Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Featured Finding
September 19, 2003

Family dinners are more than just a meal

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University recently released new research showing that frequent family dinners are associated with lower rates of smoking, drinking, and use of illegal drugs among teenagers. Compared with teens who have dinner with their families only two nights per week or less, those who have family dinners five or more nights in a typical week are more likely to report that they have never tried cigarettes, almost 50 percent likelier to report that they have never tried alcohol, and more likely to report that they have never tried marijuana.

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