Longitudinal study on home rage of first-time mothers by using orbits of Global Positioning System.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21653068
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Educational psychology
Research Institution	Chukyo University
Principal Investigator	KOJIMA Yasuo 中京大学, 心理学部, 准教授 (40322169)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2011)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000) Fiscal Year 2009: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Keywords	GPS / 日誌 / 生態学的視点 / 母親 / 子ども / 外出 / 縦断研究 / 環境 / 子育て / モノ
Research Abstract	Eight first-time mothers were asked to list the places they went outside from birth to age 2 of their young children. One of the mothers was also tracked on location by using Global Positioning System five consecutive days every month during 9 months from the birth. The data revealed that the mothers spent almost every day at home with their children during 1 to 2 months from the birth. For a while after "satogaeri"(their perinatal visit and stay with their parents), some mothers frequently visited their parent's and/or relative's home with their young infants. Also, during this period the mothers were likely to go outside with their husbands and/or their own parents(the children's grandparents), perhaps showing "running-in period". Afterwards while 4 and 5 months after birth, most of the mothers became increasingly to go to various places alone with their young infants. During the second years of the children, unemployed mothers became more frequent to participate in the child-care groups. In addition, some of their partners(the children's fathers) sometimes went outside alone with their children for several hours.