Expert on Youth Risk Reduction Available to Talk About Family Meals

As students and families prepare to go back to school, spending time together as a family can be difficult, especially in such a fast-paced, technologically-focused world. Margie Skeer, Sc.D., of Tufts University is available to speak about her recent review study on the relationship between family meals and risky behaviors among teens. The study, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, suggests that frequent family meals can reduce the likelihood that teens—particularly girls—will use alcohol or tobacco, or exhibit behavioral issues such as eating disorders, depression, or poor school performance. Despite the evidence of a protective effect of frequent family meals, less than 60 percent of children report eating five or more meals with their parents each week.

An assistant professor in the Public Health & Community Medicine department at Tufts University School of Medicine, Skeer is an expert on youth risk reduction. Her research focus is substance misuse and sexual risk prevention, looking at both large populations and smaller intervention studies.

For a copy of Dr. Skeer’s journal paper and/or to arrange an interview, please contact Siobhan Gallagher.