Not at the Dinner Table: Caregiver Engagement with Personal Devices and Their Child in Restaurants

  This observational study of caregiver engagement with personal devices and their child in family-friendly restaurants compared Canadian families with past studies to determine parent-child communication and parental levels of engagement with their personal device in the presence of their child; and the accuracy of the hypothesized result of a negative relationship between the number of people seated together and the duration of time each individual spends on a personal device. More specifically, to note if larger gatherings of people seated together in family-friendly restaurants is associated with decreased time spent on personal electronic devices for caregivers. The study compared Canadian data with data collected in similar studies conducted in Europe and the United States to help inform psychologists, social workers and other caregivers who work with parents of children aged 12 and under.