Background <p>Eating vegetables first at meals may be associated with mental capital, such as resilience and self-esteem; however, the association has not been well-studied. We examined how trajectories in eating vegetables first from Grade 1 to 6 were associated with resilience and self-esteem at Grade 6 among children in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan.</p> Methods <p>We used data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study (<i>N</i> = 2654). Resilience and self-esteem were measured using the Children’s Resilient Coping Scale reported by parents and the Children’s Perceived Competence Scale reported by children, respectively. Group-based trajectory analysis was performed to identify subgroups of eating vegetables first.</p> Results <p>Four distinct trajectories were identified: “Not eating vegetables first” (<i>N</i> = 1481, 55.8%), “Increase eating vegetables first” (<i>N</i> = 841, 31.7%), “Reduce eating vegetables first” (<i>N</i> = 157, 5.9%) and “Constant eating vegetables first” (<i>N</i> = 175, 6.6%). After adjusting for potential confounders, children in “Constant eating vegetables first” scored higher resilience (<i>d</i> = 0.20, 95% Confidence Interval, CI: 0.004, 0.39) and higher self-esteem (<i>d</i> = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.47) than children in “Not eating vegetables first”.</p> Conclusion <p>Eating vegetables first at meals is associated with mental capital among elementary school children.</p> Impact statement <p><UnorderedList Mark="Bullet"> <ItemContent> <p>Four trajectory groups can be identified based on the probability of eating vegetables first.</p> </ItemContent> <ItemContent> <p>Children who “Constant eating vegetables first” from Grade 1 to Grade 6 had higher mental capital scores (resilience and self-esteem) in Grade 6 than children who did “Not eating vegetables first”.</p> </ItemContent> <ItemContent> <p>Eating vegetables first at meals is associated with mental capital among elementary school children.</p> </ItemContent> <ItemContent> <p>Further research is recommended to explore the mechanism of how eating vegetables first affects child mental capital.</p> </ItemContent> </UnorderedList></p>