.012Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Cross-sectional research in adolescents has found that eating family meals is associated with better nutritional intake.

Objective

To describe meal patterns of young adults and determine if family meal frequency during adolescence is associated with diet quality, meal frequency, social eating, and meal structure during young adulthood.

Design

Population-based, 5-year longitudinal study in Minnesota.

Subjects/setting

Surveys and food frequency questionnaires were completed by 946 female students and 764 male students in high school classrooms at Time 1 (1998-1999; mean age 15.9 years) and by mail at Time 2 (2003-2004; mean age 20.4 years).

Statistical analyses performed

Multiple linear regression models were used to predict mean levels of young adult outcomes from adolescent family meal frequency. Probability testing of trends in each outcome across ordered categories of family meal frequency used linear contrasts.

Results

Family meal frequency during adolescence predicted higher intakes of fruit (P<0.05), vegetables (P<0.01), dark-green and orange vegetables (P=0.001), and key nutrients and lower intakes of soft drinks (P<0.05) during young adulthood. Frequency of family meals also predicted more breakfast meals (P<0.01) in females and for both sexes predicted more frequent dinner meals (P<0.05), higher priority for meal structure (P<0.001), and higher priority for social eating (P<0.001). Associations between Time 1 family meals and Time 2 dietary outcomes were attenuated with adjustment for Time 1 outcomes but several associations were still statistically significant.

Conclusions

Family meals during adolescence may have a lasting positive influence on dietary quality and meal patterns in young adulthood.

Section snippets

Sample and Study Design

Data for the study were drawn from Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)-II, a population-based, longitudinal study of socio-environmental, personal, and behavioral determinants of dietary intake and weight status among young people (15). The study sample included 1,710 young adults (45% male) with a mean age at follow-up of 20.4 years. In Project EAT-I (1998-1999), 3,074 high school students (grades nine through 12) at public schools in the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities, MN, completed

Meal Patterns During Middle Adolescence and Young Adulthood

At Time 1 (middle adolescence), the frequency of family meals in the sample was one to two times per week for 22.1% of adolescents, three to six times per week for 41.9% of adolescents, and seven or more times per week for 18.6% of adolescents. The prevalence of never having family meals was 17.4%. Means for Time 1 and Time 2 (young adulthood) meal behaviors are shown in Table 1. At Time 1, female young adults reported lower mean weekly frequencies of family meals (P=0.026), breakfast (P

Discussion

This study described meal patterns among young adults and examined associations of family meal patterns during adolescence with diet quality and meal patterns during young adulthood. Average meal frequencies indicated that young adults were eating lunch and dinner most days but had a breakfast meal on fewer than half the days of the week. Social eating and meal structure scores were high, indicating that young adults place a high priority on these behaviors. Further analyses indicated that

Conclusions

Results of this study indicate that having more family meals during adolescence is associated with improved diet quality during young adulthood. Food and nutrition professionals should encourage families to share meals as often as practically possible. Intervention studies designed to increase the frequency of family meals for adolescents are needed to confirm and extend these findings. Future research should be designed to illuminate means for health care providers, community-based programs,

N. I. Larson is a doctoral degree candidate, D. Neumark-Sztainer and M. Story are professors, and P. J. Hannan is a senior research fellow, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

References (44)

Cited by (293)

View all citing articles on Scopus

N. I. Larson is a doctoral degree candidate, D. Neumark-Sztainer and M. Story are professors, and P. J. Hannan is a senior research fellow, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

View full text