Open AccessDoes Mealtime Communication Improve Happiness? Considering the Trait of Shyness 1
Author(s) -
Kimura Shunsuke,
Yano Kosuke,
Oishi Kazuo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/jpr.12304
Subject(s) - shyness , psychology , happiness , trait , developmental psychology , multilevel model , quality (philosophy) , social psychology , anxiety , philosophy , epistemology , machine learning , psychiatry , computer science , programming language
Shared mealtimes have been found to be important daily rituals with positive effects on behavior and mental health, such as increasing subjective well‐being. However, most previous studies have not considered possible barriers to these positive effects, specifically shyness. We investigated the relationships among shared mealtime quality, shyness, and subjective well‐being, and the moderating role of shyness in the relationship between the other two variables by surveying a sample of college students ( n = 305). Correlational analyses revealed that shared mealtime quality was negatively associated with shyness and positively associated with subjective well‐being. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that shared mealtime quality was significantly associated with subjective well‐being, as was the interaction between the friend factor of shared mealtime quality and shyness. Therefore, shared mealtime quality might help improve happiness, but shyness should be considered a possible barrier to this beneficial effect when meals are shared with friends.