TY - JOUR
T1 - Family Meal Practices and Well-Being in Hong Kong
T2 - The Mediating Effect of Family Communication
AU - Ho, Henry C.Y.
AU - Mui, Moses
AU - Wan, Alice
AU - Yew, Carol
AU - Lam, Tai Hing
AU - Chan, Sophia S.
AU - Stewart, Sunita M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was a part of the project titled “FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society,” which was funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - The literature has provided substantial evidence for the positive associations between family meals and well-being. The underlying mechanism of this relationship has not been explicitly examined. The Happy Family Kitchen II project was a cluster randomized controlled trial of a community-based family intervention. Using data from this project, this article examined the direct and indirect associations among family meal practices, family communication time and quality, and well-being in Hong Kong. A total of 1,261 participants completed a self-administered questionnaire at baseline, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks. Cross-sectional and prospective mediation analyses showed that family meal and family meal preparation indirectly influenced family health, happiness and harmony, subjective happiness, and mental and physical quality of life through their effects on family communication quality. In contrast, family communication time was a weaker mediator of these effects. These findings highlight the role of quality rather than quantity of family communication in promoting well-being.
AB - The literature has provided substantial evidence for the positive associations between family meals and well-being. The underlying mechanism of this relationship has not been explicitly examined. The Happy Family Kitchen II project was a cluster randomized controlled trial of a community-based family intervention. Using data from this project, this article examined the direct and indirect associations among family meal practices, family communication time and quality, and well-being in Hong Kong. A total of 1,261 participants completed a self-administered questionnaire at baseline, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks. Cross-sectional and prospective mediation analyses showed that family meal and family meal preparation indirectly influenced family health, happiness and harmony, subjective happiness, and mental and physical quality of life through their effects on family communication quality. In contrast, family communication time was a weaker mediator of these effects. These findings highlight the role of quality rather than quantity of family communication in promoting well-being.
KW - family communication
KW - family meals
KW - family well-being
KW - quality of life
KW - subjective happiness
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U2 - 10.1177/0192513X18800787
DO - 10.1177/0192513X18800787
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054705326
SN - 0192-513X
VL - 39
SP - 3835
EP - 3856
JO - Journal of Family Issues
JF - Journal of Family Issues
IS - 16
ER -