title: Family meals and child academic and behavioral outcomes.
abstract: This study investigates the link between the frequency of family breakfasts and dinners and child academic and behavioral outcomes in a panel sample of 21,400 children aged 5-15. It complements previous work by examining younger and older children separately and by using information on a large number of controls and rigorous analytic methods to discern whether there is causal relation between family meal frequency (FMF) and child outcomes. In child fixed-effects models, which controlled for unchanging aspects of children and their families, there were no significant (p<.05) relations between FMF and either academic or behavioral outcomes, a novel finding. These results were robust to various specifications of the FMF variables and did not differ by child age.
authors.affiliation: Boston University School of Social Work, Boston, MA 02215, USA. dpmiller@bu.edu
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waldfogel
authors.forename: Wen-Jui
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals / Q000523:psychology*