2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A Psychological Study of the Choice of Nationality by U.S.-based Children of American-Japanese Intercultural Marriages

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23402056
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	海外学術
Research Field	Educational psychology
Research Institution	Tokyo City University
Principal Investigator	RIE Yabuki 東京都市大学, メディア学部, 准教授 (30453947)
Project Period (FY)	2011-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	日米国際結婚 / 国籍選択
Research Abstract	The purpose of this research is to identify family and life-span developmental psychological factors that influence cultural identity and the choice of nationality ofchildren of American-Japanese intercultural marriages living in the U.S. Ethnographical interviews were administered to 10 Japanese wives and their adolescent or older children. Interim results show that factors determining cultural identity include: "number years lived in Japan","number of years in Japanese Saturday School in US", "relationship they had with friends in Japanese Saturday School".Factors for fathers include whether or not the father:"had lived in Japan","likes Japanese culture", "work is related to Japan".Family factors include whether the family "can afford vacations in Japan","vacation in Japan was enjoyable for children."The most important factor influencing cultural identity was the Japanese wives' attachment to the Japanese community in the U.S.