2023 Volume 74 Issue 6 Pages 332-345
This longitudinal study was carried out to investigate the relationship between "sense of family meals" (SFM) and psychological well-being at two timepoints (T1 and T2), using data obtained from 469 students at a public junior high school in Gifu. More precisely, this study examined the relationship between T1 meal related factors (i.e., the number of dishes, the number of family members at the table, helping practices) and T2 psychological well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, depression), mediated by T1 meal time communication and SFM. The results found that the number of people at the table was related to meal time communication, and was thus associated with students' levels of life satisfaction and depression, both of which were mediated by SFM. These findings suggested that the T1 formation of SFM had contributed to T2 students' psychological well-being, and that individual SFM played a pivotal role in these models.
