PART 2: CHILDREN'S RELATIONSHIPS

Relationship with Parents

Eating a main meal together

Family meals can be important components in maintaining close family connections. ¹⁶

Measure

The percentage of children aged 15 who report that their parents eat a main meal with them around a table more than once a week.

Key findings

• In 2006, 74.5% of children aged 15 reported that their parents eat a main meal with them around a table more than once a week (see Table 30). This is marginally lower than the corresponding percentage in 2000 (77.1%).

Differences by gender, age and social class

• In 2006, the percentage of 15-year-old children reporting that their parents eat a main meal with them around a table more than once a week was similar for boys and girls – 73.7% and 75.3% respectively (see Table 30). The difference between boys and girls on this measure was also small in 2000.
• In 2006, children from the highest and medium social class categories were most likely to report that their parents eat a main meal with them around a table more than once a week (78.2% and 75.2% respectively), compared to children from the lowest social class category (70.7%). In 2000, the pattern was broadly similar, with children from the lowest social class category being least likely to report that their parents eat a main meal with them around a table more than once a week (73.5%).

Technical notes
These data are drawn from the PISA Surveys in 2000 and 2006. All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they may be subject to bias in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

This item was only asked in Ireland for the PISA Survey in 2006 and accordingly there are no international data.

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