This study investigated the relationship between cooking frequency and cooking skills, dietary awareness, dietary experiences and self-efficacy in mothers of infants according to their type of employment. Participants were 1,146 mothers (760 unemployed mothers, 227 part-time employed mothers and 159 full-time employed mothers). We conducted a questionnaire survey about cooking frequency and skills, dietary awareness and experiences and self-efficacy. The main results were as follows: (1) all mothers acquired high cooking skills. In terms of chirashi zushi and hamburger steak, unemployed mothers prepared them more frequency than mothers in full-time employment; (2) there was no difference in dietary experience by type of employment. Full-time employed mothers were much more aware of convenient food choices than unemployed mothers; (3) as a common point, cooking skills and dietary awareness affected cooking frequency. One difference noted was that self-efficacy indirectly affected cooking frequency in unemployed mothers and part-time employed mothers. These results indicated that the difference was seen in time-consuming and high-skill cooking according to the type of employment of infant mothers. Furthermore, it was suggested that self-efficacy was related to cooking frequency in unemployed mothers and part-time employed mothers.

  We administered a questionnaire survey to clarify the degree of university students' comprehension about fibers, and further analyzed how fibers were described in home economics textbooks they had used in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Based on this analysis, we proposed that students should start learning about fibers in home economics at elementary school level. In addition, we also presented a Structural Diagram intended to deepen children's understanding of the nature of fibers.

  The university students exhibited a poor understanding of the origins of natural fibers relative to the raw materials used in chemical fibers, and their knowledge of wool was also vague. While the word “fiber” (sen'i in Japanese) appeared in all home economics textbooks used at elementary school, junior high school, and high school levels, not one included a passages that actually defined fibers. The elementary school textbooks in fact contained passages that risked causing misunderstandings about the meaning of fibers. Both junior high school and high school saw corresponding increases in the number of references to fibers in textbooks at each of these levels. Textbooks at high school level featured more detailed descriptions of new and improved fibers than of natural fibers. Wool was discussed only in terms of the difficulties associated with its handling, which emphasized its negative image.

  Students' learning about clothing practice, which includes learning about fibers, was thus carried out based on insufficient descriptions of fibers in home economics textbooks. To improve this situation, we presented an instructional diagram designed to convey a structural understanding of the relationship between natural fibers and chemical fibers.

  The present study examined the effect of the token economy on clean-up behavior among family members. We conducted experiments with one family (1 man and 3 women), in which the family members consented to the introduction of the token economy. The introduction of the token economy among family members (experiment 1) and the new physical environmental setting that introduced a display shelf for cloths (experiment 2) resulted in an increase in clean-up behavior as a household task. The goods and cloths left in the living room of the home were put in the storage space. In other words, the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the token economy and the new physical environmental setting (introducing a display shelf for cloths).

  This study examines the impact of bi-directional communication on parental support levels via a parent-teacher contact notebook of a child's meals. Data collected via the communication through the contact notebook was divided into one of three categories depending on content: statements of fact, personal responses, and questions. An examination of the teacher and parent exchanges was performed to determine how these three categories of communication altered the interactions between the parent and the teacher. Differences in communication categories were found to affect the manner in which dialogue continued between the parent and the teacher. Communication regarding meals in the parent-teacher contact notebook led to improvement in the parents' psychological state, mutual parent-teacher understanding, and greater communication between the parents and the teacher about the child's general activities related to eating behaviors. An analysis of this study revealed that the teacher revised the contact notebook's content to include not only details regarding the child's meals, but the child's other activities and behaviors as well.