A recent study on youth mental health suggests that family dinners are effective in dealing with existing health problems in today's youth that are brought on by cyber and traditional bullying.
Dr. Frank J. Elgar of the McGill University in Montreal, Canada along with his colleagues examined the link between mental health in teens and family connection that happens on the dining table. The survey looked into health issues in teens such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal tendencies and substance abuse that are brought on by traditional and cyber bullying and how these are affected by the lack or inexistence of health communication in the family.
According to the study that was published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, the methodology of the study included a survey that was conducted to 18,834, 12 to 18 year old students from 49 schools in the Midwest.The team looked into the presence of two externalizing issues, namely vandalism and fighting, five internalizing issues, namely depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal attempts and suicidal ideation, and four substance abuse issues, namely excessive alcohol intake, frequent binge drinking, prescription drug misuse and over-the-counter drug misuse.
After the survey and examinations had been conducted Elgar's team came to the conclusion that there is a solid link between strong family connection, especially that which happens during family dinners and the moderation of cyber bullying among students. This means that the more frequently a child eats dinner with his or her family (with the addition of healthy communication between parent and child) the less likely that child gets involved in cyber bullying or traditional bullying incidences.
Warding off cyber bullying incidences will, of course, ward off the tendencies of a child to suffer any of the resulting mental health issues mentioned above.
This study should prompt parents check on their children's school and online lives over a hearty dinner.
