Longitudinal study on development of parent-child relationships from the perspectives of physical distance between them

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24530839
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Chukyo University
• Principal Investigator: Kojima Yasuo 中京大学, 心理学部, 教授 (40322169)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 幼児 / 小学生 / 母子 / 離れる / 近づく / 外出 / 発達 / 自立

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Two-hundred and ten families with 3- to 6-year-old kindergarteners participated in the diary-based study concerning physical distances between the mothers and their children for about 3 years. The prescribed questionnaires were posted to the families and the mothers recorded the following 3 types of episodes for 5 consecutive days; (1) mothers leave their children at home solely or with the other persons, (2) both mothers and their children go out, and thereafter act separately from one another, and (3) the children go out without accompanied by their mothers.
The results indicated that in all of the 3 types of mother-child separation described above, frequencies of the episodes increased during the transition from kindergarten to elementary school. Furthermore, the children with the siblings (especially older siblings) spent more time away from their mothers. The findings suggested mutual independence between parents and children proceed through this period.

Free Research Field

発達心理学，家族行動学