Dinnertime Routine Among Low-Income Latino Families: Work Schedules and Parenting Within the Context of Migration

1) Introduction- With the growing obesity epidemic, and with Latinos being overburdened, food behaviors at the family level are of particular interest. Many analysts have focused on the demise of the dinnertime routine as an important factor that influences overweight and obesity. 2) Approach- This qualitative study explored the factors that influence family dinnertime routines among 23 families via participant observation and interviews over the course of one year. 3) Results- This study found that among families in which both parents work or one parent works a late-night or graveyard shift that some families stop eating dinner together. Families that do not eat dinner together or who eat together but who serve one meal to children and a different one to parents appear to follow a “path of least resistance” food behavior pattern.  Families that follow a “one-dinner for everyone” schema do not necessarily eat healthier meals as some choose fast food for dinner on a regular basis. Children in families with a “one-dinner for everyone schema” however do appear to have a taste for the food that their parents emphasize. Issues related to migration also emerged such as the intergenerational transmission of cooking practices and the relationship of various food behaviors and practices with children’s food preferences for traditional Latino food and non-traditional food. 4) Discussion- It is unclear whether parents shape their children’s’ food preferences through the implementation of a “one-dinner-for everyone” schema or if parents uphold a “one-dinner for everyone” schema because of their children’s’ food preferences.