Association between family dinner frequency and mental health in children and adolescents; the CASPIAN-V study

Abstract

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 14,400 Iranian students, aged 7-18 years to determine the association between the frequency of family dinner and mental health. Family dinner frequency, family relationship, life satisfaction (LS), self-perceived health and anxiety were assessed by validated questionnaires. Of 14,274 participants, 50.6 were boys and 71.4 were urban residents, with a mean (SD) age of 12.28 (3.16) years. Family dinner frequency was significantly correlated with LS (boys: beta = 0.27, p < .001; girls: beta = 0.26, p < .001) and socio-economic status (boys: beta = 0.05, p < .001; girls: beta = 0.02, p < .001). A significant inverse association was observed between family dinner frequency and family relationship with anxiety, which was more evident in boys than in girls (p < .05). This study underscores the important role of family dinner frequency with lower anxiety in children as well as a better family relationship with better LS.