While the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led many families to eat more meals at home, they had an additional benefit: an increase in the quality of family time during those dinners, according to research published in Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice titled " How COVID-19 expanded the family dinner table: Greater frequency linked with improved quality and new ways of eating together ." The study found that families who ate together more often during the pandemic also had more positive interactions, shared news and information, and even embraced technology such as videoconferencing to connect with distant family members. "The predominance of past research on family dinners has focused on frequency as the key predictor of benefits for children and adolescents," said lead author Anne Fishel, Ph.
D., a clinician and researcher in family therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. "This study highlights the importance of examining both frequency and quality to understand the full picture of how shared meals can impact families.
" Researchers examined data from a survey of 517 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse parents across the United States, administered in May 2021. Their aim was to investigate changes in family dinner frequency and quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked about dinner frequency, quality and post-pandemic expectations.
The survey included questions about positive and negative interactions, family suppor.