Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 194 (2)

Effects of Family-Togetherness on the Food Selection by Primary and Junior High School Students: Family-Togetherness Means Better Food

ATSUKO KUSANO-TSUNOH, HARUO NAKATSUKA,¹ HIROSHI SATOH,² HIROYUKI SHIMIZU,³
SHIGEYUKI SATO,⁴ ICHIO ITO,⁵ AKIRA FUKAO⁶ and SHIGERU HISAMICHI⁷

Shinshu University Faculty of Education, Nagano 380-8544,
¹Miyagi University School of Nursing, Taiwa 981-3298,
²Department of Environment Health Sciences, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575,
³Department of Public Health, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu 500-8076,
⁴Furukawa and Shida Association of School Health, Furukawa 989-6116,
⁵Ito Clinic, Sanbongi 989-6321,
⁶Department of Public Health, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata 990-2331, and
⁷Department of Public Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575

To see how different foods were selected depending on family-togetherness at breakfast and dinner, we investigated the meals of eight thousand primary and four thousand junior high school students by questionnaire. About 70% of primary school children but less than 50% of junior high school children ate breakfast with their family. The food, eaten by children who ate meals together with their family, took more time for cooking and was more traditional with rice as the staple. Food eaten by children who did not eat with their family lacked both preparation time and staple base. Family-togetherness affects the foods of primary school children more than those of junior high school students.

Keywords —— family togetherness; food; nutrition; children

© 2001 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 194, 121-127

Address for reprints: Kusano-Tsunoh Atsuko, Ph.D., Shinshu University Faculty of Education, 6 Nishi Nagano, Nagano 380-8544, Japan.

e-mail: tsunoha@gipnc.shinshu-u.ac.jp