90% of Hispanic Parents Shared Frequent Meals With Their Children

Family dinners have long been considered a healthy tradition and new U.S. Census Bureau data show that Hispanic and immigrant parents are more likely than their non-Hispanic and native-born counterparts to follow the cherished ritual.

As the nation celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, we show trends in parental involvement among Hispanic families.

Frequent family meals have been linked with many positive youth outcomes including healthy weight, improved school-performance and fewer risky behaviors (like alcohol or tobacco consumption), in addition to improved family functioning.

Mealtime can also serve as models of healthy eating, such as more fruits and vegetables, and open communication between family members potentially improving parent-child relationships.

Overall, U.S. parents have been highly engaged with children for decades. According to Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data, more than four in five children ate dinner with their parent at least five days a week from 1998 to 2021. In fact, the proportion of parents who frequently had dinner with their childrenincreased to 85% in 2020, most likely due to COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns and quarantines.

This article uses new data from the 2021 SIPP as well as from earlier years (2018-2020) to explore family interactions among two groups hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic: Hispanic and immigrant populations.

Every year from 2018 to 2021, a higher proportion of Hispanic parents had frequent dinners with their children than their non-Hispanic counterparts.

The SIPP asks only one reference parent (usually the mother) to answer questions about parental involvement with children, even if the other parent is present. For purposes of this article, weighted estimates are at the reference-parent level although we use parent and reference parent interchangeably. The 2021 SIPP estimated number of reference parents in the United States was 38 million.

<div id="titlecore-bafcbe15b2"

Where this page came from

This page was imported from U.S. Census Bureau. Published by the U.S. Census Bureau and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain; material credited to others is left out.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.