In a recent survey of more than 5 000 adolescents the teens who reported eating the most meals with their families were the least likely to use illegal drugs tobacco or alcohol Family meals were also associated with higher grades better self esteem and lo

In the proposed survey by a Science daily, it was concluded that the higher the number of family meals teens have, lower will be their chances of engaging in bad behaviors. The proposed conclusion is a victim of less research and vague logic and is certainly full of various unanswered questions and assumptions.

First and the foremost fallacy is that the behavior and academic performance of crores of teens are being generalized through a survey involving a mere 5000 teens. Statistically, this is a very small data set to extrapolate the behavior among all the teens. Had the survey involved a larger data set of the teens who take their meals with families, there can be some amount of credibility in going deeper into the argument proposed in the survey.

Now, even if the data set had been larger, the assumption that the teens who reportedly eating the most meals with their families were the least likely to use illegal drugs, tobacco, or alcohol, is completely naive and unjustifiable. There can be numerous factors that play a role in deciding the habits of a teen, regardless of whether he is having meals with his family or not. There may be a case where a teen is having meals with his family but staying outside most of the time, with his group of junky friends or the family itself is containing those bad habits or the teen is spending most of the time on his own except the family meals, and is stealthily being involved in all those illicit activities. In all these cases, merely having meals with the family won't prevent a teen from not being involved in the consumption of alcohol or other illegal drugs.

Moving on, the other severe assumption claims that family meals lead to higher grades, better self-esteem, and lower rates of depression. This also has a lot of logical holes in it. There can be scenarios where the teen is a born talent or he is spending most of the time in study circles constituting his erudite friends or he lives in a hostel but just joins his family for meals or his family is creating a healthy ambiance where parents are regularly communicating with their children, helping them with their studies, conducting family extempore sporadically and all this is leading to the teen's better self-esteem and good academic performance. Merely, having food with the family can't be taken as the sole reason for a teen's higher grades, better self-esteem, and lower rates of depression.

Culminating the discussion, it is true that family dinners and meetups are very essential for inculcating an atmosphere of positivity and optimism for the teens and ultimately play a crucial role in their morale and academics but the fallacies and assumptions taken by the survey can also not be ignored and it can't be concluded that having a high number of family meals keeps teens from engaging in bad behaviors. Had the survey presented some specific data about all the above-mentioned loopholes and hit the right set of questions, it could have led to a more mature conclusion.