title: Family meals among New Zealand young people: relationships with eating behaviors and body mass index.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between family meals and nutrition behaviors of adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary analysis of Youth'07, a nationally representative survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary schools in New Zealand.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomly selected adolescents (aged 13-17 years, n = 9,107) completed a multimedia and anonymous survey about their health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Body mass index and eating behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiple logistic regression equations were used to determine the associations between family meals and body size and dietary behaviors, controlling for demographic variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 60% of young people shared a meal with their families 5 or more times in the previous week. Frequent family meals were associated with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables (P < .001), and breakfast (P < .001). Adolescents who frequently shared family meals were also more likely to report that what they ate in the past week was healthy than adolescents who did not (P < .001). There was no relationship between frequency of family meals and body mass index (P = .60).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data from the current study suggest that family meals cannot be used as a single strategy for obesity prevention, but they may provide an important opportunity for young people to consume healthy food.
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. j.utter@auckland.ac.nz
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Utter
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denny
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Shanthi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ameratunga
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control