Family Meal Duration and Children's Eating Behavior

Overview

The goal of this study is to test whether a longer meal duration could improve the diet quality of children. To answer this question we want to take an experimental approach by implementing a longer family meal duration to examine differences in children's eating behavior. The family dinner within a laboratory setting will be video taped and the main outcome is children's fruit and vegetables consumption.

Parent-child pairs have two dinner in a laboratory setting. The study design is a within-subject design: In the control condition they have as much time as they usual. In the intervention condition they have 50% more time than usual. Order of the two condition is counter balanced. The lab dinner reflects a typical German dinner which consists of bread, cheese, cold meat and fruits and vegetables. Additionally a dessert is served after the main meal. The foods served reflect food preferences of the child. All dinners are video taped. Key outcome variables are consumption of fruits and vegetables, dessert, eating rate and amount time engaged in positive and negative social interaction

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes