College Students' Dinner Groups

An abstract of a study by Ball and Brown discovering how college students conduct dinner groups and students' perceptions of the benefits and difficulties of participation is presented. Dinner groups were defined as a group of 3 or more people cooking and eating together 4 or more times a week is presented. During adolescence, family meals provide many benefits; college students' dinner groups may be able to provide similar benefits. Results show that nearly all students felt that they ate better and enjoyed participating in a dinner group. Promoting dinner groups may be an option for improving college student eating; however, future research is needed to assess actual dietary intake.