For years, parents have been told that something as simple as sitting down together for dinner can make a difference in their children's lives. A new study from Tufts University School of Medicine offers strong evidence that this familiar ritual may do more than strengthen family bonds. It could also help protect many teens from alcohol, cannabis and e-cigarette use.

The study analyzed online survey data from 2,090 U.S. adolescents ages 12 to 17 and their parents. Researchers examined not just how often families ate together, but the quality of these meals — looking closely at communication, enjoyment, digital distractions and the overall tone of the interaction.

“Routinely connecting over meals — which can be as simple as a caregiver and child standing at a counter having a snack together — can help establish open and routine parent-child communication…”

Teens and parents were also asked about the adolescents' use of alcohol, e-cigarettes and cannabis in the previous six months. They were also both asked to report on a range of household stressors and exposure to violence, allowing researchers to explore how family meals function under very different life circumstances.

The findings were notable. Among adolescents with no, low or moderate levels of adverse childhood experiences, higher-quality family diners were associated with a 22 to 34 percent lower prevalence of substance use. Teens who reported open conversation, minimal digital distraction and a sense of connection during meals were significantly less likely to drink, vape or use cannabis.

“These findings build on what we already knew about the value of family meals as a practical and widely accessible way to reduce the risk of adolescent substance use,” Margie Skeer, ScD, the study's lead author, and professor and chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, said in a media release.

Importantly, the researchers did not treat all adverse childhood experiences as equal. Instead of simply counting how many stressors a teen had faced, the team created a weighted adversity score based on how strongly each experience has been linked to substance use in prior research and in this national sample.

Parental divorce, having a family member with substance-use disorder or a mental-health condition, witnessing violence, being teased or bullied about weight or experiencing sexual or physical dating violence were among the range of experiences included in this weighted list.

Teens who have experienced more severe or chronic stress may need additional, trauma-informed support. Mental health services and other forms of family engagement may be more effective for them than shared meals alone.

Family dinners offered little protective benefit for adolescents whose adversity scores reached the equivalent of four or more experiences. This group represents one in five U.S high school students under 18, according to recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey data cited by the researchers.

That finding, the authors stress, should not discourage families, but rather help clinicians and caregivers understand the limits of one-size-fits-all prevention strategies.

“Routinely connecting over meals — which can be as simple as a caregiver and child standing at a counter having a snack together — can help establish open and routine parent-child communication and parental monitoring to support more positive long-term outcomes for the majority of children,” Skeer said. “It's not about the food, timing, or setting; it's the parent-child relationship and interactions it helps cultivate that matter.”

At the same time, she emphasized that adolescents who have experienced more severe or chronic stress may need additional, trauma-informed support. Mental health services and other forms of family engagement may be more effective for them than shared meals alone.

In the end, it's not what's for dinner that matters most, but who is there, and how they show up for one another. The study reminds us that while family dinners are not a cure-all, they remain one of the most accessible tools parents have to support their teen's healthy choices.

The study is published in the Journal of Aggression Maltreatment & Trauma.