Mental Health of Latin Americans of Japanese Descent -Through the Investigation of Nikkei University Students-

1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 07610148
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 教育・社会系心理学
• Research Institution: Tokai University
• Principal Investigator: TSUNOKAWA Masaki Tokai University, Foreign Language Center, Associate Professor, 外国語教育センター第二類, 助教授 (90188607)
• Project Period (FY): 1995 – 1997
• Keywords: Nikkei / Latin America / Immigrants / Identity / Mental Health / Foreign Students / Spanish / Portuguese

Research Abstract

The author applied the MMPI Spanish and Portuguese versions to Latin American students of Japanese descent who have obtained the government scholarship to continue thier studies in Japan. Interviewing them the author collected the data of 16 male and 32 female students.
The results showed that they are generally well adapted to Japanese life of one or two years presenting their MMPi means of almost every scale very similar to Japanese means.
This is probably because they have scholarship and have no worries about their living in Japan. Another factor is that they are undergraduate or graduate students in their mother countries. It means that they have already established their social status.
On the other hand, they always feel that they are between Japan and their country having potentially a conflict of Identity. Some students complains that they belong to neither to Japan nor to thier country of Latin America.
This conflict of national identity can produce in the future some psychological or psychiatric problems also influencing their family members.
We, Japanese investigators are obliged to proceed further studies about thier personality and identity.