Table 4.

Summary of Family Relationships.

Author(s) and Year	Reference Number	Sample	Main Outcomes	Study Design
Family Relationships
Czaja et al. (2011)	[70]	74 families with children aged 8–13	Children who demonstrated loss of control eating were more likely to come from families that had less healthy patterns of communication, interpersonal involvement, and family functioning during an observed family meal than children who did not have loss of control eating.	Observational
Fiese et al. (2012)	[32]	200 families with children aged 5–12	Families with overweight or obese children spent less time on a family meal and spent less time in positive communication than families with children of a healthy weight.	Observational
Fiese (2006)	[69]	Families with children	Family meals are one family routine that promote health and wellbeing, in part through the positive contributions they make to family relationships and functioning.	Review/Synthesis
Franko et al. (2008)	[28]	2379 females tracked annually from age 9–19	More frequent family meals from ages 9–11 predicted greater family cohesion and coping skills when children were 18–19 years old.	Longitudinal
Fulkerson et al. (2006)	[72]	902 adolescents, Project EAT	Adolescents and parents both reported high levels of communication and enjoyment of family meals. Younger adolescents reported higher importance of eating together than older adolescents.	Cross-Sectional
Fulkerson et al. (2010)	[26]	4750 racially diverse, low-income adolescents	Frequency of family meals was associated with adolescent perceptions of parent–child communication over time.	Longitudinal
Welsh et al. (2011)	[54]	152 adults and 75 adolescents from 90 households	Family meal frequency was positively correlated with perceived family cohesion.	Cross-Sectional