Patterns of Family Meals and Food and Nutrition Intake in Limited Resource Families

Koszewski, Wanda; Behrends, Donnia; Nichols, Megan; Sehi, Natalie; Jones, Gary L.

doi:10.1111/j.1552-3934.2011.02080.x

Cited by 31 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Employment status and time availability may offer possible explanations for this pattern. We did not have information in NHANES about the employment status of the household respondent, but others have found that family meals are more frequent in households in which one or more adult is not employed either because of retirement, disability, unemployment, or being a “stay-at-home parent” [ 8 , 26 ]. Time constraints associated with employment, particularly when all adults in the household are employed, may make it more difficult for households to have family meals at home [ 1 , 27 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Meal Frequency and Association with Household Food Availability in United States Multi-Person Households: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010

et al. 2015

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ObjectiveFamily meals are associated with a healthier diet among children and adolescents, but how family meal frequency varies in the U.S. population overall by household food availability and sociodemographic characteristics is not well characterized.DesignThe U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2010 assessed the frequency of family meals eaten at home in the past week and the household availability of fruits, dark green vegetables, salty snacks, and sugar-sweetened beverages.SettingComputer-assisted face-to-face interviews with a selected adult (≥18 years) who owned or rented the home (i.e., the household reference person).SubjectsWe analyzed information on family meal frequency for 18,031 participants living in multi-person households in relation to sociodemographic characteristics and food availability.ResultsAmong the U.S. population living in households of two or more individuals, the prevalence (95% confidence interval) of having 0–2, 3–6 and ≥7 family meals/week was 18.0% (16.6–19.3), 32.4% (31.0–33.9), and 49.6% (47.8–51.4), respectively. Greater household availability of fruits and dark green vegetables and less availability of salty snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with more frequent family meals. Family meals were more prevalent in low-income households and those in which the reference person was ≥65 years, married, or had less than high school education.ConclusionsAbout half of the US population living in households of 2 or more people shares meals frequently with their family at home. Family meal frequency was positively associated with a healthier pattern of household food availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Meal Frequency and Association with Household Food Availability in United States Multi-Person Households: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010

et al. 2015

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“…children with cystic fibrosis or diabetes) and (iii) the study reported insufficient statistics to calculate an effect size. Using these criteria, we arrived at a total of 57 studies .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The frequency of family meals and nutritional health in children: a meta‐analysis

2018

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Findings on the relationship between family meal frequency and children's nutritional health are inconsistent. The reasons for these mixed results have to date remained largely unexplored. This systematic review and meta-analysis of 57 studies (203,706 participants) examines (i) the relationship between family meal frequency and various nutritional health outcomes and (ii) two potential explanations for the inconsistent findings: sociodemographic characteristics and mealtime characteristics. Separate meta-analyses revealed significant associations between higher family meal frequency and better overall diet quality (r = 0.13), more healthy diet (r = 0.10), less unhealthy diet (r = -0.04) and lower body mass index, BMI (r = -0.05). Child's age, country, number of family members present at meals and meal type (i.e. breakfast, lunch or dinner) did not moderate the relationship of meal frequency with healthy diet, unhealthy diet or BMI. Socioeconomic status only moderated the relationship with BMI. The findings show a significant relationship between frequent family meals and better nutritional health - in younger and older children, across countries and socioeconomic groups, and for meals taken with the whole family vs. one parent. Building on these findings, research can now target the causal direction of the relationship between family meal frequency and nutritional health.

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“…Given the lack of consistency in survey measures assessing this topic area, the most appropriate measure of frequency of family meals has not been determined. Therefore, family meal frequency was measured using two separate, previously reported definitions; ‘how often do you and [your child] eat [breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks] together’ (adapted from child surveys [14, 31]) and ‘how often does everyone who lives in the house eat [breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks] together’ [13, 32]. A summary of the survey questions and response items is displayed in Additional file 1: Table S1.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family meals with young children: an online study of family mealtime characteristics, among Australian families with children aged six months to six years

2017

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BackgroundEvidence suggests that family meals influence food intakes and behaviours, which in turn impact children’s eating habits, diets and health. Mealtimes therefore offer potential as settings for health promotion. Given diet, health behaviours and health are often socioeconomically patterned, it is important to consider whether family meals differ by socioeconomic position (SEP).MethodsThe Family Meals with Young Kids study was an online survey completed by parents in 2014. Mealtime characteristics measured included; frequency of shared meals across the day, duration and location of mealtimes, parental modelling, and parental perceived importance of the evening meal. Maternal education was used to assess SEP. The aims of this study were to describe family meal characteristics among Australian families with children aged six months to six years and to describe the socioeconomic patterning of these.ResultsParticipants (n = 992) were mostly mothers (97%) with a university degree (71%). The evening meal was the most frequently reported meal eaten together with the responding parent and child (77% ≥ five nights/week). Snacks were least commonly eaten together (39% ≥ five days/week). The frequency of having everyone present for the evening meal was inversely associated with SEP (OR 0.70, CI 0.54-0.92). Parent rated importance of family meals was generally high and positively associated with higher SEP (OR 1.32, CI 1.00-1.76). Most children consumed breakfast (73%), lunch (58%) and dinner (82%) sitting at a table or bench and this was positively associated with higher SEP for all meal types (OR 1.61-2.37, p < 0.05). Increased television (TV) viewing during meals was inversely associated with SEP (OR 0.63, CI 0.54-0.72). Less than half of children (36%) watched TV during meals more than once a day.ConclusionsAustralian families engage in many healthy mealtime behaviours. Evidence that parents share meals with children and place high value on mealtimes with children provides important opportunities for promoting healthy behaviours in families. The choice of eating location and the practice of viewing TV during mealtimes are examples of two such opportunities. Socioeconomic patterning of the location of mealtimes and TV viewing during meals may contribute to socioeconomic differences in dietary intakes and may be important targets for future health promotion.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3960-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Patterns of Family Meals and Food and Nutrition Intake in Limited Resource Families

Cited by 31 publications

References 21 publications

Family Meal Frequency and Association with Household Food Availability in United States Multi-Person Households: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010

Family Meal Frequency and Association with Household Food Availability in United States Multi-Person Households: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010

The frequency of family meals and nutritional health in children: a meta‐analysis

Family meals with young children: an online study of family mealtime characteristics, among Australian families with children aged six months to six years

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