Want to help your child with asthma breathe easier? Eat dinner together as a family on a regular basis, a new study published in the February issue of The Journal of Child Psychology has found.

Researchers studied 63 children, ages 9-12, with persistent asthma for six weeks, looking at their physical and mental health, monitoring their medication use and recording a family meal on video camera.

What they found: Asthma severity is linked to the development of separation anxiety symptoms, but family interaction can help.

“In this study, we identified one important practice that makes a difference,” said Barbara Fiese, a UI professor of human and community development and director of the UI’s Family Resiliency Center. “Supportive interaction during family mealtimes helps increase a child’s sense of security and eases separation anxiety symptoms. And when children are less anxious, their lung function improves.”

Fiese said children need regularity and predictability, and a supportive, organized environment at mealtime puts a child at ease.

“When families are overwhelmed or lack the skills to keep routines in place, there are often physical and psychological costs to their children . Left untreated, separation anxiety can lead to adult panic disorder,” she said.

Shared family meals are important because few other family activities are repeated so regularly and they allow kids to build expectations about how their parents and siblings will react from day to day, Fiese said. Plus, she adds, mealtimes give parents a chance to keep tabs on a child’s symptoms and remind them to take their medicines and plan ahead for the next day’s events.

The study was co-authored by researchers at Syracuse University, National Jewish Health, Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and the University of Colorado, Denver, School of Medicine. It was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
 

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