The Effects of Family Dinners on Adolescent Wellbeing in an Overworked Society: A Causal Assessment

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Abstract

This study tests a popular hypothesis on which recent studies cast doubts: “Do family dinners enhance adolescent wellbeing?”. Recent studies argue that the correlation between family dinner frequency and adolescent wellbeing does not ensure the causal relationship between them because of two issues: (i) adolescent wellbeing may reversely influence family dinner frequency, (ii) individual- and family-level characteristics may influence both family dinner frequency and adolescent wellbeing. However, this study shows that family dinners are causally linked to adolescent wellbeing, particularly in the overworked society where pervasive overworks lead to a lack of family dinners. We use nationally representative repeated cross-sectional data from adolescents in South Korea (Grades 4-12; N = 55,261). Using an IV (instrumental variable) technique, we estimate the effects of family dinner frequency induced by the regional prevalence of overworks on an array of adolescent wellbeing indicators. Results show that more frequent family dinners improve subjective wellbeing and reduce suicidal ideation among adolescents, but do not affect their drinking and smoking behaviors. We also find that the effects of family dinner frequency are more pronounced for adolescents who have high-quality parent-child relationships and attend private tutoring institutes.

Authors

• Junsol Kim, Yonsei University

• Dohoon Lee, Yonsei University