Elementary School Children In Japan Research Articles

Eating Behavior and Childhood Overweight Among Population-Based Elementary Schoolchildren in Japan

This study investigated the relationship between eating behavior and childhood overweight among population-based elementary schoolchildren in Japan. Data was collected from fourth graders (9 or 10 years of age) from Ina Town, Saitama Prefecture, Japan from 1999 to 2009. Information about subjects’ sex, age, and lifestyle, including eating behaviors (eating until full and chewing thoroughly), was obtained using a self-administered questionnaire, and height and weight were measured directly. Overweight was determined according to the definition established by the International Obesity Task Force. Data from 4027 subjects (2079 boys and 1948 girls) were analyzed. Chewing thoroughly was associated with a significantly decreased odds ratio (OR) for being overweight, whereas eating until full significantly increased the OR for being overweight (OR: 1.50, 95% confidence interval: 1.16–1.94) among boys. However, eating until full was not associated with a significantly increased OR for being overweight among the group that reported chewing thoroughly, whereas it was associated with a significantly increased OR for being overweight (2.02, 1.38–2.94) among boys who did not chew thoroughly. In conclusion, eating until full or not chewing thoroughly was associated with being overweight among elementary schoolchildren. Results of this study suggest that chewing thoroughly may be an avenue to explore childhood overweight prevention efforts.

A Two-Wave Panel Investigation of the Influence of Viewing Prosocial Behaviour on Television on the Sociality of Elementary School Children in Japan

To investigate the influence of television viewing on the attentive awareness and actual prosocial behaviour of elementary school children, a causal analysis of data from a two-wave panel survey administered to 487 children in the fourth grade and again in the fifth grade was conducted. Measures of viewers’ attentive awareness included contextual factors such as depictions of reward and punishment, perceived reasons for behaviour and the amount of contact with televised prosocial scenes. The influence of contextual factors relative to viewer empathy was also investigated. The results reveal that simply viewing large quantities of prosocial behaviour scenes does not encourage prosocial behaviour. However, prosocial depictions influence the behaviour of children with attentive awareness of rewards after behaviour and those who attribute reasons for behaviour in accordance with their own developmental levels, suggesting that such contextual information does not uniformly influence viewers, but is adjusted through empathy.

Sleep duration and overweight among elementary schoolchildren: a population-based study in Japan.

Although a number of studies have investigated the relationship of sleep duration to overweight and obesity, studies conducted among population-based elementary schoolchildren have been limited in Japan. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and overweight among elementary schoolchildren in Japan. The study subjects were all fourth-grade schoolchildren (9 or 10 years of age) in Ina-town, Saitama Prefecture, Japan from 1999 to 2008. Information concerning each subject's sex, age, and lifestyle was obtained using a self-administered questionnaire, while measurements of his or her height and weight were carried out. Childhood overweight was determined according to the definition established by the International Obesity Task Force. Data from 3,433 children were analyzed. In logistic regression analysis, a statistically significant dose-response relationship was observed between sleep duration and overweight among boys (p for trend = 0.014) but not among girls (p for trend = 0.149). Short sleep duration was associated with childhood overweight, and the sex difference in the association was observed. These findings suggested that it is important to consider sleep duration as part of any program to prevent overweight among elementary schoolchildren, especially among boys.

A Novel Subjective Sleep Assessment Tool for Healthy Elementary School Children in Japan

BackgroundA child’s sleep pattern is important in defining his or her mental and physical well-being. Although we have reported previously on the utility of collecting 2 weeks of daily sleep logs, this type of record keeping is often onerous for the parents. Therefore, we established a new questionnaire, called the Japan Children’s Study Sleep Questionnaire (JCSSQ), which is used to collect sleep pattern data over 4 weeks, including weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.MethodsTwo parent-administered sleep assessment tools, the JCSSQ and a daily sleep log, were used to examine the sleeping patterns of 105 school children (58 boys and 47 girls; age range, 6–12 years) in Fukuoka, Japan. Parents were requested to record sleep logs for 14 days after the JCSSQ. Sleep/wake status was recorded on the sleep log, from which data on the parameters of “sleep onset time”, “waking time”, “sleep period”, and “number of nights waking” were extracted.ResultsThere were no significant differences between the JCSSQ and the logs for waking time data collected on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. However, there was a significant difference (P = 0.03) between the JCSSQ and the sleep logs with respect to the sleep onset time data collected on Saturdays.ConclusionsThe JCSSQ was easy to fill out, and the data collected using the JCSSQ on weekdays were both valid and generally consistent with those collected using sleep logs. However, for sampling on Saturdays and Sundays, the JCSSQ data did not correlate with the sleep log data.

Sleep bruxism and its relationship to sleep habits and lifestyle of elementary school children in Japan

This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the influence of sleep habits, sleep problems, and lifestyle on sleep bruxism in Japanese elementary school children. In study 1, to confirm the reliability of replies provided by parents on children's sleep bruxism, we compared the scale of sleep bruxism frequency from questionnaires with actual sleep bruxism tooth wear in 49 elementary school children (22 males and 27 females). In study 2, a total of 1956 children (973 males, 983 females; mean age, 8.8 ± 1.8 years) and parents living in metropolitan Tokyo participated. Parents answered questionnaires on sleep habits, sleep problems, and lifestyle. Participants were classified as severe bruxism group (s-Bx) and non-severe bruxism group (ns-Bx) according to the frequency of sleep bruxism. The six grades were summarized into three categories: 1st/2nd grades (grades 1/2), 3rd/4th grades (grades 3/4), and 5th/6th grades (grades 5/6). The results suggest that the incidence of sleep bruxism in Japanese children living in Tokyo is strongly related to the disturbance of sleep habits and psychological stress, which can be caused by an owl-type lifestyle in children and parents.

Prevalence of atopic dermatitis in Japanese elementary schoolchildren

Although there have been several reports on the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in Japanese schoolchildren based on questionnaires, there has been no nation-wide study of the frequency of this condition diagnosed by dermatologists in regular health check-ups of schoolchildren. The objective of this work was to evaluate precisely the prevalence of AD in elementary schoolchildren in Japan based on regular health check-ups by dermatologists. In 2001/2, elementary schoolchildren: first graders (age 6-7 years) and sixth graders (age 11-12 years) were examined by dermatologists in eight prefectures of Japan (Hokkaido, Iwate, Tokyo, Gifu, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kochi and Fukuoka). In each prefecture, public elementary schools were randomly selected from urban and rural districts. We planned to examine about 700 schoolchildren in each of urban first, urban sixth, rural first and rural sixth grades from the eight areas, a total of 22 400 children (700 x 4 x 8). AD was diagnosed by the dermatologists based on the Japanese Dermatological Association criteria for the disease. The point prevalence of AD was 11.2% overall (2664 of 23 719) ranging from 7.4% (Iwate) to 15.0% (Fukuoka) in the eight areas. Seventy-four per cent, 24%, 1.6% and 0.3% of those afflicted were in the mild, moderate, severe and very severe groups, respectively. Overall, the prevalence of first graders was slightly higher than that of sixth graders (11.8% vs. 10.5%, P < 0.01). There was no apparent difference in prevalence between urban and rural districts, or between boys and girls. The prevalence of AD in Japanese elementary schoolchildren was about 10%, three-quarters of those being mildly affected. This is the first nation-wide study made of Japanese elementary schoolchildren examined by dermatologists to evaluate the frequency of AD.

Ecological association of water hardness with prevalence of childhood atopic dermatitis in a Japanese urban area

The prevalence of symptoms of atopic eczema among Japanese children aged 6–7 years is the second highest in 56 countries. Reasons for such a high prevalence are unknown. This ecological study examined whether the positive association of water hardness with atopic dermatitis among British primary-school children also exists in Japan. Study subjects were 458,284 of 489,725 children, aged 6–12 years, in 1,016 public elementary schools in Osaka Prefecture with 44 municipalities. The study used data on water hardness and chlorine content of the water supply; prevalence of atopic dermatitis diagnosed by physicians and episodes of wheezing reported by the parents; and potential confounding factors by socioeconomic and health care status per municipality. The prevalence of atopic eczema was significantly higher in the highest water hardness category than that in the lowest (24.4% [ n=2,288/9,362] and 22.9% [ n=77,408/33,8267], respectively; adjusted odds ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval 1.06–1.18; P<0.0001 for trend). A significant and slightly J-shaped relationship between chlorine content of the water supply and prevalence of atopic dermatitis was observed after adjustment for confounding factors. There were no apparent associations of water hardness and chlorine content of the water supply with prevalence of wheeze. Water hardness may increase the risk of atopic dermatitis among elementary-school children in Japan, as well as in the United Kingdom.

Comparison of attitudes towards school lunch by elementary school children in Japan, Korea and Thailand

Comparison of attitudes towards school lunch by elementary school children in Japan, Korea and Thailand

Comparison of attitudes towards school lunch by elementary school children in Japan, Korea and Thailand

AbstractThe attitudes of elementary school children towards school lunch among three Asian countries, namely Japan, Korea and Thailand, were compared. More school children in Japan felt that their teachers gave them advice during the school lunch programme. Japanese and Korean teachers advised their children to eat as much as possible of the lunch. Korean children may be a little more obedient with regard to heeding the advice. However, few teachers in Thailand gave the children advice over eating lunch, and the Thai children looked forward to and enjoyed the school lunch. The different responses between Thailand and other two countries may be attributed in part to the differences in the teachers' instruction in the programme. Elementary school teachers, especially in Thailand and Korea, have to take more classes in food and nutrition in universities or colleges, and positively take part in the school lunch programme.

Locating Self in the World: Elementary school children in Japan, Macau and Hong Kong

In the so-called 'global age', the issue of how children learn to locate themselves in the world is an important one. Working from a foundation of theories related to globalisation, identity development and citizenship education, this paper describes the findings of a research project which explored elementary school children's geographical and affective location of the self in Japan, Macau and Hong Kong. Analysis and discussion of Japanese education policy is then presented in an attempt to explain the finding that Japanese children are far less likely than their counterparts in Hong Kong and Macau to locate themselves in an international sphere.

Relationship between gingival health and dental caries in children aged 7-12 years.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between gingival health and dental caries in elementary school children in Japan. The subjects were 474 children aged 7 to 12 years who attended dental check-ups at an elementary school. The Oral Rating Index for Children, which consists of five categories (+2, +1, 0, -1, -2), was used to rate the findings of the gingival health examination. The dental examination was performed using the WHO caries diagnostic criteria for DMFT. Children were divided into three groups: a healthier group (H-group) made up of those scoring +2 (excellent) or +1 (good), an equivocal group (E-group) made up of those scoring 0, and a gingival less-healthy group (L-group) made up of those scoring -2 (very poor) or -1 (poor). Overall percentages for the H-group, E-group and L-group were 48.3%, 21.5% and 30.2%, respectively. The number in the L-group increased with increasing age. The mean scores of the DT and DMFT in the H-group were significantly lower than those in the L-group (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). The results suggest that oral hygiene instruction should be given to children in order to motivate self-care, not only to avoid dental caries but also to prevent gingivitis.

Exposure of Japanese school children to smoking-related environmental factors.

Japan has no legal restrictions on cigarette advertising and vending machines. This lack of smoking control measures is a possible contributor to smoking initiation by adolescents. This study was conducted to provide primary data on environmental factors related to smoking, such as cigarette advertising and candy cigarettes, that influence elementary school children in Japan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a self-administered questionnaire at two elementary schools in Kitakyushu City, Japan in 1995. Questionnaire sheets were anonymously filled out by 282 elementary school children at school. The effective response rate was 91.5% (128 boys and 130 girls). Over 90% of respondents had seen cigarette advertising on TV, candy cigarettes and cigarette vending machines. Over 75% had at least one smoker in their family. Fewer female children expressed an intent to smoke in the future despite the fact that there were no significant sex differences in smoking-related experiences. Children were higher exposed to cigarette advertising on TV, candy cigarettes, vending machines and family members' smoking. Control of such smoking-related factors in the environment would be crucial to keeping children from initiating smoking behavior.

Curriculum and achievement in mathematics: A study of elementary school children in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

Curriculum and achievement in mathematics: A study of elementary school children in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

Curriculum and achievement in mathematics: A study of elementary school children in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

Curriculum and achievement in mathematics: A study of elementary school children in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States.

Values, Attitudes, and Social Concepts of Japanese and American Children

THE data reported here constitute one unit of a larger investigation. The whole investigation is focused upon children's values, attitudes, and social concepts, but different methods and subjects are used in each of three units. In the unit presently under discussion, value-attitude-concept systems are approached through analyzing the occupational aspirations of elementary school children in Japan and in the United States.' What the children told us of their occupational aspirations and the reasons for them provides a basis for inferences concerning systemic features of the social views held by the young of the two nations. These features in turn suggest patterns and themes prominent in the cultures where the children's thinking has been shaped. In comparing responses of children in these culturally remote but increasingly connected areas, we have been able to identify aspects of Western-inspired culture in the views of Japanese children, and to get some measure of their relative magnitude. In this study, as in the other units of the larger project to which it belongs, the methods of gathering and handling data reflect our assumption that children can serve as anthropological-style informants, being qualified like their elders by membership in a society and command of a limited part of that society's culture. It is reasonable to assume that children not only can but should be solicited to act as informants, since their very naivet6 offers advantages. They can tell us first-hand and without retrospection what their society and culture look like through their eyes, or what childhood is like with respect to its perceptions of society and culture. With Powdermaker (1956), we assume that an informant is still such though he speaks through devices other than the field ethnographer's interview, and that data elicited through asking him to state some of his views in writing may be functionally equivalent to interview-elicted data.