Cucinare e mangiare in famiglia fa bene. Soprattutto agli adolescenti.

Più gli adolescenti cenano in famiglia e più diminuisce il rischio di sviluppare disturbi del comportamento. In altre parole mangiare in famiglia aiuta salvaguardare la salute mentale dei ragazzi.
Lo afferma uno studio dell'università Mcgill di Montreal, pubblicato nel numero di Aprile del Journal of Adolescent Health.
Secondo lo studio, condotto nel 2010 su un campione di 26 mila ragazzi tra 11 e 15 anni, non conta se il rapporto con i genitori sia buono o meno, come non contano età, genere e livello socio-economico. Chi mangia regolarmente in famiglia, dove evidentemente i genitori cucinano, ha evidenziato meno problemi emotivi e comportamentali, maggiore soddisfazione per la propria vita e comportamenti positivi verso gli altri.
I ricercatori hanno riscontrato che mangiare in famiglia costituisce una rilevante occasione per gli scambi in famiglia e permette ai genitori di insegnare ai figli i comportamenti positivi e agli adolescenti di esprimere le loro preoccupazioni e di sentirsi considerati.

Le ricette di Raffaelangela, 13 Aprile 2013


Family Dinners, Communication, and Mental Health in Canadian Adolescents
Frank J. Elgar, Wendy Craig, Stephen J. Trites

Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 52, Issue 4, Pages 433-438, April 2013

Abstract
 
Purpose
To examine the association between the frequency of family dinners and positive and negative dimensions of mental health in adolescents and to determine whether this association is explained by the quality of communication between adolescents and parents.

Methods
A community sample of 26,069 adolescents (aged 11 to 15 years) participated in the 2010 Canadian Health Behaviour of School-aged Children study. Adolescents gave self-report data on the weekly frequency of family dinners, ease of parent–adolescent communication, and five dimensions of mental health (internalizing and externalizing problems, emotional well-being, prosocial behavior, and life satisfaction). Regression analyses tested relations between family dinners, parent–adolescent communication, and mental health.

Results
The frequency of family dinners negatively related to internalizing and externalizing symptoms and positively related to emotional well-being, prosocial behavior, and life satisfaction. These associations did not interact with differences in gender, grade level, or family affluence. However, hierarchical regression analyses found that these associations were partially mediated by differences in parent–adolescent communication, which explained 13% to 30% of the effect of family dinners on mental health, depending on the outcome.

Conclusions
These findings, though correlational, revealed a dose–response association between the frequency of family dinners and positive and negative dimensions of adolescent mental health. The ease of communication between parents and adolescents accounted for some of this association.