“When We Do Sit Down Together”

Jarrett, Robin L.; Bahar, Ozge Sensoy; Kersh, Renique

doi:10.1177/0192513x14547417

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(100 reference statements)

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“…Larson and colleagues explain that mealtime is seen as a vehicle of culture because ‘through mealtime activities and conversation, family members often enact and reaffirm cultural meanings and create new meaning’ (Larson, Branscomb & Wiley 2006:3). Jarret, Bahar and Kersh (2014) showed that low-income African American caregivers showed that they valued family mealtimes and acknowledged the benefits for family life. Various studies have shown the benefits of family mealtimes; this activity provides an opportunity for children to learn new words in context (Beals 1997), for parents to listen to children talk about their daily lives (Fulkerson et al 2010) and has also been associated with enhancing family cohesion and contributing to positive developmental outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context

2019

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Background: There has been an overwhelming call to improve the understanding of how children develop within an African context as Euro-American definitions of competence have been uncritically adopted as the norm for children in Africa. The activities that children engage in within the family setting are seen as important to understand how children develop within context. The use of activity settings is closely aligned with a strengths-based perspective of family-centred practice and contributes to improved sustainability of intervention.Objectives: This study that was conducted in Soweto, South Africa, aims to describe activity settings that typically developing young children in low-income African contexts participate in.Method: A descriptive design using structured interviews was utilised to obtain information about activity settings that children aged 3–5 years and 11 months engaged in. Structured interviews with 90 caregivers were conducted.Results: Findings show that children participate in a variety of activities with varied participation levels. The types of activities are dependent on the context and perceptions of caregivers.Conclusion: These findings draw attention to understanding activities that children engage in within the family context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context

2019

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“…Many households face barriers in the daily orchestration of family meals, such as scheduling conflicts and lack of time, limited resources, scarcity of help, tiredness, lack of skills or confidence [8,30,[77][78][79][80][81] (Table 4). The existence of these barriers is what differentiates everyday domestic commensality from exceptional commensality.…”

Section: Challenges Of Family Meals 481 Barriers To Having Regular Family Dinnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Normative Family Meal Promotion: A Narrative Review of Qualitative Results about Ordinary Domestic Commensality

Moal

Michaud

Hartwick-Pflaum

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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There exists a normative representation of family meals in contemporary Western societies which is promoted as imperative through public health programs, larger discourses and by some studies in the nutritional and public health research fields. Family meals, also called domestic commensality, are represented as convivial events and are associated with positive health and wellbeing outcomes but there is minimal evidence to show they are beneficial for family members and it is not known which aspect of the family meal could be responsible for these alleged benefits. This normative family meal image is based on a representation of the family as a peaceful unit exempt from external constraints. This narrative literature review of qualitative studies of family meals seeks to put forward the underlying premises of this representation and compare it with reports about actual practices. The results emphasize that eating together is still practiced and remains valued by family members, which is in contrast to discourses lamenting the decline of the family meal. However, the valorisation and recurrence of family meals depends on class, gender and cultural positions. There is a gap between the norm of healthy or convivial and achievable family meals, which can reinforce the so-called “mental load” and “emotion work” of those in charge of feeding the family and heighten inequalities within the household. In fact, there are many challenges to family meals which originate from external constraints or are inherent aspects of family life. The results from this review suggest that we should focus on family meals by taking into account the food work surrounding it and focussing on the interactional aspects of family meals. Ethnographic methods allow the researcher to observe the diversities and complexities of commensality as well as family dynamics and, in doing so, could provide more realistic representations of eating within the family.

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“…It is important to note that while much research has recognized the benefits of mealtimes among families of racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse communities (Robson et al, 2020; Smith et al, 2022), few studies have examined disparities of or barriers to mealtimes by racial/ethnic groups. For example, within Black families, researchers have found that caregivers valued family mealtimes and acknowledged the benefits; however, several barriers did not allow them to have regular family mealtimes (Jarrett et al, 2016). Given that structural inequalities may disproportionately create barriers to family meals among different racial/ethnic groups (Skala et al, 2012), more research must be done to understand family mealtimes across race/ethnicity.…”

Section: Benefits Of Mealtimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There has been some support in previous literature suggesting that adversities associated with racial and structural inequalities in the United States have contributed to infrequent mealtimes. In a qualitative study of low-income Black mothers of preschoolers, researchers found work that provided low wages, was physically demanding, and could not provide consistent schedules all led to infrequent family meals and overreliance on fast food (Jarrett et al, 2016). Although studies have found that non-Hispanic Black families are still less likely to eat meals together when important correlates of adversities (namely income and socioeconomic status) are controlled (Flores et al, 2005), no study to date has examined specific adversities or how these traumatic events influence differences in mealtime frequencies among different ethnic and racial groups.…”

Section: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Family Mealtimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One example of social and economic inequality affecting mealtimes is access to certain foods due to financial hardships. Families may not be able to provide certain foods or an adequate amount, for a family mealtime together, resulting in eating separately or at different times (Jarrett et al, 2016; Schuler et al, 2020). Financial hardships also produce a scarcity of time.…”

Section: Benefits Of Mealtimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of adverse childhood experiences on family mealtime frequency: Examining racial and ethnic differences.

Helton¹,

Ju²,

Iwinski³

et al. 2023

Journal of Family Psychology

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Eating meals as a family is associated with multiple positive nutritional and emotional outcomes for parents and children. Although the benefits of mealtimes extend to all families, families of color and those in poverty face disproportional barriers to eating frequent meals together. No previous study has properly attended to the heterogeneity of racial and ethnic groups in the United States when assessing mealtime barriers. Focusing on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), our analyses tested whether an increased number of adversities, and particular types of adversities, were associated with a decrease in mealtime frequency for different racial/ethnic families in the United States. Utilizing a large, nationally representative sample of families (n = 59,963), results showed that higher cumulative ACE scores reduced the number of days a family eats meals together in a given week. For specific ACE items, seven out of nine individual ACE items were associated with decreased mealtimes (excluding parental death and racial discrimination). Stratification resulted in varied associations between accumulated and individual ACE items and mealtime frequency depending on racial/ethnic group. Asian families in particular had greater odds of infrequent meals than other families, while Native American, Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, and other racial/ethnic families were unaffected by increased ACEs. Results indicate that a family’s accumulation of multiple adversities may impede mealtimes by either forcing families to prioritize the management of other stressors or by depleting the physical and mental resources needed to establish a routine. Focusing on family cultural traditions as protective factors may be an area of future intervention.

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“When We Do Sit Down Together”

Cited by 22 publications

References 62 publications

Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context

Family-based activity settings of children in a low-income African context

Beyond the Normative Family Meal Promotion: A Narrative Review of Qualitative Results about Ordinary Domestic Commensality

The effect of adverse childhood experiences on family mealtime frequency: Examining racial and ethnic differences.

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