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Study: Family Time Around the Table Good for Teens' Development


(AgapePress) - President Bush, governors, and more than 500 communities have declared and are celebrating "Family Day" today, a new annual campaign on each fourth Monday in September that calls for a family meal. The effort is backed by results of an ongoing eight-year survey of teens showing a reduced risk of alcohol, drug, and cigarette use for those who are part of family dinners three or more times a week.

The definitive information comes from an annual poll of 12- to 17-year-olds conducted by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse -- or CASA. The survey of children in that age group consistently shows a link between family meals and lowered risk of smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug use. Teens who ate with their family three or less times a week were more at risk, while those who ate five to seven times a week with their kin received the maximum benefit -- relief from the primary risk factors of stress, boredom, and pressure of academic demands in school.

The Center's founder and director, Joseph Califano, says the results justify the emphasis on the time of family interaction during regular mealtimes together. "Family Day is a reminder, a symbol, so we get parents to remember and recall how important family dinners are," Califano shares.

"Our research has shown that if you get a child through age 21 without smoking, without using illegal drugs, and without abusing alcohol -- most will drink something -- that child is virtually certain to be home-free for the rest of his or her life."

Califano says the campaign is not just an opportunity to point out that family is a good thing. "We now have substantial scientific data to demonstrate how important family dinners are to raising a child who is going to be a child who will grow up drug-free, hopefully alcohol-free, and tobacco-free through that difficult decade from [age] ten to twenty," he notes.

The CASA leader also strongly recommends families turn off the television during their time together at the table. The national campaign to draw families closer through returning to meals together is the brainchild of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, with the help of the supermarket and restaurant industries.

Amen.

Having 2 teenage daughters at home and having raised 4 children, I can certainly agree with the family sitting together to enjoy a meal together. I am thankful that even tought I raised 4 children by myself, dinner time was always a sacred time. All my children were invilved in setting the table, and in cleaning up afterwards, a value they carry on with their own families to this very day.
I have 2 teens still at home, and if my husband is running late from work, they still will not eat until we can all sit together as a family and enjoy the time together. One of them was even totally shcoked that one of her firends never sat with her family at dinner time. I encourage everyone to sit with their family at the table even if they are not hungry enough to eat at the time.