Mothers everywhere are generally concerned with their children’s health. In Japan, the responsibility rests upon mothers to manage and care for the health of their children and for other family members as well. In fulfilling this role of management and care giving, the Japanese mothers need to apply health psychology, holistic way that combines science, education, and clinical psychology related to health, to help in dealing with this challenge (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).
In order to practice healthy life style to be healthy and enjoy life, as adults, we are conscious that we should eat right and exercise regularly. For lucky some in Japan, tradition of healthy life style was part of their upbringing where at home either mother or grandmother regularly cooked traditional low cholesterol, high soy protein Japanese food, and exercise was built into their daily from walking to schools and belonging to one or more of many youth sports club such as baseball, karate, soccer, basketball, etc. But for many of us, as Japanese lifestyle changed dramatically for the past 50 years, we have been eating massive amounts of highly processed food with high cholesterol contents like food like hamburger and fries from McDonalds, really tasty cakes and ice cream from Seven Eleven. Temptation to sit around and just play video games and watch interesting YouTube videos are all around us now. As the statistics show that one out of five Japanese suffer from lifestyle disease such as high blood pressure and diabetes (Japan Preventive Medicine of Lifestyle Related Disease, 2014).
To help ourselves to begin with, understanding biopsychosocial model would help immensely, as in addition to biological factor in science of selecting and serving good nutritional value food, and value of exercise, we must seek understanding of psychological and social factors about eating and exercising to design intervention plan to change unhealthy habits. For food, it could be something as simple as finding friends who are eating healthy and have lunch with them regularly. For exercise, it could be practicing regular exercise routine such as finding enjoyable nature trail near by to walk for 30 minutes a few times a week with friends or community acquaintances to achieve healthy life. The social influences encourage us and keep us motivated to build and continue routines (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012).
Mothers in Japan have key position in affecting health of Japanese as promoters of health of three generation within their families, because they have strong influence on their aging parents, their spouse and their children. They can also influence other children through active participation in PTA and sports club volunteer work. Mothers of modern time may not be able to cook regularly, but they when they do eat with their family, they can choose healthy food and talk about fun facts while family meal time. Media and peers influences our desires for food, drinks and how we exercise (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012), but in Japan, often mothers still control what young children eat and do. Rather than using persuasion through informational or fear appeals after the children are older and rebellious, strongest and lasting persuasion is best when they are young, and reinforced throughout life at school, for lifetime of health.
In Japan, the responsibility of teaching and training of young children rests heavily upon mothers, and that is the same in many countries globally. Perhaps efforts in promoting health and teaching simple preventive measures such as nutrition and exercise on Internet through trusted media to mothers all over the world would be good alternative next step in intervention.
Resources
Japan Preventive Medicine of Lifestyle Related Disease. “Lifestyle Disease Research and Statistics.” In Japanese. June 7, 2014. Retrieved from http://mhlab.jp/malab_calendar/
Scheneider, Frank W., Gruman, Jamie A., Coutts, Larry M.. Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Second Edition. 2012
Tags: health psychology
I think that education is key when it come to ensuring that children are getting adequate nutrition. Many people have been raised on boxed foods and fast food because they are often a cheap and fast way of getting satisfaction. Even with the vast amount of information to dispute the nutritional value of such foods people still often choose them for convenience and cost purposes.
Another factor to keep in mind even with healthy food such as fruits and vegetables is they too have hidden dangers that many people are not aware of. For instance, we all know that pesticides are used in growing our crop plants. I actually just read a study for another psychology class that talks about the hidden dangers for children. The study sheds light on how those toxic chemical in our food can be viewed as hidden dangers (Landrigan & Carlson, 1995). One apple containing pesticides will be more toxic to a child than it will an adult, simply because the child is smaller. It makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Mother’s are often the primary grocery shoppers for families. How do you think social psychology can educate mothers, or all parents for that matter, in order to help bring a better understanding of the importance of nutrition for children?
References:
Landrigan, P, J and Carlson, J., E., (1995), The future of children, Vol. 5, No. 2, Critical Issues for Children and Youths (Summer – Autumn, 1995), pp. 34-52
Published by: Princeton University Article DOI: 10.2307/1602356
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/stable/1602356