title: Racial and Ethnic Differences in Longitudinal Patterns of Family Mealtimes: Link to Adolescent Fruit and Vegetable Consumption.
abstract: To examine the longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes across racial/ethnic groups and to investigate whether the associations between longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes, baseline family and demographic characteristics, and healthy food consumption in adolescence differ by race/ethnicity.
  
  
  
  Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study spanning from kindergarten to eighth grade were used for this study. Longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes and their link to baseline characteristics and healthy food consumption in adolescence, as defined by fruit and vegetable intakes, were determined using latent growth curves.
  
  
  
  From childhood to adolescence, family mealtimes were stable among Asian families. Although Hispanic families displayed a downward pattern, mealtimes declined more steeply in non-Hispanic white and black families. The links among family mealtimes, baseline characteristics, and healthy food consumption were not observed equally across racial/ethnic groups.
  
  
  
  Differences in longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes and in the association between family mealtimes and adolescent healthy food consumption across racial/ethnic groups call for targeted intervention in this nutritionally vulnerable period.
authors.affiliation: School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. Electronic address: fsurjadi@niu.edu.
authors.forename: Florensia F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Surjadi
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: School of Health Studies, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Umoren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals / Q000208:ethnology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: adolescent; family mealtimes; fruit and vegetable consumption; healthy food consumption; racial and ethnic differences