Sep 22, 2010 · The report says 60% of teens who say they eat dinners with their families at least five times a week are less likely to say they have friends …
Sep 16, 2005 · 10 Benefits of Family Dinners. The survey notes 10 positive trends for teens who eat dinner often with their families: Less likely to smoke cigarettes. Less …
Sep 22, 2011 · compared to teens who ate with their families five to seven times a week, teenagers who had fewer than three family dinners a week were almost four times more likely to try tobacco, more than twice as likely to use alcohol and 2.5 times more likely to use marijuana, according to new information released by columbia university's national center on …
Jan 07, 2006 · SUMMIT, N.J., Sept. 13, 2005 — -- A regular family dinner may yield some surprising benefits for teens, a new study finds. According to a new Columbia University survey, teenagers who eat with their families at least five times a week are more likely to get better grades in school and much less likely to have substance abuse problems.
The survey notes 10 positive trends for teens who eat dinner often with their families:
Family dinners have also been linked to healthier eating and fewer weight problemsfewer weight problems, as Harvard Medical School's Elsie Taveras, MD, PhD, told WebMD in May.
Family dinners get a five-star review from CASA Chairman and President Joseph Califano Jr.
Both teens and parents polled by CASA expressed a desire for more family dinners.
The survey suggests that family time may be more important to children than many parents realize. It found teens having family dinners five or more times a week were 42 percent less likely to drink alcohol, 59 percent less likely to smoke cigarettes, and 66 percent less likely to try marijuana.
A Harvard University study found that family dinners were the most important family events in helping children develop language skills.
It is this connection that provides the real seat belt on the potholed road of adolescence. Dinnertime also creates the opportunity for parents to check in and monitor their teens’ behavior without putting their kids on the hot seat.
Numerous studies over the last 15 years reveal that dinners can protect teens from engaging in a host of risky behaviors: smoking, drinking, getting pregnant, developing an eating disorder, and using drugs.
Both will give you something to talk about that may be of great interest to your child. Since adolescence is a time of increased exploration, buy cookbooks when you travel to new places, ask for recipes at restaurants, or from the parents of your child’s friends.
The really good news is that when teenagers are asked to list the activities they most enjoy, family dinner is consistently ranked high on that list. That said, teens can be sulky, irritable, prickly and challenging, and may not make the easiest dinner companions. Not only that, but their schedules may seem too busy to fit in regular dinners, ...
The study found that teens who have dinner with their families two nights a week or less are twice as likely to take drugs, more likely to be "high stress," more likely to say they are often bored, and less likely to perform well in school than teens who eat with their families 5 to 7 times a week.
When dad came home after a hard day's work, mom would have dinner waiting for him. Kids might have after-school activities, but were usually required to be home in time for dinner. In the 21 st century, family dinners are more of an evening rarity.
All parents want to know what's going on with their children, but a 2003 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University suggests that family dinners can have some concrete benefits for teenagers.