Table 3.

Prevalence of family meals: selection of results.

Authors	Year	Country (City)	Method	Sample	Results and Limits
Michaud et al. [69]	2004	France	Phone survey (+/− 30 min) 24 h recall of food consumption Monday to Sunday	3153 12 to 75 years old 1 person per household Representative sample	86.2% of respondents who live with family members “have dinner with the family” ➢No definition of “have dinner with the family” ➢What proportion of respondents live with family?
Pettinger et al. [70]	2006	France (Montpellier)	Self-administered questionnaires	766 64%≥ 36 years old 40%, education ≥ 3 years 5.3% unemployed 13% retired 12% students	64.5% “eat together as a household on a daily basis” Eat together as a household daily (age): 18–35 year-old: 59%; 36–50: 66%; 51-65: 71% ➢No definition of “eat together as a household” ➢Family composition of respondents?
Riou et al. [71]	2015	France (Paris)	Face to face questionnaires during home visits	2994 Representative sample	23% of sample: 3 meals (89%), mostly at home (89%), with the family (61.7% share meal with the family more than 75% of the time). Pattern associated with a higher income, a nuclear family (couples with or without children) and an almost non-existent sense of loneliness.
Gallegos et al. [5]	2010	Australia (Perth)	Online and paper-based survey (+/− 15 min) Part of school curriculum 24 h recall	625 15 year old adolescents 77% dual headed household Representative sample	61% indicated the previous night’s meal was “eaten at the same time and place as everyone else in the family”. Other definitions of family meals: “meal was cooked at home”, “meal included meat and vegetables”, “television was off” ➢Day of survey?
Pettinger et al. [70]	2006	England (Nottingham)	Self-administered questionnaires	826 72% ≥ 35 years old 26% ≥ 3 years education 4% unemployed 10% retired 3% students	51% reported eating together as a household on a daily basis 18–35 year-old: 47%; 36-50: 46%; 51–65: 71% ➢No definition of “eat together as a household” ➢Family composition of respondents?
Kjærnes (ed.) [72]	2001	Nordic countries	Phone survey 24 h recall of eating events (+/− 15 min) Monday to Sunday	Representative samples(≥15 years old) Denmark: 1202 Finland: 1200 Norway: 1177 Sweden: 1244	Households: couple with child(ren) Family meal: meal eaten at home with the entire household, the food eaten is hot Denmark: 66%; Finland: 51%; Norway: 60%; Sweden: 57% ➢Restrictive definition of the family meal
Sobal and Hanson [73]	2011	US	Phone survey “In a typical week, how often do you eat a meal together with the family members who currently live with you?”	882 adults living with family members Women: 53% White: 79% Married: 70% Children in household: 43% Many years of education: 15% Employed full time: 47%	53%: family meals seven or more times per week 8%: eat one or two family meals per week 7%: never eat together ➢Difficult to define a “typical week”