Correlates of irregular family meal patterns among children

The importance of family meals to the consumption of healthful food choices has been demonstrated and discussed in recent reviews. However, little information is available on barriers that interfere with regular family meal patterns during childhood. In a paper just published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research, we describe family meal patterns among 11-year-old children across Europe and identify correlates of irregular family breakfast and dinner consumption. We used data from 13,305 children from nine European countries who participated in the Pro Children Study in 2003.
The proportions of children who regularly ate family breakfast and dinner were 62% and 90%, respectively. Children who ate less vegetables were less likely to engage in family breakfasts as well as dinners, irregular family breakfasts was associated with more television viewing, and social differences in family breakfast consumption was observed.