The dual-pathway model of bulimic pathology proposed by Eric Stice (2001) has been popular for explaining the mechanism of why binge-eating occurs. According to him, body dissatisfaction led by social pressure to be thin and the internalization of the thin-ideal body image arouse two pathways of dieting and negative affect, and then generates binge eating behavior. The purpose of this research is then to examine the factors contributing to binge eating behavior among Women’s College students in Japan by using the Dual Pathway Model of Stice. The analysis identified another pathway leading to binge eating : binge eating occurs not only by negative affect generated by body dissatisfaction but also by negative affect arising from daily stress. In other words, there are two pathways leading to binge eating : sociocultural and individual-stress routes.

The sleep situation of 43 sets of mothers and 3- or 4-month-old babies was monitored by using ActiGraph and relations between the nursing situation and the childcare stress of mothers were investigated. Sleep time, awaking time and sleep efficiency of mothers were 351.5±61.1 minutes 83.3±32.5 minutes and 80.0%, respectively, indicating their poor sleep state. Positive correlations between mothers and babies were observed in awaking time at midnight and the sleep efficiency, however, not in the frequency of awakenings. There was no correlation between naptime of babies and sleep indexes of mothers and babies. About half of the awaking time of mothers at midnight was spent for breastfeeding. In case of breastfeeding at midnight, the sleep efficiency of the mother seems to be better when she awoke after the baby. The longer the time required for breastfeeding, the lower the sleep efficiency of mothers and babies. Mothers seem to feel stronger stress to the time required for one feeding at midnight regardless of the sleep efficiency, total time or frequency of awakenings for midnight feeding. Because strong correlation in the length of one feeding was observed between at daytime and at midnight, it is possible for mothers to enhance self-efficacy and to reduce childcare stress by supporting to shorten the time required for one feeding. Therefore, the appropriate nursing instruction is thought to be effective necessary not only for the physical care but also for the mental care of mothers.

We conducted dietary education classes for children and their parents to promote their vegetable intake. Participants were administered a questionnaire regarding their habitual vegetable intake and the effects of using “Vegetable sheet”, an educational tool we designed for use at home. The majority (81%) of parents rated their children’s previous (pre-class) overall food intake as “appropriate” and 11% as “low”, while the largest proportion, only 46%, considered their children’s vegetable intake as “appropriate”, followed by “low”, at 38%. When parents were asked about obstacles to and difficulties in getting their children to eat vegetables, the largest proportion (59%) reported “not eating or finishing vegetables they disliked”, followed by “parents’ lack of knowledge about vegetable dishes that the children would enjoy” (30%), “eating a very small amount of vegetables” (26%). The most common consumption frequencies for each vegetable were as follows: Japanese mustard spinach, broccoli, and pumpkin, rarely (46, 54, and 54%, respectively) : spinach and bell peppers, and carrots, 2-3 times/week (69, 50%, and 54%, respectively); cabbage, 4-5 times/week (54%); tomatoes, almost every day (54%). “Vegetable sheet” was a dietary education tool on which children placed stickers to represent their vegetable intake at home. Parents reported that this tool aided in “increasing the children’s vegetable intake” (75%), “encouraging the children to eat vegetables they disliked” (53%), and “increasing the frequency of serving vegetable dishes to the children” (62%). Furthermore, 75% expressed their willingness to continue to use the tool, indicating that these participants acknowledged its usefulness. Changes in vegetable intake during the long-term use of “Vegetable sheet” need to be examined in future studies using a larger sample.

A questionnaire survey on measurement of bone strength and lifestyle factors was conducted in 291 subjects (108 men and 183 women) who were users of welfare centers for the elderly in Osaka Prefecture and cooperated with the survey. The mean age, height, weight, and BMI of the men and women were 74.2 years (range : 61 to 90 years) and 72.9 years (range : 60 to 93 years), 161.2cm and 149.4cm, 60.2kg and 51.4kg, and 23.1kg/m² and 23.0kg/m², respectively. Bone strength was higher in men than in women ; for both men and women, it was similar to that of the general population of the same age but was about 74% of that of the general population of 20 year olds. The percentage of subjects who had “daily intake” of milk was low (49.5% for men and 65.9% for women), which suggested a possibility of chronic inadequate intake of calcium. For both men and women, no relationship was observed between bone strength and the frequency of intake of beans and milk. For men, bone strength was positively correlated with intake of health foods, such as calcium preparations, and exercise habits. Of the subjects with a high interest in dietary habits, a high percentage of women consumed beans and health foods such as calcium preparations, and a high percentage of both men and women had exercise habits. Based on the above results, raising interest in dietary habits through dietary education and promotion of calcium intake and exercise habits were suggested to be effective for improving the bone strength of elderly people.