Managing the "Eat-and-Run" Behavior of Adolescents via Family-Style Dining

Abstract
Adolescents in a residential treatment program were observed to eat meals too quickly, then leave the dining room and congregate in an area where they were less closely supervised by staff. This "eat-and-run" dining pattern was interrupted by replacing the regular cafeteria-style dining arrangements with a special family-style dining arrangement. Effects of the family-style intervention on the "eat-and-run" problem were demonstrated in a repeated-reversals, time-series experimental design. The main effects of this intervention were observed for all subjects.