Family Meal Participation as a Corollary of Positive Youth Development: Opportunities for Counseling Services

Research reveals multiple academic, behavioral, and psychosocial benefits of participating in family meals. The studies also reveal an inverse relationship between family meals and high-risk behaviors among youth. Family meal participation provides opportunities for Positive Youth Development (PYD) an emergent prevention science framework that emphasizes strengths and contextual resources rather than deficits of youth. This article reviews and integrates data that demonstrate the precise ways in which family mealtime positively impacts youth developmental trajectories. It is also maintained that counseling professionals are well-positioned to implement public education prevention measures and to facilitate changes in policy and social norms that encourage regular family meal participation and advance PYD.