The pandemic has changed Americans’ lives in countless ways over the past two years. Of special concern has been how COVID-19 has upended family life, and a number of pollsters have tracked how families have dealt with it. A new report from the Census’ Survey of Income and Program Participation builds on earlier surveys on one aspect of the changes: the family dinner hour. While the questions and methodologies differ, the survey responses tell us that the family dinner hour is alive and well. There is substantial continuity on questions about gathering for dinner over the past 30 years, but the pandemic seems to have produced an uptick in responses to this feature of daily life. During a time when children have confronted the challenges of virtual schooling and loneliness of separation from their friends and teachers, the family dinner seems to be an important stabilizing and welcome ritual in their lives.
The Census tracked whether parents were doing more things with their children and not surprisingly, parents in the early months of pandemic reported fewer outings for their youngest children. But more parents with children up to 17 years old dined together than in the past. The Census reported that “[s]ince 1998, at least 80% of children ate dinner with their parent often (five or more times per week).” In the new 2020 data, 85% of parents gave that response. Other surveys give us a similar picture.
Starting in 2015, the American Family Survey,* a project of the Deseret News and Brigham Young University, began asking parents how often their families had dinner together every week. Their 2020 survey reported on five consecutive years of surveys asking the identical question about family dinner time. From 2015–2019, the results moved in a narrow range from a low of 43% who reported sitting down together every day in 2016 to a high of 48% in 2018. But in 2020 the daily response jumped to 54%. Another 18% reported gathering for meals a few times a week. Only 3% said their family never ate dinner together.
CBS News has explored this area a number of times over the years. More than 30 years ago in 1990, the network, in conjunction with the New York Times, asked parents whether they usually ate family dinners together when they were the same age as their children. Eighty-five percent said they did. Parents were then asked about their current practice. Around two-thirds said their families ate dinner five, six, or seven days a week. In a new poll from October 2021, CBS asked about “you and everyone in your family living with you,” and found that 73% of parents with children under 18 ate together “most of the time,” a percentage identical to the response parents gave to that question in 2009.
CBS pollsters also found that between 2009 and 2021, the percentage who said the TV was “always on” during dinner was cut almost in half, from 33% in 2009 to 19% in 2021. When asked in a separate question whether texting, emailing, or phone use was always taking place during dinner, only 8% in 2021, up from 5% in 2009, said this was the case. But the percentage indicating this was happening sometimes or half the time rose from 10% to 25%. Still, two-thirds in 2021 said this happened rarely or never. In the pollster’s 2018 survey, only 16% said that it was acceptable for someone to look at a smart phone when having dinner with family or friends, while 82% said this was unacceptable.
In another question in their latest poll, 65% said having dinner together made their family closer, while 31% said it had no effect on family relationships. To the extent we can say that the pandemic made some features of life better, there appears to be a healthy appetite for family dinners. In a December 2021 advisory, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote about how COVID had altered the experiences of children, adolescents, and young adults and made recommendations on how to address deficiencies in mental health support. As the polls have shown, the stability that regular family interactions at meals provide for many families today may mitigate the deleterious effects the pandemic has had on America’s young people.
*I serve on the advisory board that helps to design this survey.
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January 13, 2022 at 09:04PM
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The Family Dinner Hour: Alive And Well - Forbes
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