What is the role of family meals and social eating behaviour in relation to experiential avoidance in adolescents among Spanish adolescents? the EHDLA study.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to analyse the associations of family meals and social eating behaviour (SEB) with experiential avoidance (EA) in adolescents from Spain. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 617 adolescents (aged 12-17 years, 56.7% females) from the Eating Habits and Daily Life Activities study from Results: For each further point in SEB, a lower estimated marginal mean (M) of the AAQ-II was observed (-0.86 points, 95% CI -1.39 to -0.33, p=0.001). In terms of family meal status, the highest AAQ-II score was found in those with low family meal status (M=20.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 18.1 to 22.2), followed by participants with medium family meal status (M=19.2, 95% CI 17.0 to 21.4) and those with high family meal status (M=18.8, 95% CI 16.1 to 21.0). Significant differences were observed between participants with high SEB status and their counterparts with medium SEB (p=0.004) or low SEB (p<0.001). Conclusions: This research revealed a significant relationship between SEB and EA and a non-significant relationship between the frequency of family meals and EA. Promoting positive social eating environments and increasing family meal participation could help reduce the prevalence of EA and its negative consequences in adolescents.