2021 Volume 79 Issue 4 Pages 185-195
Objective: This study aims to elucidate the effects of childhood food-related pickiness, the experience of overcoming it, and the intention to overcome it on stress-coping ability during adulthood.
Methods: Subjects were recruited through an online survey company for a retrospective study. The questionnaires were distributed to nearly 700,000 monitors (20~39 years old); responses were collected until a sample of 400 responses was achieved. The questionnaire included items on food pickiness during childhood, the experience of overcoming it, and the intention to overcome it. We used the Japanese version of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) 13-item questionnaire to assess stress-coping ability during adulthood. This scale consists of three subscales measuring comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness.
Results: The effective response rate was 94.8% (n = 379 of 400). In the sample, 95 subjects (25.1%) considered themselves to have exhibited no food-related pickiness during childhood. Those who did not display pickiness had significantly higher manageability scores than those who did. The SOC scores were notably higher among those who had an intention to overcome their pickiness, compared with those who did not. Moreover, those who intended to overcome their pickiness had significantly higher total SOC scores than those who did not, independent of their experience of overcoming pickiness.
Conclusion: Food pickiness and the intention to overcome it during childhood affect stress-coping ability in adulthood.
