Family Meal Participation as a Corollary of Positive Youth Development: Opportunities for Counseling Services
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Family Meal Participation as a Corollary of Positive Youth Development: Opportunities for Counseling Services Oliver W. Edwards 1 & Heather Pratt 1
Published online: 3 February 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Research reveals multiple academic, behavioral, and psychosocial benefits of participating in family meals. The studies also reveal an inverse relationship between family meals and high-risk behaviors among youth. Family meal participation provides opportunities for Positive Youth Development (PYD) an emergent prevention science framework that emphasizes strengths and contextual resources rather than deficits of youth. This article reviews and integrates data that demonstrate the precise ways in which family mealtime positively impacts youth developmental trajectories. It is also maintained that counseling professionals are wellpositioned to implement public education prevention measures and to facilitate changes in policy and social norms that encourage regular family meal participation and advance PYD. Keywords Family Meals . Positive Youth Development . Health Promotion . School counseling professionals . Parents and Children
Introduction Healthy adolescent development is influenced by multiple factors, including family dynamics, peer relationships, school interactions, and personal attributes (Fulkerson et al. 2006). Family relationships are particularly important influences in youth developmental trajectories (Fulkerson et al. 2006; Heerde et al. 2015). Family relationships are usually measured by the communication, trust, and support among parents and their children, as well as the quantity and quality of time family members spend together (Fulkerson et al. 2006). Regularly eating meals together as a family fosters family time and is considered important to family relationships, connectedness, and socialization (Skeer and Ballard 2013). Further, research indicates
* Oliver W. Edwards [email protected]
1
Department of Child, Family, & Community Sciences, University of Central Florida, P.O.B. 161250, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
90
Int J Adv Counselling (2016) 38:89–96
that frequent family meals seem to be associated with children and youth who demonstrate positive societal values and who avoid high-risk behaviors (Fruh et al. 2011). Longitudinal studies of the effects of family meals relative to adolescent development are ongoing (see Skeer and Ballard 2013 for a review). These studies are largely cross-cultural and multiethnic in nature, focusing on differing genders, socioeconomic levels, and population subgroups (Fulkerson et al. 2006; Neumark-Sztainer et al. 2010). In general, the studies indicate that adolescents who eat meals with their family typically experience multiple positive outcomes, including heightened intellectual development, academic success, greater consumption of healthful meals, reduction in unhealthy weight control behaviors, and improved psychosocial wellbeing (Fulkerson et al. 2006; NeumarkSztainer et al. 2010; Skeer and Ballard 2013). At its core,
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