Two new studies indicate that teens who participate in family activities are less likely to drink, smoke, use drugs, or engage in risky sexual behaviors.

The first study, from the University of Minnesota, found that teenaged girls who had five or more family meals weekly and had a decreased likelihood of substance abuse. Researchers surveyed 806 teens in 1998 - when the subject were 13 years old - and again five years later. The girls who had five or more family meals a week had only half the odds of abusing cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. However, the effect did not hold true for boys.

The second study, from Boston University, involved 5,000 teenagers and their parents. Those teens whose families spent time together in meals or "just having fun" were less likely to engage in unprotected sex. They also had a lower number of partners and incidences of unprotected sex. Parents who were "controlling and critical," however, increased their teens' chances of engaging in earlier and riskier sex.

Both studies appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Labels: families, parental_involvement, relationships