Development of a Guideline For Early Childhood Nutrition Education: Development of Children's Food Knowledge Consciousness Depending on Differences in Household Structure

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02330
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08030:Family and consumer sciences, and culture and living-related
• Research Institution: Akita University
• Principal Investigator: Senoo Tomoko 秋田大学, 教育文化学部, 准教授 (00726309)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 榊原 洋一 お茶の水女子大学, 名誉教授 (10143463)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 世帯構造 / 幼児期 / 食習慣 / QOL / SDQ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we investigated whether children’s food knowledge, lifestyle, and parent’s involvement in promoting children’s food knowledge differed according to household structure, and how these differences affect the development of children’s food awareness and dietary habits, in order to establish a new shokuiku (nutrition education) guideline tailored to each child’s home environment. The results confirmed significant differences between the household structures in two main areas: dinner time and children’s mental health. the present study successfully demonstrated the correlation between household structure and children’s mental health/behavior, indicating the importance of providing children with appropriate mental health support from early childhood, in line with their household structure. In addition, the results indicated that children are more likely to enjoy meals if their parents share these with them.

Free Research Field

幼児教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在，一人親世帯の子どもの生活習慣の乱れが問題になっている。しかし，本研究の結果から，一人親世帯の子どもの生活習慣や親の食意識や食認識が，他の世帯構造の生活習慣のありようと異なるわけではないことが明らかになった。その一方で，世帯構造の違いにより精神的健康，特に行動面で違いが見られたことから，世帯構造別に子どもへの関りについて考えることの重要性を示すことができた。本研究は，子どもの基本的食習慣を獲得する基盤としての家庭において，世帯構造の違いを超えて考える必要性が示唆された。子どもの精神的健康については世帯構造別に配慮する必要性が見いだされ，家庭における食教育を行う上で新たな視点を提供した。