New York, Sep 19 (IANS): Couples without kids in the house are just as likely as adults living with young children or adolescents to eat family meals at home on most days of the week, says a US-based study.

"Most people value family meals and engage in this behaviour. The prevalence of never eating family meals or eating together only once a week is low," said senior author Sarah Anderson, an associate professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University in the US.

"We thought the distribution would be different, and we hypothesised that adults with children would be much more likely to eat together as a family. The data showed otherwise," Anderson noted.

For the study, the researchers analysed data on more than 14,000 US adults, comparing family-meal patterns among adults who lived with minor children to households with at least two adult family members and no children under age 19 living with them.

In both types of households, about half of the families ate meals together six or seven days per week, the findings showed.

However, age did affect the family-meal pattern. Among adults who did not live with minor children, the adults who were older ate more family meals than those who were younger.

Almost half of families with children in the home ate family meals most days of the week regardless of the adults' age.

The study is published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.