Eating as a family not only allows the members to connect and grow together but is a daily investment that can make the kids, especially in their teenage years less susceptible to harmful influences, claims a new study.According to the latest report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, teenagers who sit down at the dinner table with their parents and share quality time with them are less likely to use illegal drugs, tobacco or alcohol compared with those who do not eat meals as a family.
“America’s drug problem is not going to be solved in courtrooms or legislative hearing rooms by judges and politicians. It will be solved in living rooms and dining rooms and across kitchen tables — by parents and families,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s founder and chairman and a former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare.
“Family dinners and the communication that occurs over the course of a meal are critical in building a relationship with your children and to understanding the world in which they live,” Califano said. “Parents, frequent family dinners make a difference.”
Findings of the CASA report
In a bid to determine how eating patterns affect teens’ choices when it comes to drugs and alcohol, researchers at CASA analyzed data for over a decade.
The focus of the study was to compare children who have frequent family dinners (five or more per week) with those who have infrequent family dinners (less than three per week).
The investigators consistently found that children who often share meals with their family grow up healthy and are less likely to indulge in substance abuse.
According to the CASA report, teens that have less than three family meals per week are 1.5 times more likely to have friends who smoke marijuana and drink.
They are about 1.5 times more likely to have friends who abuse prescription drugs, and 1.25 times more likely to have friends abusing cocaine, meth, heroin, and ecstasy.
The CASA report also found that 72 percent of teens think that eating dinner or other meals with their parents regularly is important.
Researchers found that teens who share meals less than three times per week with the family are twice as likely to admit that they can get marijuana or prescription drugs off the street to get high.
The report also reveals that 60 percent of the youngsters who eat dinner with family at least five times per week are less likely to have friends who abuse prescription drugs, tobacco, illegal drugs, or alcohol.
Implications of the study
According to experts, family meal is not just about eating dinner together but about strengthening family ties.
The focus should be on taking time out, interacting, talking every day to the children and giving them your undivided attention.
The conversations at dinner help parents learn more about their kid’s lives and understand the challenges they face.
Kathleen Ferrigno, CASA’s director of marketing stated, “The message for parents couldn’t be any clearer.
“With the recent rise in the number of Americans age 12 and older who are using drugs, it is more important than ever to sit down to dinner and engage your children in conversation about their lives, their friends, school - just talk.”