Comparative Research on Changing Family Structure in North-east Asia: Japan, China and Korea

2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 17330119
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Seijo University (2007); Tokyo Metropolitan University (2005-2006)
• Principal Investigator: ISHIHARA Kunio Seijo University, Faculty of Social Innovation, Professor (00106212)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MATSUDA Sonoko Shukutoku University, The College of Integrated Human and Social Welfare Studies, Professor (30100986) ; TABUCHI Rokuro Sophia University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Associate Professor (20285076) ; HIRAO Keiko Sophia University, Faculty of Humanities, Professor (70158335) ; NISHINO Michiko Toyo University, Faculty of Sociology, Associate Professor (50257185) ; NAGAI Akiko Japan Womens University, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Social Sciences, Associate Professor (10401267)
• Project Period (FY): 2005 – 2007
• Keywords: family / cross national comparison / Japan / China / Korea / micro-level datasets

Research Abstract

In this project it was aimed to develop cross national comparative study on family in North-east Asia through collaboration with leading researchers in China and Korea. Comparative analyses were made upon micro-level datasets collected in three societies. Placing Japanese data (NFRJ) which had been administered by Japan Society of Family Sociology ad the pivot of comparison, Korean data (KNFS03) surveyed by Korean Women s Development Institute and the Family Survey of China (FSC06) which was newly conducted replicating NFRJ were analyzed. This is truly an innovative effort in the field of family study. Papers(in English) on the comparative analyses were read and discussions were made at International Workshop in December 2007. After revising these papers, final report(in English) of this project was compiled.
Discussion on differences and similarities among families in the three societies were presented in the final report, covering such aspects of family life as generational relationship, division of labor between spouses, marital satisfaction, stress and family life, attitude on family, marriage pattern and investment of children s education in stratified society.
However, considerable amount of time which was required for solving problems in the launching process of datasets sharing did not leave enough time for us to accomplish our aim thoroughly. We hope to continue and elaborate our analyses in depth and breadth in the next project which fortunately will be funded again by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C).