Discrepancies between Parents’ and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Family Meal Habits

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine how closely parents and their adolescent children self-report family meal habits specific to types of food served and technology use. Methods Dyads (n = 100) of one parent (40.0 ± 7.1 years; 92.1% female) and one 6th-8th grade adolescent child (12.5 ± 0.9 years; 41.3% female) from primarily Hispanic families were recruited through middle schools in a Southwestern US metropolitan area. Parents and adolescents each completed surveys to self-report types of foods typically served at dinner (vegetables, 100% fruit juice, other fruit, milk, and sugar-sweetened beverages) and technology use allowed (television watching, use of hand-held games, talking on the phone, texting, listening to music with headphones) during family meals using identical questions. Answer choices were Never = 1, Sometimes = 2, Usually = 3, or Always = 4. Parents’ responses were compared to those of adolescents using paired samples T-tests. Results Relative to adolescent responses, parents reported greater family mealtime offering of vegetables (2.5 ± 0.9 vs. 1.8 ± 0.7), 100% fruit juice (2.0 ± 0.9 vs. 1.3 ± 1.0), other fruit (2.4 ± 1.0 vs. 1.3 ± 1.0), milk (2.9 ± 1.0 vs. 1.0 ± 1.0), and sugar-sweetened beverages (2.1 ± 0.8 vs 1.2 ± 0.9; P < 0.0001 for all). Parents also reported greater television watching (2.1 ± 0.9 vs. 1.2 ± 0.1), use of hand-held games (1.6 ± 0.9 vs. 0.8 ± 0.1), talking on the phone (1.7 ± 1.0 vs. 0.6 ± 0.9), texting (1.7 ± 1.0 vs. 0.7 ± 1.0), and listening to music with headphones (1.7 ± 1.0 vs. 0.8 ± 1.0; P < 0.0001 for all) than their adolescent children. Conclusions Parents consistently reported offering vegetables, 100% fruit juice, other fruit, milk and sugar-sweetened beverages during family meals more frequently than reported by their adolescent children. Similarly, parents reported more permissive family meals regarding technology use. Further research is needed to better understand these discrepancies in how parents and their adolescent children perceive family meals, and to explore whether perceptions of family meals are associated with dietary quality in Hispanic families. Funding Sources Funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a Maternal Child Health Bureau Nutrition Training Grant.