Differences in Self-Assessment Regarding Eating Behaviors among Female University Students Living in Japan, Korea, and Austria

Abstract

Objective: To investigate cross-cultural differences in self-assessments of eating behaviors of female university students who bear responsibility for their own eating behaviors and who will, in the future, likely determine a family’s eating style. Design: A cross-cultural comparison. Setting: Japan, South Korea, and Austria. Subjects: Female university students from Japan (n = 276), Korea (n = 103), and Austria (n = 127). The survey comprised a questionnaire containing ten sections about eating behaviors (eating habits, regular meal times, and frequency of food intake) and eating attitudes. Results: Eating behaviors and attitudes differed significantly among the three cultures. Japanese students practiced healthier eating behaviors than did Korean and Austrian students, on the basis of their variety of food intake and regular consumption of three meals, but rated themselves lower on healthy eating behaviors. Austrian students tended to have more independent attitudes toward eating and food preparation (e.g., “I want to eat only my favorite dishes”) than Japanese or Korean students. Conclusions: Effects of cultural differences in psychological processes, such as self-cognition, emotion, motivation, and values, on self-assessment of eating behaviors is suggested

Correlates of meal skipping in young adults: a systematic review

“…Tanaka et al 2008 [33]JapanCross-sectionalUniversity students (Medicine); 127 (30.4% F)(20.5 ± 0.8 years)Q: B consumption (Every day/Not every day/Completely skipping everyday) “Completely skipping everyday”15.7% skipped BFATIGUE: (+BS)31. Tominaga et al 2012 [56]Japan, Korea and AustriaCross-culturalUniversity students; 276 Japan, 103 Korea, 127 Austria, (100% F)Japan; (19.9 ± 1.2 years), Korea (21.5 ± 1.8 years), Austria (22.3 ± 5.2 years)Q: Frequency of B, L, D (Never/Occasionally/Sometimes/Almost every day) “Never” or “Occasionally” or “Sometimes”JAPAN - 50% skipped B,15% skipped L,17% skipped D.KOREA - 54% skipped B,51% skipped L,46% skipped D.AUSTRIA - 42% skipped B,29% skipped L,47% skipped DETHNICITY: (Austrian –BS), (Japanese –LD and DS)32. Ukegbu et al 2015 [57]NigeriaCross-sectionalUniversity students; 200 (47% F)16–25 years2 × 24 h recalls.…”

“…The included studies were conducted in 15 countries: seven from the United States [1, 12, 31, 36, 44, 62, 63], five from Japan [32, 33, 52, 53, 56] five from Turkey [49, 51, 59–61] three from Nigeria [34, 50, 57] two from Korea [37, 47], Ghana [35, 39] and Poland [54, 55] and one from China [45], Croatia [38], Egypt [41], Greece [43], India [40], Iraq [46], Saudi Arabia [42] and the United Arab Emirates [48]. …”

“…Of the 35 included studies, 17 consisted of primarily female participants (>50%) [1, 12, 31, 35, 38–40, 43–45, 47, 50, 51, 58, 61–63], 10 included female participants only [32, 37, 41, 42, 48, 52, 53, 55, 56, 59], six consisted of primarily male participants (>50%) [33, 34, 36, 49, 57, 60]. One study had an even distribution of male and female participants [54], and one study failed to report the sex distribution of its participants [46].…”

“…Question wording influenced how meal skipping was defined in these binary response questions. Meal skipping was measured numerically by seven studies [1, 31, 32, 36, 46, 51, 54], and categorically by 14 studies [33, 37, 40, 42, 43, 45, 48, 52, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61, 63]. These studies had varying response options and used varying cut points to define meal skipping.…”

“…All 25 of these studies reported breakfast skipping with prevalence rates of ranging from 14 to 88.5%. Lunch skipping was reported by 11 studies [39, 42, 44, 47–50, 56, 57, 59, 61] with rates ranging from 8 to 57%. Dinner or supper skipping was reported in 13 studies, [39, 41, 42, 44, 46–48, 50, 56, 57, 59, 61, 63] with rates ranging from 5 to 47%.…”