Abstract
Objective
To describe the relationship between family meals and adolescent mental health and
determine whether the relationship differs by sex.
Design
Secondary analyses of a cross-sectional survey.
Participants
A total of 8,500 nationally representative students.
Main Outcome Measures
Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; World
Health Organization Well-being Index.
Analysis
Multiple regression models determined the relationships between family meals and mental
health indicators; sociodemographic variables and family connection were included
as covariates.
Results
Approximately 60% of adolescents shared family meals ≥5 times in the previous week,
whereas 22% reported that they shared ≤2 meals in the previous week. Greater frequency
of family meals was associated with fewer depressive symptoms (P < .001), fewer emotional difficulties (P < .001) and better emotional well-being (<.001). These relationships between family
meals and depressive symptoms were attenuated by sex; the relationship was stronger
for females than for males.
Conclusions and Implications
Frequent family meals may have a protective effect on the mental health of adolescents,
particularly for depressive symptoms in girls. Interventions that aim to increase
the frequency of family meals are needed to evaluate whether family meals alone can
have an emotional benefit for adolescents.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 26, 2016
Accepted:
September 9,
2016
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors' conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on ww.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
©2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
