• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.679-687
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Recently, there has been an increased interest in the importance of family meals on children's health and nutrition. This study aims to examine if the eating habits and eating behaviors of children are different according to the frequency of family dinners. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The subjects were third-grade students from 70 elementary schools in 17 cities nationwide. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed. The survey questionnaire was composed of items that examined the general characteristics, family meals, eating habits, eating behaviors, and environmental influence on children's eating. The subjects responded to a self-reported questionnaire. Excluding the incomplete responses, the data (n = 3,435) were analyzed using ${\chi}^2$-test or t-test. RESULTS: The group that had more frequent family dinners (${\geq}$ 5 days/week, 63.4%), compared to those that had less (${\leq}$ 4 days/week, 36.6%), showed better eating habits, such as eating meals regularly, performing desirable behaviors during meals, having breakfast frequently, having breakfast with family members (P < 0.001), and not eating only what he or she likes (P < 0.05). Those who had more frequent family dinners also consumed healthy foods with more frequency, including protein foods, dairy products, grains, vegetables, seaweeds (P < 0.001), and fruits (P < 0.01). However, unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g., eating fatty foods, salty foods, sweets, etc.) were not significantly different by the frequency of family dinners. CONCLUSIONS: Having dinner frequently with family members was associated with more desirable eating habits and with healthy eating behaviors in young children. Thus nutrition education might be planned to promote family dinners, by emphasizing the benefits of having family meals on children's health and nutrition and making more opportunities for family meals.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.476-481
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: A higher frequency of family meals is associated with good dietary habits in young people. This study focused on the relationships of family meal frequency with food neophobia and personality traits in adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHOD: For this purpose, we administered a survey to 495 middle school students in Seoul metropolitan city, after which the data were analyzed using the SPSS (18.0) program. Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationships among dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia according to frequency of family meals. RESULTS: Dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia all showed significant differences according to the frequency of family meals. Further, eating regular family meals was associated with good dietary habits (P < 0.001) and was linked with improved extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness/intellect (P < 0.001). On the other hand, it showed a negative relationship with food neophobia (P < 0.001). The relationship between dietary habits and food neophobia showed a negative correlation (P < 0.01). The relationship between dietary habits and personality traits showed a positive correlation (P < 0.01). Lastly, the relationship between personality traits and food neophobia showed a negative correlation (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, the frequency of family meals affects dietary habits, personality traits, and food neophobia in adolescents.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.103-116
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of family mealtime on the childrens' school adaptation. This study uses data from the 2012 Survey on Child Education and School Involvement of Parents by the Center for Family-School Partnership Policy Research at Seoul National University. Survey data was collected from 1500 parents with school-aged children. For the data analysis, Chi sqaure test and hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted. The results of these analyses showed that the numbers of family meals shared averaged 4.26 times per week for breakfast and 4.33 times per week for dinner. There were significant differences in the number of family meals shared together according to school level, residence area, and parent employment status, and household income. In addition, childrens' school adaptation was significantly different depending on school level, parent gender, parent education, and parent employment status. Finally, according to the hierarchical regression analyses, the number of family meals shared significantly predicted childrens' school adaptation. The greater number of family meals shared, the stronger the childrens' school adaptation. These results indicate that family mealtime has a positive effect on childrens' school adaptation. This study suggests that family mealtime is an indicator of family strength and it needs to guarantee family shared time at least to have a dinner together. This study could provide grounds for making family policy and education policy in order to guarantee family shared time.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.465-480
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• 2017

This study examined the relationship between family meal time and emotional well-being for 5,186 fathers who were employed and had at least one child aged under 18 for the years 2009 and 2014 by analyzing their time diaries. In doing so, changes in time spent by fathers on family meals between 2009 and 2014 were also examined along with the factors associated with the amount of meal time for each year in order to understand ways to increase paternal participation in family meals. Analytic results showed that a father's family meal time had a positive association with his time use and life satisfaction; however, fathers who spent more than 40 minutes a day having meals with the family reported the highest score in time use and life satisfaction. The amount of time fathers spent on family meals increased from 38 minutes in 2009 to 43 minutes in 2014, whose change turned out to be mainly attributable to something more than the compositional change in the population between the two years, such as growing public awareness or cultural acceptance of the value of family meal. Fathers in dual-earner households tend to have longer family meal times; however, different factors were associated with their family meal times in 2009 and 2014. Policy implications are discussed in light of the government-initiated dining table education campaign to increase family meal time for the sake of children's character education at home.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.294-304
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between dietary behavior and the nutrient intake status in the youth of rural areas, based on their personal characters such as their sex, age, family type, number of family members, mother's age, occupation, and school career. This study was made by use of a self-administrated questionnaire with a 24-hour recall for 5days as an instrument with 439 randomly selected students. Statistical methods applied to analyze the data were frequency, percent, Willcoxon Rank-sum test, Kruskal-wallis test, x2-test by contingence table, and Spearman's correlation coefficient in non parametric statistical cases. Some of the interesting results are as follows : 1) The correlation between sex and breakfast is highly significant. That is, over 80% of male students had breakfast every day, whereas only about 60% of female students had breakfast every day. Bad table manners and some other problems are insignificant with respect to the personal characters in the relations between the personal characters and eating behaviors. However, the regularity of every meal, the frequency of having meals with other family members, and the frequency of meals eaten out and snacks show significant differences. 2) The mother's occupation does not have any influence on the nutrient intake of their students when the relationship between personal characters and nutrient intake was analysed. On the other hand sex, the mother's school career, the numbers of family members, the type of family, and the income of the family showed significant differences nutrient intakes. 3) The regularity and the frequency of having meals, meals eaten out with their family members, and the table manners during meals showed significant differences in the intake of nutrient elements such as calorie, protein, fat, fiber, calcium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin and vitamin C. However some consideration during meals and problems in eating habit are insignificant with regard to nutrient intake.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.105-118
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance mode of housework related to daily meals. The data for 214 Korean couples living in Seoul and 136 Japanese Couples in Tokyo were collected using structured questionnaires and time diaries. The performance mode of housework were analyzed according to the employment status of wives. The results were as follows; Generally Koreans and Japanese wives had similar patterns in the time use of meals preparation and dish washing. In both nations Husbands seldom participated meals preparation, wives did most part of the work. But Japanese husbands of full-time employed wives spent more time on meals preparation than their Korean counterparts did. Korean wives received more help from other family members and paid labor, on the contrary Japanese wives purchased more ready-made goods for food preparation.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.149-159
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• 2017

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of family meals on eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life among middle school students. A total of 302 participants were recruited from a middle school at Goyangsi. We asked participants about family meals, eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life, using structured questionnaires. Family meal questionnaires were classified according to frequency, rules, and awareness. The findings of this study were as follows. First, there were significant differences between rules(p<0.05) and awareness (p<0.05) of family meals and family type. Second, there were statistically significant differences between frequency and awareness of family meals and eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life. On the other hand, there was a significant difference between rules about family meals and eating behaviors and quality of life. Third, we found that factors of family meal were positively related to the eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life at the level of statistical significance. Finally, we found that participants with a higher frequency of family meals and more positive eating behavior were more likely to higher academic achievement and quality of life than those in lower frequency of family meals and less positive eating behavior among middle school students. The frequency of family meals has a strong effect on higher academic achievement and better quality of life. In conclusion, engagement in family meals was related to better eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life among middle school students. Our findings may warrant further studies to support the benefit of family meals in improving eating behavior, academic achievement, and quality of life among high school students as well as middle school students.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.256-264
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• 2016

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the diet and health status of elderly women according to the family type. Methods: A total of 307 elderly women participated in this study were divided into one of three groups according to their family type: residing with spouse (RSP; n=88), residing with son or daughter (RSD; n=119), and residing alone (RAL; n=100). Chisquare test was used to assess dietary habits and health status of the subjects by the family types. Results: Results demonstrated significant associations between eating regular meals, person preparing meals, coffee intake, and bone fracture experience and family type. Among the three groups, the RSP and RAL groups had a higher percentage for preparing meals by themselves (p<0.001) than the RSD group. The RAL group had a lower percentage for eating regular meals (p<0.01) but a higher percentage for bone fracture experience (p<0.05) than the other groups. There were no significant differences in monthly allowance, self-estimated health status, physical activity, exercise, drinking, and dietary habits such as frequency of consumption of dairy, beans, eggs, fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables among the three groups. Conclusions: The results showed that elderly women residing alone without a son, daughter, or spouse had more diet-related and health problems such as irregular meals and high bone fracture experience. These findings suggested that elderly women residing alone need more attention and support.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.361-375
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• 2018

This study recognizes the changes of the father's role and the importance of family mealtimes as well as examines the individual, family and social contexts surrounding the father's family mealtime. This study analyzed the trend of the father's family mealtime frequency and factors affecting them in order to explore the current conditions of their father's work and family balance through family mealtimes. Data from 492 fathers who have school aged children were collected through an online survey. The overall trend of the frequency of father's family meals showed an average of 2.4 breakfasts and an average of 3.2 dinners per week. The frequency of the father's family meals showed statistically significant differences according to the father's age, children's school age, dual income, weekly working hours, working flexibility, leaving on-time and the priority of work and family. The analysis of hierarchical linear regressions was conducted to determine factors affecting the frequency of father's family mealtime to show that the frequency of father's family mealtime was best explained by father's working conditions and perception variables. Working conditions such as working hours, leaving work on time, working flexibility were significant variables in regards to the father's family mealtime frequency. The father's perception towards parental efficacy, wife's support, and work-family priority were significant factors in regards to the father's family mealtime frequency. This study is meaningful in that it provides basic data on policy making for the compatibility of the father's work and family.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.248-259
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Adequate nutritional intake is essential for good health and well-being. We aimed to compare the nutrient intake from homemade meals, meals sourced externally ("eating out"), and meals from workplace foodservices, as well as the potential association between foodservices used and nutritional quality among adult Korean workers. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationwide cross-sectional survey on the health and nutritional status of the Korean population. Data from 6,845 workers aged 20-64 years were included. A survey on dietary behavior and nutrition was conducted using the 24-h dietary recall method. Nutritional quality was examined using the index of nutritional quality (INQ) score. Higher INQ scores reflected poorer nutritional quality, with insufficient intake of a higher number of nutrients. Multivariate linear regression was used to identify the association between the foodservices used and INQ scores after adjusting for other covariates. RESULTS: We found that foodservice users exhibited a higher 1-day intake of total energy and macronutrients (all P < 0.05) and lower INQ scores (P < 0.01) than non-users. The INQ scores for total daily meals decreased with the frequency of foodservice use (P < 0.01). A significant association was observed between the non-use of foodservices and INQ scores (β = 0.29, P < 0.01) after adjusting for other covariates. CONCLUSIONS: The use of workplace foodservices contributed to higher dietary nutritional quality among workers. This study highlights the importance of expanding the scope of workplace foodservices to promote higher nutritional quality and healthy dietary habits among workers.