Basic Survey on Child Rearing in Japan I
- 1: I. Survey Outline / II. Topics - PICKUP DATA 1 (This article)
- 2: II. Topics - PICKUP DATA 2, 3, 4
- 3: II. Topics - PICKUP DATA 5, 6, 7
- 4: II. Topics - PICKUP DATA 8, 9, 10
- 5: II. Topics - PICKUP DATA 11, 12, 13
2. Survey Period: | September to October 1997 | |
3. Survey Subjects: | Parents of pre-school children (born between April 2, 1991 and April 1, 1994), 1st and 2nd graders of primary school. | |
4. Survey Regions: | Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa Prefectures | |
5. Survey Method and the Number of Questionnaires | ||
Survey Method: 21,000 random mailings Respondents: 4,766 *1 (Response: 22.7%) |
Grade | Pre-school | Primary school | Not in Pre-school *3 |
Unknown | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower grade *2 |
Middle grade *2 |
Upper grade *2 |
1st grade | 2nd grade | |||
Responses (%) |
641 (13.9%) |
955 (20.7%) |
879 (19.1%) |
863 (18.7%) |
831 (18.0%) |
438 (9.5%) |
6 (0.1%) |
*1 | Of the parents surveyed, mothers account for 96.8% (4,613). Others, including fathers and grandparents, are 3.2% (153). This report used responses only by mothers. | ||||||
*2 |
This survey uses abbreviations for school grades such as lower grade, middle grade, upper grade, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.
|
||||||
*3 | Children not attending pre-school or whose schooling status is unknown were not included in this survey. |
II. Topics PICKUP DATA 1 Mothers think that keeping their own lifestyle is also important. Mothers do not particularly aim to be "good mothers." However, they feel that until the age of three mothers should raise the children. 88.0% of mothers do not consciously try to be good mothers in particular. (Table 1) Table1
The respondents have pre-school children or children in the lower grades of primary school. These figures show, therefore, that the mothers want to be involved in learning hobbies, to find personal satisfaction, or to start working after their children enter pre-school or primary school. 81.3% of full-time housewives think they should care for their children until they become three years old; 71.9% and 46.5% of part-time and full-time workers respectively support this opinion. Depending on their working status, mothers have very different views about their own life and the idea that mothers should care for their children until they reach three years old. 81.3% of housewives think that they should care for their children until they become three years, while 71.9% and 46.5% of part-time and full-time workers agree respectively. Although there is a big difference in percentages, this does not imply confidence in their current choice. Some mothers stay home to care for their children because their children have not yet turned three years old. Others work and entrust childcare to others. Both groups are worried about the current situation as we can see from answers to other questions. |