Food, Family, and the Factors Influencing the Frequencies and Characteristics of Family Dinners in America

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Brain, David

Keywords

Family Dinner, Time, Rush, Haste

Area of Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation into the factors influencing the frequencies of family dinners, which allowed for an examination of contemporary family life in America. Dinner was chosen because it is the most social meal of the day and because of the meal�s potential for being a powerful site of socialization. Historical research was used to explain the context leading to the formation of family dinners, which began as a reaction to the industrial revolution started by the Protestant middle-class during the 1850s. After the history chapter, the frequency of family dinners since the 1970s was found in existing literature, and was compiled with existing information pertaining to what influences the frequency of family dinners. Nine semistructured interviews were conducted in order to gain perspective on contemporary American families. The results suggest that the following factors are positively associated with dinner frequency: desire to maintain the structure of the meal, planning and scheduling dinner in advance, having culinary knowledge or a positive outlook towards preparing food, and having a dedicated stay at home parent.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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