Source: Monograph vol.54 edited by Educational Research Center, Benesse Corporation
(Supervising Editor : Dr. Masashi Fukaya, professor, Tokyo Seitoku Junior College)
3. SAMPLING PROFILE
1. Dependence on Parents
This monograph attempts to analyze the changing attitude of junior-high school students toward rules and normative behavior. Before introducing the findings, let us begin with an overview of the sampling (Table 1).
Table 2 shows participation in club activities. 47.88% of students enthusiastically participate in club activities. Only about 10% were not involved in a club or had quit a club. This indicates that club activities occupy a large part of the life and minds of students.
Table 3 shows amount of household chores done by students. 27.5% of students wash dishes which is the only chore done every day. According to data by gender in Table 4, 35.1% of girls set the table every day. Most students do not perform any household chores such as dishwashing, laundry, or taking out the garbage. Their daily lives are completely dependent on their parents.
Table 5 shows lifestyle and customs and indicates the age at which students are able to undertake certain daily activities by themselves. Students answered that they were able to wake up by themselves and clean their desks when they were in elementary school. Nevertheless, in other findings of this monograph, parents reply that their children are unable to clean up after themselves and keep their surroundings neat and tidy. As such, it may not be possible to give full credence to the replies of students, but as seen in Table 6, it appears that parents and children are on good terms.
2. Life at School
Table 7 indicates the extent to which student enjoy school. Roughly 40% of the students find school enjoyable or very enjoyable. As such, there are many students who do not find school enjoyable.
In Table 8, students were asked when they were most self-expressive and the replies indicate that few enjoy class. In the detailed breakdown in Table 9, students irrespective of grade and gender answer that they go to school to see their friends.
Schoolwork begins to become difficult in junior high school so it is understandable that schoolwork can hardly be considered enjoyable. For this reason, friends at school become increasingly important.
Table 10 shows how students evaluated themselves. They think their grades are poor and that they lack athletic ability. They are somewhat rebellious, but they have many friends and do not engage in delinquent conduct. They do not consider themselves bright and lack self-confidence, but they also think of themselves as serious students. As for the future, even if they think that entering a difficult university might be impossible, they still wish to go to university or junior college (Table 11).
Table 12 regarding the outlook of students on the future indicates that their view is rather bleak. Over 30% of the students replied that they would probably or most likely be happy in their old age (40.4%) or have a happy family life (32.5%). Under 20% replied that they would probably or most likely be socially respected (12.6%), become rich (14.4%), go to the university of their choice (15.1%), or become famous (15.5%).
They may not become socially respected or famous, but they expect their family life to be happy and this seems to be the view of the future held by many students. As shown in Table 13, there was not much difference by grade or gender except in the area of school advancement among 9th graders who seemed to have a new sense of confidence about their academic future. In any case, it appears that not only do junior-high school students not enjoy school, but they also lack confidence in the future and this creates a predicament for them.
Table1
Overview of the sampling
| Boys | Girls | total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7th graders | 328 | 327 | 655 |
| 8th graders | 390 | 328 | 718 |
| 9th graders | 368 | 345 | 713 |
| total | 1,086 | 1,000 | 2,086 |
Table2
Participation in club activities
| % | |||||
| total | 7th graders | 8th graders | 9th graders | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports club | enthusiastically | 47.8 | 52.6 | 46.1 | 45.1 |
| not enthusiastically | 20.0 | 21.8 | 26.2 | 12.1 | |
| Non-sports club | enthusiastically | 9.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 10.9 |
| not enthusiastically | 6.7 | 4.6 | 7.6 | 7.8 | |
| Participated, but already quit a club | 13.4 | 9.3 | 9.4 | 21.3 | |
| Never participated | 2.9 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 2.8 | |
Table3
Households
| % | ||||||
| everyday | about three times a week | about once a week | about once a month | several times | none | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set the table | 27.5 | 19.6 | 18.4 | 11.7 | 20.1 | 2.7 |
| Clear the table | 12.0 | 14.0 | 19.7 | 19.3 | 29.0 | 6.0 |
| Take in laundry | 11.4 | 15.4 | 21.2 | 22.1 | 25.0 | 4.9 |
| Fold the laundry | 8.1 | 10.3 | 14.6 | 20.8 | 35.1 | 11.1 |
| Help with cooking | 7.2 | 14.4 | 19.1 | 21.0 | 30.4 | 7.9 |
| Wash dishes | 6.7 | 11.1 | 20.7 | 25.2 | 32.3 | 4.0 |
| Take out garbage | 6.6 | 10.5 | 18.7 | 24.8 | 34.0 | 5.4 |
| Wash rice | 5.3 | 9.1 | 15.8 | 23.2 | 36.4 | 10.2 |
Table4
Households x grade and gender
| % | ||||||
| total | 7th graders | 8th graders | 9th graders | Boys | Girls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set the table | 27.5 | 26.0 | 28.3 | 28.4 | 20.7 | 35.1 |
| Clear the table | 12.0 | 9.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 13.0 |
| Take in laundry | 11.4 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 12.6 | 8.5 | 14.5 |
| Fold the laundry | 8.1 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 9.3 | 4.3 | 12.3 |
| Help with cooking | 7.2 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 3.5 | 11.2 |
| Wash dishes | 6.7 | 6.8 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 4.4 | 9.2 |
| Take out garbage | 6.6 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 5.8 |
| Wash rice | 5.3 | 5.2 | 6.1 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 7.3 |
| * % who perform the household chores "everyday" | ||||||
Table5
Age that students can do activities by themselves
| % | |||||||
| when third graders | when graduating elementary school | when entering junior high school | at present | when entering high school | when graduating high school | after 20 years old | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Be on time | 64.4 | 8.4 | 11.0 | 9.6 | 4.5 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Hold chopsticks correctly | 64.1 | 14.0 | 5.8 | 7.0 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 5.5 |
| Wake up | 40.1 | 23.3 | 12.7 | 8.4 | 10.1 | 1.9 | 3.5 |
| Clean up room | 38.5 | 24.7 | 15.2 | 11.7 | 6.2 | 1.0 | 2.7 |
| Clean up desk | 29.7 | 28.3 | 18.8 | 12.0 | 6.9 | 1.3 | 3.0 |
| Presentable clothes and hair | 27.8 | 23.8 | 29.0 | 11.6 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 3.1 |
| Speak correctly and politely | 23.5 | 21.7 | 27.1 | 13.2 | 7.1 | 2.8 | 4.6 |
Table6
Relationships with parents
| % | going very well | going quite well | going relatively well | not always going well | not going well | not going well at all | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | 26.2 | 27.6 | 33.8 | 6.6 | 3.4 | 2.4 | |
| Gender | Boys | 22.0 | 26.7 | 37.9 | 6.9 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Girls | 30.9 | 28.5 | 29.3 | 6.3 | 3.0 | 2.0 | |
| Grade | 7th graders | 27.8 | 29.4 | 31.8 | 5.9 | 3.4 | 1.7 |
| 8th graders | 25.9 | 27.0 | 34.1 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 3.0 | |
| 9th graders | 25.1 | 26.4 | 35.4 | 7.4 | 3.1 | 2.6 | |
Table7
The extent to which student enjoy school
| % | ||||||||
| very much | quite so | relatively OK | OK | not much | not so much | not at all | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | 18.6 | 18.5 | 18.5 | 24.2 | 6.5 | 7.1 | 6.6 | |
| Grade | 7th grade | 18.9 | 19.8 | 15.6 | 26.5 | 8.2 | 5.3 | 5.7 |
| 8th grade | 18.1 | 18.3 | 19.0 | 23.1 | 5.3 | 9.1 | 7.1 | |
| 9th grade | 18.9 | 17.5 | 20.5 | 23.3 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 6.8 | |
| Gender | Boy | 15.7 | 17.8 | 20.0 | 24.4 | 6.1 | 7.4 | 8.6 |
| Girl | 21.8 | 19.2 | 16.8 | 24.3 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 4.3 | |
Table8
When students are self-expressive
| % | |||||
| very well | quite so | relatively so | not very well | not at all | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At class | 5.2 | 9.7 | 33.6 | 35.9 | 15.6 |
| At club activities | 20.8 | 22.5 | 27.2 | 16.1 | 13.4 |
| When with friends | 36.1 | 31.4 | 24.2 | 5.5 | 2.8 |
| At home | 27.7 | 24.6 | 25.8 | 13.8 | 8.1 |
Table9
When students are self-expressive x grade and gender
| % | |||||
| 7th graders | 8th graders | 9th graders | Boys | Girls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At class | 18.5 | 14.4 | 12.0 | 21.3 | 7.9 |
| At club activities | 45.8 | 40.8 | 43.6 | 47.1 | 39.1 |
| When with friends | 69.3 | 64.8 | 68.4 | 62.0 | 73.4 |
| At home | 56.2 | 49.4 | 51.5 | 42.2 | 63.3 |
| * % who express themselves "very well" and "quite well" | |||||
Table10
Self-evaluation
| % | ||||
| Yes | No | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very much | A little | Not very much | Not at all | |
| Like my family | 27.0 | 35.8 | 25.0 | 12.2 |
| Have many friends | 19.9 | 37.3 | 32.5 | 10.3 |
| Am rebellious | 16.5 | 42.3 | 28.9 | 12.3 |
| Have a sense of humor | 10.4 | 18.9 | 45.6 | 25.1 |
| Have athletic ability | 10.3 | 25.7 | 40.4 | 23.6 |
| Am reliable | 7.0 | 29.5 | 46.8 | 16.7 |
| Make good grades | 5.4 | 14.8 | 36.7 | 43.1 |
| Study hard | 5.0 | 11.9 | 40.9 | 42.2 |
| Follow school rules | 14.7 | 37.6 | 37.0 | 10.7 |
| Am popular at school | 4.1 | 7.9 | 48.0 | 40.0 |
| Try to be cool | 3.7 | 10.7 | 42.5 | 43.1 |
| Am popular with the opposite sex | 3.6 | 7.4 | 43.8 | 45.2 |
| Am a little defiant | 1.7 | 7.1 | 39.2 | 52.0 |
| Engage in misconduct | 1.7 | 4.8 | 27.3 | 66.2 |
| Am delinquent | 1.3 | 4.0 | 30.0 | 64.7 |
Table11
Future
| % | ||||||
| junior high school | high school | junior college | 4 year college or university | difficult university | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | 1.4 | 24.6 | 30.2 | 32.0 | 11.8 | |
| Grade | 7th | 1.1 | 30.3 | 31.1 | 28.7 | 8.8 |
| 8th | 2.3 | 24.8 | 28.4 | 34.7 | 9.8 | |
| 9th | 0.9 | 19.1 | 31.2 | 32.1 | 16.7 | |
| Gender | Boys | 1.9 | 27.4 | 19.1 | 35.7 | 15.9 |
| Girls | 0.9 | 21.5 | 42.2 | 28.0 | 7.4 | |
| Bullied | often | 4.0 | 19.0 | 38.0 | 28.0 | 11.0 |
| sometimes | 1.3 | 24.7 | 32.3 | 30.0 | 11.7 | |
| never | 1.3 | 26.7 | 28.3 | 31.1 | 12.6 | |
Table12
Future outlook
| % | ||||||
| very difficult | quite difficult | relatively difficult | relatively possible | probably possible | most likely possible | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go to the high school of choice | 7.1 | 9.0 | 23.3 | 31.8 | 8.1 | 20.7 |
| Go to the university of choice | 17.9 | 13.5 | 26.7 | 26.8 | 3.8 | 11.3 |
| Get the job of choice | 8.0 | 10.5 | 26.2 | 32.6 | 5.9 | 16.8 |
| Get married to the ideal person | 14.6 | 11.1 | 26.9 | 23.8 | 5.7 | 17.9 |
| Have a happy family | 7.9 | 6.7 | 16.9 | 36.0 | 10.3 | 22.2 |
| Be successful at work | 8.2 | 8.6 | 25.4 | 32.5 | 8.3 | 17.0 |
| Become famous | 29.5 | 21.1 | 23.9 | 10.0 | 2.7 | 12.8 |
| Become rich | 22.2 | 20.8 | 29.1 | 13.5 | 3.1 | 11.3 |
| Be socially respected | 25.3 | 21.3 | 28.2 | 12.6 | 2.3 | 10.3 |
| Be happy in old age | 8.3 | 6.2 | 14.0 | 31.1 | 8.2 | 32.2 |
Table13
Future outlook x grade and gender
| % | |||||
| 7th graders | 8th graders | 9th graders | Boys | Girls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go to the high school of choice | 18.0 | 18.9 | 49.1 | 31.5 | 26.2 |
| Go to the university of choice | 10.3 | 14.1 | 20.5 | 17.5 | 12.6 |
| Get the job of choice | 19.7 | 19.6 | 28.4 | 26.1 | 19.0 |
| Get married to the ideal person | 21.0 | 23.4 | 26.5 | 24.8 | 22.5 |
| Have a happy family | 30.1 | 30.7 | 36.5 | 32.4 | 32.6 |
| Be successful at work | 23.8 | 21.9 | 30.0 | 30.6 | 19.5 |
| Become famous | 12.7 | 17.6 | 16.0 | 21.2 | 9.4 |
| Become rich | 11.1 | 17.3 | 14.6 | 18.1 | 10.4 |
| Be socially respected | 10.8 | 14.5 | 12.4 | 17.5 | 7.4 |
| Be happy in old age | 38.2 | 40.7 | 41.9 | 41.0 | 39.6 |
| * % who would "probably" and "most likely" think that it will come true | |||||
