Table 2. Description of studies investigating the association between family meal frequency and adolescent food consumption.
| Authors | Purpose of the study | Participants’ characteristics b | Definition of FFM | Food consumption measurement tools | Relevant findings to family meal & Food consumption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamri, 2020 [17] | Purpose: To examine the influence of family meal type (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) on food intake and body mass index (BMI) of Saudi adolescent girls. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 388 Age: 14–16 years old Country: Saudi Arabia |
“Which meals were consumed with the family?” | Three-day dietary records | Eating a family breakfast was positively associated with adolescent intake of dairy products and meat alternatives. Eating a family lunch was positively associated with adolescent intake of vegetables and meat alternatives. And Eating a family dinner was positively associated with adolescent intake of fruit, vegetables, dairy products, and whole grains |
| Arcan et al., 2019 [41] | Purpose: To examine the prevalence of parental report of children’s adherence to USDA’s MyPlate guidelines of ‘half of plate filled with fruits and vegetables (FV)” and to examine what food related practices were associated with frequency of serving half the plate of FV. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 160 Age: 8–12 years old Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all or most of your family living in your home eat 'dinner together?” | -Three 24-hour dietary recall interviews -Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010 -Home Food Inventory |
Significant positive associations were observed between the "half plate FV" and Family dinner frequency. |
| Burgess-Champoux et al., 2009 [42] | Purpose: To examine the longitudinal associations of participation in regular family meals with eating habits during adolescence. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 677 Age: 12.8 years old (mean at baseline); 17.2 years old (mean at follow-up) Country: USA |
‘‘During the past 7 days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat a meal together?” | -Youth and adolescent FFQ (YAQ) -The Project EAT survey instrument |
Family meals played an important role in enhancing overall diet quality during the transition from early to middle adolescence. The more the adolescents participated in family meals, the more healthful was its diet. Regular family meals were positively associated with mean daily intakes of vegetables, calcium-rich food, dietary fiber, and several nutrients, and among males, regular family meals were negatively associated with fast-food intake on longitudinal results. |
| Conlon et al., 2019; Conlon et al., 2015 [43] | Purpose: To evaluate cross-sectional associations between children’s diet and physical activity behaviors and components of the home environment, including parenting practices, family meal habits, home availability of fruits/ vegetables, home availability of sugar-sweetened beverages, and home availability of screen-media and physical activity resource. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 677 Age: 12.8 years old (mean at baseline); 17.2 years old (mean at follow-up) Country: USA |
“How many times does your family sit down together for dinner?” | -The Block Kids 2004 FFQ | Children that had more frequent family meals were more likely to consume fruits and vegetables. |
| Demissie et al., 2015 [44] | Purpose: To examine behavioral and environmental factors that may be related to dietary behaviors among U.S. high school students. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 11,429 Age: not reported (high school students) Country: USA |
“During the past 7 days, on how many days did you eat dinner or an evening meal with a parent or guardian?” | -Nutrition Study questionnaire | For both genders, eating dinner with a parent or guardian 5 to 7 days during the past week was associated with higher odds of consuming at least three healthful foods or beverages |
| Feldman et al., 2007 [45] | Purpose: To examine associations between watching television during family meals and dietary intake among adolescents. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 4746 Age: 11–18 years old/14.9 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat a meal together?” | -The Project EAT survey instrument -149-item Youth and adolescent questionnaire |
Adolescents watching TV during family meals are more likely to have a poorer quality diet compared to adolescents eating family meals without watching TV. Watching TV during family meals was associated with lower intakes of vegetables, grains, and dairy food, and higher intakes of soft drinks and fried food. |
| Fink et al., 2014 [46] | Purpose: To examine the relationship between diet quality and frequency of family meals throughout childhood and adolescence. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 824 Age: 12–17 years old Country: USA |
“How many times in a typical week do members of your household eat a main meal together that was prepared at home?” | -2010 North Carolina Child Health Assessment and Monitoring Program survey | In adjusted analyses, participating in 5 or more family meals/week was associated with greater vegetable intake and greater fruit intake among participants from 12–17 years old. |
| Frank et al., 2019 [22] | To show current family meal patterns of children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years living in Germany and investigating associations with sociodemographic characteristics, BMI, and dietary behavior. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 1355 Age: 12–17 years old Country: Germany |
“In your household, are there certain meals that are always eaten together?” | -FFQ and Computer-assisted diet history interview (DISHES) | Daily consumption of sugary drinks is lower in 12 to 17-year-old adolescents who have breakfast with their families every day/often than in adolescents who rarely/never have breakfast with their family. Significant associations were not found for fruit, vegetables, water, Confectionery and salty snacks, milk products, meat sausages, cereal products, fast food, and fishes. |
| Fulkerson et al., 2009 [23] | Purpose: To examine the associations between family dinner frequency and dietary practices and psychosocial well-being, and inverse associations between family dinner frequency and overweight status among a population of adolescents at-risk of academic failure. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 143 Age: 17.2 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“During the past week, how many days did all, or most of the people you live with eat dinner together?” | -Trained research staff administered the survey questionnaire | Family dinner frequency was significantly positively associated with daily fruit consumption. Adolescents reporting 5–7 family dinners per week had a significantly higher daily servings of fruit consumption than adolescents reporting fewer family dinners. |
| Gillman et al., 2000 [47] | Purpose: To examine the associations between frequency of eating family dinner and several measures of diet quality in a large national sample of 9- to 14 years-old children. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 16202 Age: 9–14 years old Country: USA |
“How often do you sit down with other members of your family to eat dinner or supper?” | -Validated semi-quantitative FFQ | Eating family dinner was associated with healthful dietary intake patterns; including more fruits and vegetables, less fried food and soda, less saturated, and trans-fat, lower glycemic load, more fiber and micronutrients from food, and no material differences in red meat or snack foods. |
| Giray & Ferguson, 2018 [48] | Purpose: To explore the quantity (frequency) and quality (priority, atmosphere, structure) of family mealtimes and associations with nutritional and emotional health in Jamaica. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 330 Age: not reported (grades 7–8 and 10–11) Country: Jamaica |
Participants reported the “number of times family had a meal together in the past week” | -Family Mealtimes Questionnaire -Jamaican Youth Risk and Resiliency Behavior Survey (Adapted) |
The frequency of family meals was not associated with diet quality. |
| Granner & Evans, 2011 [49] | Purpose: To assess individual, social, and family environmental factors related to fruit and vegetable intake among white and black adolescents aged 11–15 years old. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 736 Age: 11–15 years old Country: USA |
The Block Food Frequency Questionnaire Short Form was used to measure the frequency of family meals. | -Block FFQ (short form) | Family dinner frequency, was significantly associated with fruit and vegetable intake only when comparing the <3 servings per day with 3–4 servings per day category and when comparing the <3 servings per day with the >5 servings per day category. |
| Haapalahti et al., 2003 [50] | Purpose: To describe the meal patterns and food use on weekdays among 10- to 11-year-old Finnish children and to analyze these in relation to family’s socioeconomic status and the child’s behavior. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 404 Age: 10–11 years old Country: Finland |
The main family meals were assessed using the following statements: ‘We tend to eat at the same time’, ‘The whole family tends to eat together’ and ‘We prepare a hot meal’. | - FFQ | Participants with no regular family dinner ate sweets and fast foods more often than those with regular family dinner. |
| Hong et al., 2019 [51] | Purpose: To assess the nutritional quality of breakfast among Korean school-aged children and adolescents depending on eating together as a family, based on the 2013–2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 1831 Age: 6–17 years old/11 years old (mean) Country: South Korea |
“When you had breakfast in the last year, did you usually eat with others?” | -EAT 2010 survey -Semi-quantitative Youth and Adolescent FFQ |
Food intake and intake of carbohydrates and iron were higher in the family breakfast group The average numbers of serving for “Grains” and “Vegetables” food groups and the average Dietary Diversity Score were significantly higher in family breakfast group. Prevalence of consumption of milk and dairy products was higher in the breakfast group alone. |
| Horning et al., 2016 [27] | Purpose: To assess correlations between nine parent- and child-reported family dinner frequency measures and evaluate cross-sectional associations between each of the nine family dinner frequency measures and outcomes previously examined with family meal frequency in the research literature. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 160 Age: 8–12 years old/10.3 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“Did all or most of your family eat dinner together?” “Did you sit down with other people in your family to eat dinner?” “Was at least one parent sitting with you when you ate dinner?” |
-Three 24-hour dietary recalls -The Healthy Eating Index-2010 |
Both parent- and child-reported family dinner frequency were significantly associated with children’s average daily servings of fruits and vegetables and dietary quality. |
| Larson et al., 2007 [52] | Purpose: To examine if family meal frequency during adolescence predicts more structured eating, priority for social eating, and better dietary intake during the transition to adulthood. Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal |
Sample: 1710 Age: mean—15.9 years old (time 1); 20.4 years old (time 2) Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat breakfast together?” | -EAT 2010 survey -Semi-Quantitative Youth and Adolescent FFQ |
Family meal patterns during adolescence predicted diet quality during early young adulthood. |
| Larson et al., 2013 a [30] | Purpose: To examine and compare the frequency of having family meals at breakfast and at dinner according to sociodemographic characteristics and to examine the associations of eating together as a family at breakfast with measures of dietary quality and weight status. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 2793 Age: 14.4 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat breakfast together?” | -EAT 2010 survey Semi-Quantitative Youth and Adolescent FFQ |
Participation in more frequent family breakfast meals was associated with several markers of better diet quality. |
| Larson et al., 2016 [53] | Purpose: To describe the frequency of having family meals at breakfast in relation to the frequency of having family meals at dinner along with patterns of purchasing family breakfast meals at fast-food restaurants and how family breakfast meals are served. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 827 Age: 14–16 years old Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat a meal together?” | -Project BreakFAST survey -Three 24-hour dietary recalls |
Frequency of eating breakfast together was unrelated to most markers of diet quality among adolescent boys and girls who report skipping breakfast on two or more days per week. Differences in scores by frequency of eating breakfast together were identified only for whole fruit among boys and refined grains and empty calories among girls. Adolescent boys who ate breakfast together with their family one to two times in the past week had poorer scores for whole fruit than their peers who never ate breakfast with their family. For adolescent girls, frequency of eating breakfast together was associated with poorer scores for refined grains but with better scores for empty calories (i.e., consumed fewer calories from solid fats, alcohol, and added sugars). |
| Leech et al., 2014 [54] | Purpose: To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between food involvement, frequency of family dinner meals and dietary patterns among children aged 10–12 years old. Design: Cross-sectional and longitudinal |
Sample: 155 Age: 10–12 years old/11.5 years old (mean) Country: Australia |
Frequency of family meals was measured asking parents how often their child ate dinner with them at home. | -FFQ whose items were identified from the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey | Cross-sectionally, daily dinner meals with family were positively associated with a healthful dietary pattern and lower scores of energy-dense pattern for boys. |
| Lipsky et al., 2015 [55] | Purpose: To examine trends and changes in eating behaviors during the adolescent-adult transition in a contemporary, nationally representative U.S. cohort, and to examine whether these trends differ by sociodemographic factors or baseline weight status. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 2785 Age: 16–20 years old/16.27 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“How often do you have an evening meal together with your mother/stepmother or father/stepfather?” | -Questionnaire based on Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and the multinational Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study | Fruit/vegetable intake frequency was associated positively with family meals and breakfast, and inversely with fast food, while whole grain intake frequency was associated positively with family meals. |
| Lipsky et al., 2017 [56] | Purpose: To examine behavioral correlates and baseline predictors of diet quality over the transition to adulthood in a contemporary, diverse national cohort of US 10th graders. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 566 Age: 16.5 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“How often do you have an evening meal together with your mother/stepmother or father/stepfather?” | -Three non-consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls -Healthy Eating Index-2010 |
Better diet quality was associated with greater family meals. |
| Makansi et al., 2019 [57] | Purpose: To describe eating behaviors of adolescents in Dubai and the factors associated with fruit and vegetable intake. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 620 Age: 15–18 years old Country: United Arab Emirates |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all or most of your family living in your home eat dinner together?” | -EAT survey Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey |
Family meals were not significantly associated with daily intake of fruits and vegetables. |
| Martins et al., 2019 [58] | Purpose: To investigate how often Brazilian adolescents eat meals with their parents and verify the association between this habit and quality of the diet. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 102072 Age: 11–19 years old Country: Brazil |
“Do you usually eat lunch or dinner with your mother, father, or guardian?” | -Smartphone questionnaire | Eating meals with parents at least 5 days a week was positively associated with frequent consumption of beans, and vegetables and negatively associated with frequent consumption of sweets, ultra-processed salty foods, and fried salty snacks. |
| Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2003 [11] | Purpose: To examine family meal patterns and associations with sociodemographic characteristics and dietary intake in adolescents. Design: Cross-Sectional |
Sample: 4629 Age: 14.9 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“During the past seven days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat a meal together?” | -Youth and Adolescent FFQ | Frequency of family meals was positively associated with the intake of fruits, vegetables, grains, and calcium-rich foods, and negatively associated with soft drink intake. Youths reporting at least seven family meals had lower intakes of snack foods than youths reporting fewer family meals. |
| Oliveira et al., 2018 [59] | Purpose: To investigate the association of dietary intake with eating behavior, screen time, and physical activity among Brazilian adolescent students. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 14653 Age: 14.0 years old (mean) Country: Brazil |
“How often do you have lunch or dinner with your parents during the week?” | -Online questionnaire | The adolescents who had had lunch or dinner with their parents or who had frequent meals at home (five or more days a week) had a healthier diet, with higher mean days of consumption of beans, vegetables, cooked vegetables, and milk. Conversely, they had less frequent consumption of French fries, fried snacks, cold cuts, sweets, and soft drinks during the week. |
| Totland et al., 2017 [60] | Purpose: To describe family meal patterns among 11-year-old children across Europe and identify correlates of irregular family breakfast and dinner consumption in different regions of Europe. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 13305 Age: 9–14 years old/11.3 years old (mean) Country: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden |
“How often do you have breakfast/dinner (supper/evening meal) with your mother and/or father?” | -Questionnaire elaborated to the Pro Children project | Correlates of irregular family breakfasts and dinners were less vegetable consumption. Irregular family breakfasts were associated with more television viewing. |
| Utter et al., 2008 [38] | Purpose: To examine associations between frequency of family meals and body mass index (BMI), other aspects of the home food environment, and related nutrition behaviors. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 3119 Age: 14.8 years old (mean) Country: New Zealand |
"In the last 5 school days, how many times did all or most of your family living in your house eat an evening meal together?" | -Youth’07 Survey | Frequency of family meals was associated with consuming five fruits and vegetables a day, eating breakfast, and bringing a lunch from home. |
| Utter et al., 2013 [39] | Purpose: The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between family meals and nutrition behaviors of adolescents in New Zealand. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 8734 Age: 13–17 years old Country: New Zealand |
"During the past 7 days, how many times did all, or most, of your family living in your house eat a meal together?" | -Youth’07 Survey | Frequency of family meals were associated with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables and breakfast. Adolescents who frequently shared family meals were also more likely to report that what they ate in the past week was healthier than adolescents who did not. |
| Walton et al., 2018 [61] | Purpose: To examine whether level of family functioning is associated cross-sectionally with frequency of family dinners and dietary intake among a US national sample of adolescents and young adults. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 2728 Age: 19.4 years old (mean) Country: USA |
“How often do you sit down with other members of your family to eat dinner or supper?” | -27-item FFQ for Fruit and Vegetable intake | More frequent family dinners were associated with improved dietary intake. Among female participants, family dinners were associated with higher intakes of fruits and vegetables and lower consumption of fast food and takeout food in models adjusted for age, mothers’ spouse or partner’s educational attainment, and family structure. Among male family members, participation in more frequent family dinners was significantly associated with higher intakes of fruits and vegetables and lower consumption of fast food, takeout food, and sugar-sweetened beverages, when adjusted for age, mothers’ spouse or partner’s educational attainment, and family structure. |
| Woodruff et al., 2009 [62] | Purpose: To examine associations between family dinner frequency and fast food frequency, soft drink consumption, breakfast skipping, dieting for weight loss, concerns about a high body weight, and self-efficacy for healthy eating during certain situations. Design: Cross-sectional |
Sample: 3223 Age: 10–14 years old Country: Canada |
‘‘Typically, how many days per week do you eat dinner or supper with at least one parent?” | -24-hours diet recall -Waterloo Web-based Eating Behavior Questionnaire |
Higher family dinner frequency was significantly associated with less soft drink consumption, consuming breakfast on the day of the survey, having higher self-efficacy for healthy eating when at home with family, and during social times with friends. |
| Woodruff et al., 2010 [63] | Purpose: To describe family dinner frequency (FDF) and its associations with overall diet quality. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 1293 Age: 10–14 years old Country: Canada |
‘‘Typically, how many days per week do you eat dinner or supper with at least one parent?” | -24-hours diet recall -US-based Healthy Eating Index -Waterloo Web-based Eating Behavior Questionnaire |
Diet quality scores were higher among participants reporting 6–7 dinners/week. |
| Woodruff et al., 2014 [64] | Purpose: To determine the associations between the frequency and calorie consumption of meals/snacks and family meals. Design: Longitudinal |
Sample: 964 Age: 10–14 years old; Country: Canada |
"Typically, how many days per week do you eat dinner/supper with at least one parent/guardian?” | -24-hours diet recall -Waterloo Web-based Eating Behavior Questionnaire |
Specifically, for the dinner meal, fewer calories were consumed if the dinner meal was consumed with family members compared with eating dinner with friends. |
a Same studies with each outcome explored in a different published article.
b Information about participants’ age was reported according to the data available in the studies.
FFQ: Food Frequency Questionnaire