The Influences of Working Situations of the Parents who Usually Prepares Meals for their Children on their Eating Habits

Abstract

We examined the influences of working situation of the parents who usually prepared meals for their children on their eating habits. The subjects were 979 children in two elementary schools and a junior high school in A city and their 781 parents. The subjects were divided into three groups according to their working situations, housewives, employees (<40hr/week), and employees (≧40hr/week). The items of the self-writing questionnaire included the consciousness of the parents for healthy cooking, the eating habits of the parents, the eating education to their children, the worries about the eating habits of their children, the eating experiences of their children, and the school life of their children. Housewives had higher scores than employees in the consciousness of the parents for healthy cooking (P<0.01) and the eating habits of the parents (P<0.05) in both of the elementary schools and the junior high school, and in the eating habits of their children (P<0.05) only in the elementary schools. However, housewives had higher scores than employees in the worries about the eating habits of their children. Present results suggest that the parents of employees needs the measures to promote to have meals with their family in the pleasures of a happy home. On the other hand, the parents of housewives needs the measures to cope with the worries about the eating habits of their children.