Fathers play a huge role in the choices their children make, and according to a new study, those choices include the food they eat.
Researchers analyzed the eating-out habits of more than 300 families with children ages 9 to 11 or 13 to 15. They found that how often fathers ate in fast-food and in full-service restaurants influenced how often their children ate in the same places.
“By far the biggest influence on how often children ate out was the number of times fathers did,” said lead author Alex McIntosh, a professor of sociology at Texas A&M University in College Station. “Fathers’ time in and use of fast-food restaurants increased a kid’s likelihood of going to a fast-food restaurant.”
