Family Security, Personal Immaturity, and Emotional Health in a Japanese Sample

• Published in: Marriage and Family Living 1961-05, Vol.23 (2), p.161-166
• Main Authors: Vogel, Suzanne H., Vogel, Ezra F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bathing; Child care; Child psychiatry; Child rearing; Children; Elementary school students; Emotionally Disturbed; Family Relations; Family Stability; Japan; Kindergarten education; Mental Health; Mothers; Parent Child Relations; Parents; Personality Traits; School age children; Security
• ISSN: 0885-7059; 0022-2445
• DOI: 10.2307/347731

As part of res work on the Japanese fam, 6 cases of emotionally disturbed children & their fam's were followed through the Japanese Nat'l Instit of Mental Health in 1959-1960. A control group matched for SC & general culture patterns was also studied intensively. In the 6 `normal' fam's there is considerable fam security. Though the husband & wife have a relationship somewhat diff from that of the husband & wife in the US, there is considerable positive affect between the spouses & considerable satisfaction with the marriage. As a whole, there is an economically & psychol'ally secure foundation to the marriage & the fam. The evidence from interviews, observations of the children, & psychol'al testing, all indicate s that there are no serious personality disturbances among these children, even though Japanese children do not meet the Western ideal of independence. In these fam's we find a great deal of dependence of the children on the parents for emotional support & for making decisions, & this continues even into adulthood. There are mechanisms in Japanese soc structure which permit the satisfaction of these dependency drives generated within the fam. In general in this situation, there is not a bad fit between the personal immaturity & the soc structure which exists in contemporary Japan, despite the very rapid changes taking place in all sectors of the society. AA.