Study: Family Time Around the Table Good for Teens' Development
by Ed Thomas
September 25, 2006
(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.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
