title: Deconstructing family meals: Do family structure, gender and employment status influence the odds of having a family meal?
abstract: We assessed the odds of having a family dinner by parental gender, family structure and parental employment.
  
  
  
  This study used data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) (2006-2008). Multivariate analyses assessed the odds of two outcomes among parents: 1) eating at all with children and 2) having a family dinner.
  
  
  
  Single men had lower odds of eating at all with children and eating a family dinner in comparison to partnered/married males. Partnered/married women had increased odds of eating at all with children and eating a family dinner compared to their partnered/married male counterparts. While single women had increased odds of eating at all with children compared to partnered/married males, no difference was detected in the odds of having a family dinner. Among dual-headed households, women had lower odds of eating a family dinner when both parents were employed compared a dual-headed household with employed male/non-employed female. There were no differences among men regardless of their employment status or that of their partner/spouse.
  
  
  
  Family structure, parental gender and employment status all influence the odds of having a family dinner. Future research on family meals should consider all of these factors to better understand trends and disparities across household compositions.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Medicine, Irvine, CA, United States. Electronic address: mzsharif@uci.edu.
authors.forename: Mienah Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Department of Public Health Sciences, Charlottesville, VA, United States.
authors.forename: Héctor E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Alcalá
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente, Department of Research and Evaluation, Pasadena, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fischer
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D004651:Employment; D005190:Family; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012847:Single Person; D018454:Spouses; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult