Research News You Can Use

Note from Nayda

This is the third year (second quarterly issue) of our series of research newsletters for use in your programs. We all appreciate your input and suggestions. We are very happy that our research newsletter has been so useful. For your convenience, the name of each contributor is linked to their e-mail address.

Thank-you to all faculty who contributed this issue: Elizabeth Bolton, Marilyn Lesmeister, Suzanna Smith, and Jo Turner .

--Dr. Nayda I. Torres , Professor and Chair, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences

Family Time and Adolescent Adjustment

Busy working families seem to yearn for precious time together. They perceive that the hectic pace of parents' jobs and children's activities leaves them rushed and short of time for family life. Parents may worry that they are not giving their children the time they need for support and guidance. In U.S. culture generally, we idealize family togetherness. We assume that family time has positive consequences for family members -- yet there is not much research evidence to support this view.

A study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family in February 2004 (Crouter, Head, McHale & Jenkins Tucker, 2004), is one of the first to measure the impacts of family time on adolescents. The authors reported the results of a study of the impacts of family time on adolescents' and parents' psychosocial adjustment. (Here we only look at adolescents.) They defined family time as the amount of time shared by mother, father, and the two eldest children in a variety of activities, including T.V. watching, meals together, active leisure, religious activities, and housework. The authors asked whether family time is connected with adolescent adjustment. They proposed that, if family time reflects family bonds of togetherness and belonging (cohesion), adolescents should flourish when they have high levels of family time. In particular, the researchers looked at the teenagers' involvement in risky behavior, such as drinking and delinquency; and their depressive symptoms.

The study was based on 192 dual earner families with first born and second born children. The first child was in 8th, 9th, or 10th grade in the central region of a northeastern state and the second was 1 to 3 years younger. These were two-parent, non-divorced families with biological or adopted offspring. Both parents were employed at least part-time. Almost all families were of European descent.

Researchers interviewed families about their time together, the quality of their family relationships, and psychosocial adjustment (risky behavior and depression). They carried out face-to-face interviews and follow-up phone calls on 7 evenings over a 2-4 week period.

Over the 7 days, families spent an average of about 4 hours in family activities. The most common activities were sharing a meal and watching television. They spent the most time, about 2 hours per week, eating meals together; 97% of families spent at least some time eating together. Half of the families watched TV together, on average, about half an hour a week. Fewer families did other things together, and as a result, the researchers only included TV watching and eating meals together in their analysis.

Total family time was related to views of relationship quality. Bivariate correlations showed that the more time families spent together, the more positively they felt about their relationships with one another. Families spent more time together when they saw their relationships as warmer and more loving. The more total time they spent together the less likely firstborns were to be involved in risky behavior.

The researchers wanted to try to predict change in psychosocial adjustment over a 2-year period. Using a more powerful multiple regression analysis, they found that the more time families shared at Time 1, the fewer risky behaviors first born boys and girls engaged in 2 years later. Also, the more family time first born adolescents had, the fewer depressive symptoms they showed at Time 2. However, further analyses showed that this relation to depression was true only for more educated families. In addition, there was no significant association between family time and second born siblings risky behavior or depression.

These results are interesting for several reasons. At least for the families in this study we can say that:

  • Family time did indeed impact teens in a positive way.
  • Family members actually didn't spend much time together -- only 4 hours a week, on average. This is not surprising, considering that teenagers are typically involved in activities outside the home with their peers.
  • Even though families didn't spend a lot of time together, it still had an impact. The more family time, the more likely it was that all family relationships -- parent-parent-child, marital, and sibling -- were seen as "warmer, more loving, and more intimate" (p. 159).
  • Most family time involved watching TV or eating meals together. One-third or less of the sample were doing chores, playing, or going to religious activities together. Perhaps families involved in different kinds of activities are unique in some way, or maybe being involved in varied activities enriches families in another way. Future research will study these differences.
  • Family time didn't have much impact on second born adolescents. The researchers explained that these younger siblings probably had less autonomy and family time may not have been freely chosen and therefore was less connected to the study outcomes. In addition, family time may be less important to them than to their older siblings, who tend to identify more with their parents.

As for implications for educators and other practitioners, this study shows that, as we suspected, family time is important. Encouraging families to spend time together, even in everyday, simple activities such watching a little TV and having at least some meals together, can impact adolescent well-being. As other researchers (Galinsky, 1999) have suggested, the sheer amount of time may be less important than the opportunity for unstressed and unrushed time, where family members can attend to each others' needs.

References

Crouter, A.C., Head, M. R., McHale, S.M., and Tucker, C. J. (2004). Family time and the psycholsocial adjustment of adolescent siblings and their parents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 147-162.

Galinsky, E. (1999). Ask the children: What America's children really think about working parents. New York: Morrow.

-- Dr. Suzanna Smith, Associate Professor, Human Development