Family Meals and Disordered Eating in Adolescents

Abstract

Setting: Participants from 31 Minnesota schools completed in-class assessments in 1999 (time 1) and mailed surveys in 2004 (time 2). Participants: Adolescents (N=2516) who completed Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)-I (time 1) and-II (time 2) assessments. Main Outcome Measures: Time 1 family meal frequency and time 2 disordered eating behaviors, including extreme weight control behaviors (self-induced vomiting and use of laxatives, diet pills, or diuretics), less extreme unhealthy weight control behaviors (eating very little, fasting, using food substitutes, skipping meals, or smoking), binge eating, and chronic dieting. Results: Among adolescent girls, time 1 regular family meals (Ն5 meals/wk) were associated with lower prevalences of time 2 extreme weight control behaviors (odds ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.97), even after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, family connectedness, parental encouragement to diet, and extreme weight control behaviors at time 1. Associations with other disordered eating behaviors were also suggestive of a protective effect of family meals in unadjusted analyses but were not statistically significant in adjusted analyses. Among adolescent boys, regular family meals did not predict lower levels of disordered eating behaviors. Conclusions: The high prevalence of disordered eating behaviors among adolescent girls and the protective role of family meals suggest a need for interventions aimed at promoting family meals. Further exploration of predictors of disordered eating behaviors in adolescent boys and the role of family meals is warranted.

Adolescents' Level of Eating Psychopathology Is Related to Perceptions of Their Parents' Current Feeding Practices

“…These findings suggest that parental involvement in meals is related to healthier eating-related attitudes in this sample, which concurs with evidence highlighting the protective effect of family meals for the development of eating disorders in adolescence (14). While previous studies have demonstrated the adverse impact that controlling feeding practices can have on children's eating behaviours (1-4), the current study's finding highlights that moderate amounts of parental involvement in their child's eating, such as being responsible for providing food and meals, may be beneficial for children's on-going relationships with food and eating.…”

“…While engaging in and enjoying family mealtimes is recommended during adolescence (13,14,30), advising parents and caregivers to avoid the use of overly controlling feeding practices with their teens is likely to be an effective and easy-to-implement way to contribute to more positive eating behaviours and is in line with efforts to bring about sustained behaviour changes within adolescents and their families (30).…”

“…Adolescence is a key time for the onset of eating disorders (12) and identifying modifiable factors associated with the development of eating psychopathology is a primary aim for health professionals. Engaging in family mealtimes, prioritising eating as a family and having more positive mealtimes have all been shown to be associated with lower levels of (13), and to be protective against (14), eating disordered behaviours among adolescents. However, given the established associations between parental control around feeding with both disruptions in children's appetite regulation (1)(2)(3) and with the development of disordered eating (6)(7)(8), it follows that parents' feeding practices may be linked to the eating attitudes and behaviours of their adolescent offspring.…”

Environmental factors associated with disordered weight-control behaviours among youth: a systematic review

“…*Studies that examined multiple environmental constructs were counted multiple times, with ninety-three studies and a total of 297 constructs counted (grouped by the categories shown); n refers to the number of times a particular construct was examined, not the number of studies Similar to cross-sectional studies, parental, peer and media influences emerged as the most frequent exposures examined in relation to DWCB (see Supplemental (89) . Several gender differences emerged in studies' findings: parental weight concerns and behaviours were a risk factor for females (OR 5 1?2-1?3) (35) ; frequent family meals were protective against DWCB among females (OR 5 0?7-0?9) but increased risk for skipping meals and eating very little food among males (OR 5 1?8) (35,88) ; positive family atmosphere was protective for females (OR 5 0?6-0?8) (35,89) ; maternal history of an eating disorder (OR 5 2?8) and trying to look like females in the media were risk factors for females (OR 5 1?5) (37) ; and importance of weight to peers (OR 5 3?4) (37) , friend connectedness (OR 5 1?7) (35) and low social support from family and friends (b 5 0?2) were risk factors among males (100) . A dose-response association was observed between frequency of reading diet/weightloss magazine articles and DWCB among females (OR 5 2?0-3?2 for those who often read these types of articles v. those who never read these articles) (99) .…”

Promoting Better Family Meals for Girls Attending Summer Programs

“…Children and adolescents who frequently eat meals with their families are more likely to eat fruits & vegetables, 1 less likely to consume fried foods, soda, or sweets, 2 less likely to have disordered eating patterns, 3 and less likely to be overweight. 4,5 However, very few published reports evaluate programs designed to increase the frequency or quality of family meals.…”