1993 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON CHILDREN'S REACTIONS TO NONTYPICAL PEERS.
| Project/Area Number |
04801032
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Educaion
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| Research Institution | EHIME UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
WATANABE Hirozumi EHIME UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, PROFESSOR, 教育学部, 教授 (30036412)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1992 – 1993
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| Keywords | Nontypical peer / Childhood and adolescence / Cross-cultural study / Homogeneous group / Heterogeneous group / Nationality / 日本人の国民性 |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of the study was to clarify cross-cultural and developmental differences in children's reactions to nontypical or "different" peers.
A questionnaire was given to 908 children in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades in Japan, the United States, and China.
The questionnaire was divided into four parts. Part I asked students to generate for making judgments of differentness in their peers. Part II consisted of brief descriptions of the following six kinds of nontypical children : aggressive, withdrawn, learning disabled, mean, unathletic, and poor. For each description, the student was asked : 1) if he/she would choose to be friends with that child ; 2) how similar or dissimilar he/she is to the child who is "different". Part III consisted of three scenarios in which choices were given between two alternatives - one of a homogeneous, and the other of a heterogeneous, nature. Part IV consisted of three sets of drawings. Each set of drawings contained four pictures of "normal" children and one picture of a child who was "different". The students was asked : 1) how he/she would feel being a member of this group if he/she were, first, the "different" child and, then, one of the "normal" children ; 2) why he/she would feel this way.
Some of the main findings were as follows : 1) Students in Japan, the United states, and China had difficulty in accepting the mean and aggressive child. 2) In the United States and China, as a whole, the scores on the acceptability of nontypical peers diclined between the 5th and the 8th grade. By contrast, in Japan, they became higher with grade. 3) Students in Japan and China chose heterogeneous classrooms. On the other hand, students in the United States chose homogeneous classrooms.
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