• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2008

This study investigated attitudes and behaviors related to family meals among middle and high school students. Furthermore, it evaluated the dietary quality of family meals as compared to meals eaten alone. The data were collected between March and May, 2006, from 353 male and female students attending middle and high schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, using pre-tested self-administered questionnaires. The following results were obtained. In terms of family meal frequency, 44.0% of the middle school students ate with their family 'more than once per day', and 19.3% participated in family meals 1 or 2 times per day. However, only 16.4% of the high school students had family meals 'more than once per day', and 32.9% participated in family meals '1 or 2 times per a week', showing a significant difference between the groups (p<0.001). Fifty-nine percent of the middle school students answered they ate with their family everyday or on week days, whereas 67.8% of the high school students had family meals only on holidays (p<0.001). The nutrient intakes of those participating in family meals were compared to the intakes of those who ate meals alone. For both males and females, calorie intake was higher for those who ate family meals. Animal protein intake was significantly different (p<0.001) between groups, with the results showing a two-fold higher intake for those eating family meals as compared to meals alone. In addition, the intake of animal fat was significantly higher in the family meal group (p<0.001); however, plant-based fat intake was higher in the meal alone group.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.272-281
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• 2013

To study the importance of family meals in adolescents, 251 middle school students were surveyed through a questionnaire on their family meal patterns, dietary behaviors, food intake, and life satisfaction. The family meals were defined as "meals with all family members living together" by 62.2% of the students. For the frequency of family meals, 42.2% of the students replied having family meals "More than once a day". A common reason for the difficulty in having a family meal was a "lack of time" (73.3% of the students). Students tended to respond that they would be most fond in having meals with entire family members with traditional Korean food. Having more frequent family meals was found to benefit both individual and familial dietary behavior. In terms of food intake according to the frequency of family meals, the group having frequent family meals consumed significantly more rice, tofu, legumes, meats, fishes, eggs, green vegetables, seaweeds, fruits, milk, and milk products. This indicates that students can achieve a balanced diet through family meals. In terms of emotional status, the group having more frequent family meals showed a higher satisfaction with their daily life, health, nutritional status, and care from their relatives. In terms of personal mental status, the group having more frequent family meals was also found to be more effective at controlling undesirable emotions such as loneliness, indignation, and lethargy. As a result of this study, students in the group having more frequent family meals were found to have a positive dietary behavior, a balanced nutrition, a higher life satisfaction, and a more stable mental status. This result is useful as nutritional and educational information in schools to impress upon the public the importance of family meals for adolescents.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.615-625
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• 2007

This study investigated the overall conditions related to family meals, including perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, among middle and high school students. The data were collected from 773 male and female students attending middle and high schools in Seoul and Kyunggi-Do from March to May 2006, using pre-tested self-administered questionnaires. The results are as follows: 78.9% of the subjects lived with their parents and siblings, and 75.7% regarded family meals as meals eaten with all family members living together in a household. As for the frequency of family meals, 40.1% of the middle school subjects answered that they ate with their family 'more than once per day' and 20.8% answered '1 or 2 time per a week'. However 21.0% of the high school students had family meals 'more than once per day', and 31.7% had family meals '1 or 2 times per a week', showing a significant difference between the groups(p<0.001). When the degree of satisfaction with life was evaluated using a Likert scale(strongly satisfied 5 point, strongly unsatisfied 1 point), the middle school students showed a significantly higher level of satisfaction than the high school students towards daily life, health, nutritive conditions, and family care. feelings, attitudes, and behaviors toward family meals were also evaluated(strongly agree 5 point, strongly disagree 1 point), and the results showed that the subjects had positive psychological feelings, with significant differences based on the frequency of family meals. Likewise, the groups who ate frequent family meals scored higher on aspects related to having positive attitudes and behaviors toward the family meal, implying that eating family meals is associated with promoting friendship, psychological stability, and positive thinking in adolescents. These findings suggest that attention needs to he directed toward increasing the frequency of family meals and creating a positive family meal environment.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.169-183
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between family meals and family strengths (cohesion and flexibility) in Korean families with school-aged children. We focused on five dimensions of family meals: frequency, family rituals, communication, rules and roles, and perceptions. Our data came from 619 mothers who were married with at least one child in elementary school. Our multiple regression analyses showed that mothers reported higher levels of both cohesion and flexibility when they gave a higher priority to family meals, made family meals a ritual, had conversations on diverse topics during family meals, or experienced lower levels of meal-related stress. In addition, higher levels of family flexibility were found when a family had more structured rules related to family meals and the father more regularly participated in meal-related housework. This study contributes to the literature by understanding the roles of family meals from a multi-dimensional perspective.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to determine the overall conditions related to family meals-including perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors-among elementary school children. The data were collected from 464 male and female students attending elementary schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do in December 2006 to February 2007, using self-administered questionnaires. The results were as follows: 77.7% of the students regarded family meals as meals eaten with all family members living together in a household. With regard to the frequency of family meals, 40.9% of the students reported that they ate with their family 'more than once per day'. 74.7% of the students reported that they enjoyed family meals because mealtime is a time to talk with other family members. When the degree of satisfaction with life was evaluated using a Likert scale (strongly satisfied-5 points, strongly unsatisfied-1 point), the results showed a significantly higher level of satisfaction with their daily lives, health, nutritious conditions, and family care. Students had more positive psychological feelings as the frequency of family meals increases. Likewise, the groups who frequently ate family meals scored higher in positive attitudes and behaviors toward family meals, thereby implying that the consumption of family meals is associated with the promotion of familial relationships, psychological stability, and positive thinking in children. These findings indicate that attention should be directed toward increasing the frequency of family meals and creating a positive family meal environment.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.140-158
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• 2013

This study analyzed the effect of family meals on the psychological problems of children. We performed focus group interviews (FGI) on the basic characteristics of family meals, and chose several scales (such as Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), self-esteem, and a daily hassles questionnaire), to measure the psychological variables. We collected data from 442 dyads (mother-child) and used 440 from dyads. In our results, the frequency of family meals affected the psychological problems of children, especially aggression and emotional instability. The atmosphere during meals also affected depression/anxiety, concentration difficulties, emotional instability, self-esteem, peer relationships, and sociality. There were significant correlations between meal atmosphere, family bonding, maternal personality, and psychological problems of children. We performed covariation analysis to examine and control the influence of family bonding and maternal personality; despite controlling for these variables, family meals still influenced children's psychological problems. We conclude that the family meal is a significant variable that impacts the emotional and behavioral problems of children and stress the importance of frequent family meals.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyze the family's meals of the daily time use and to examine how shared meals time together with family is influenced by socio-demographic variables. The Time Use Survey data collected by Korean National Statistical Office in 2009 is used. Among the total sample of 21,000 individuals, 9,179 samples who are married, aged from 20 to 59 years old and non-farmers are selected for analysis. The statistical methods are frequency, percentage, and censored regression model. The following is a summary of the major findings. The first, compared with the research results in 1999 and 2004, the time use of meals by adults is longer. But average time of family meals decreases and rates of family meals participants 2009 decrease 5.6% than 1999. Secondly, the family meals time increases from about 36 minutes on weekdays to about an hours at weekends. Regardless of the day, the women's family meals time is longer than that of men's. Thirdly, the influencing factors on family meals are sex, age, education, presence or absence of spouses, monthly income, weekly working hours and presence or absence of preschoolers. And the magnitude of gender differences in daily shared meals is not particularly large except in the case of some socio-demographic variables. Regardless of the day, women's family meals time is more affected by either dual-earner status or monthly income than that of men's.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.99-116
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the frequencies of family leisure activities and family meals and family closeness on the sociality of elementary school children. From October 1 to November 30, 2010, data were collected from 290 elementary school children and their parents residing in Seoul and Incheon. The major findings of this study were as follows. First, there was a significant difference between double-income and single-income families in the frequency of family meals single-income families enjoyed fewer family leisure activities and more family meals than double-income families did. Second, the levels of family closeness were significantly predicted by the frequencies of family leisure activities and family meals, and family meals more significantly predicted the levels of family closeness than did family leisure activities. Finally, the frequencies of family leisure activities and family meals significantly predicted the levels of children's sociality, as did the levels of family closeness. In conclusion, family leisure and family meals are important activities that enhance family closeness and children's sociality.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 2009

Traditional nutrition education has not been shown to consistently produce behavior change. While it has been suggested that using emotion-based messages may be a better way to influence nutrition behavior change, this has not been well tested. Producing emotion-based messages is a multi-step process that begins with exploring subconscious barriers to behavior change rather than the more obvious and typically reported barriers. The purpose of this research was to uncover the emotional reasons, sometimes referred to as emotional pulse points, for mothers' choosing or not choosing to have more family meals. This would then serve as the first step to developing emotion-based messages promoting the benefits of family meals. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 51 low-income Black (n=28) and white (n=23) mothers. Metaphorical techniques were used to determine underlying feelings toward family and family meals. Discussions were video-taped, transcribed, and manually analyzed using a content-driven, immersion/crystallization approach to qualitative data analysis. Four themes emerged around the definition of family: acceptance, sharing, chaos, and protective/loyal. Some mothers felt mealtime was merely obligatory, and described it as stressful. Some reported a preference for attending to their own needs instead of sitting down with their children, while others felt that mealtime should be used to interact with and educate children and felt guilty when they were not able to provide family meals. Three themes emerged around feelings towards having or not having family meals: unimportant, important, and guilty. When explored further, mothers indicated that using the feeling of guilt to encourage family meals might be effective. Data obtained are being used to develop innovative, emotion-based messages that will be tested for effectiveness in promoting family meals.

• Food Quality and Culture
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2007

This study was performed to describe the perceptions of the family mealtime environment in preadolescents, and to determine the frequency of family meals and whether the mealtime environment is associated with nutrient intake. Surveys and 24-hour dietary recalls were completed by 197 children, ages 11 to 12, in elementary schools in the Incheon area. We assessed family meal frequency and the perceptions of the family meal environment with respect to priority, atmosphere, and family mealtime structure. The subject response frequencies and correlations among perceptions of the family mealtime environment, as well as the frequency of family meals and nutrient intake, were analyzed. Having a greater priority for family meals was associated with an increased frequency of family mealtimes. An enjoyable family meal environment was positively correlated with increases in nutrient intake. From the results of this study, we suggest that consideration be placed on opportunities to design nutrition promotion strategies that target families and their children, with respect to promoting family mealtimes and overcoming the barriers to having family meals.