{"id":20789,"date":"2026-02-28T18:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20789"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T17:30:13","slug":"study-examined-the-link-between-family-dinners-and-teen-substance-use-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/study-examined-the-link-between-family-dinners-and-teen-substance-use-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Examined the Link between Family Dinners and Teen Substance Use Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0by Kerry Charron – Feb 22, 2026<\/span><\/h1>\n
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A study published in the\u00a0Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma\u00a0indicated that regular family dinners may be an effective substance use prevention strategy for many American teens.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Researchers affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine analyzed online survey data from 2,090 adolescents (ages 12-17) and their parents. They answered questions about the quality of their family meals, which focused on communication, enjoyment, logistics, and digital distractions. The survey also covered questions about teen alcohol, e-cigarette, and cannabis use in the previous six months.<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers analyzed how these patterns differed based on teens\u2019 experiences of household stressors and exposure to violence. The research team developed a weighted score based on how strongly the various experiences are linked to substance use in prior research and this national sample.<\/span><\/p>\n

The findings revealed that higher family dinner quality was linked with a 22-34% lower prevalence of substance use among teens who had either experienced no or low to moderate levels of adverse childhood experiences. Examples of adverse childhood experiences reported by study participants included the impact of divorce, substance abuse, mental health challenges, and domestic violence. In addition, teens who experienced teasing about their weight or sexual or physical dating violence were some other critical influences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lead study author Dr. Margie Skeer, professor and chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the School of Medicine, emphasized that family meals are a practical and effective intervention that decreases the risk of teen substance use. She explained, \u201cRoutinely connecting over meals\u2014which can be as simple as a caregiver and child standing at a counter having a snack together\u2014can help establish open and routine parent-child communication and parental monitoring to support more positive long-term outcomes for the majority of children.\u201d The findings highlight how family meals facilitate positive parent-child relationships and interactions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the study also suggested that\u00a0family meals\u00a0may not be effective for adolescents who have experienced significant childhood adversity. Teens who endured more significant stressors may benefit from more intensive and trauma-informed approaches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.labroots.com\/trending\/health-and-medicine\/30227\/study-examined-link-family-dinners-teen-substance-prevention-2<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0by Kerry Charron – Feb 22, 2026 A study published in the\u00a0Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma\u00a0indicated that regular family dinners may be an effective substance use prevention strategy for many American teens.\u00a0\u00a0 Researchers affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine analyzed online survey data from 2,090 adolescents (ages 12-17) and their parents. They answered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,68,142,46,119,40,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-latest-news","category-parents","category-prevalence","category-prevention-research","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20790,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20789\/revisions\/20790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}