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| Published Year |
Volume Number |
| Title of the Booklet |
| Survey Sample |
| Sample Population |
| Survey Period |
| Survey Method |
| Summary 1 |
| Summary 2 | |
| 2005 |
Special Issue |
| Monographs on Elementary School Children |
| Monograph: Elementary School Students has been a valuable resource for topics pertaining to elementary school children for 24 years since it was first published in 1981. This special issue will be the final one. The following are the topics that have been covered in this series. |
| Chapter 1. Have children changed? read detail Chapter 2. Playing with friends and classmates Chapter 3. School and the class: Out-dated school system, Teacher support is the key, etc. Chapter 4. Children and the media: Longer and more diverse media use, Need for media use education, From anxiety to consideration, etc. Chapter 5. School and scholastic ability: What has the five-day school week changed?, etc. Chapter 6. Community and Time after School: Studying at home and cram school, read detail etc. Chapter 7. Health education: Visits to the school nurse, Identifying abused children, etc. Chapter 8. Diet and eating habits. Chapter 9. What is being a child?: Belief in the supernatural, Fashion and grooming in personality formation, etc. Chapter 10. Daily life and experience: Studious children, School life, hectic schedules, etc. Chapter 11. Daily Life and Discipline: Sense of not wasting read detail etc. Chapter 12. Parents and family read detail Chapter 13. Child pathology: School refusal from mothers' perspectives, Bullying, Child abuse, etc. Chapter 14. Physical health and stress: Positive outlook and sociability, Self-conscious children, What current children lack in their daily environment. Chapter 15. International comparisons: Teaching methods, etc. | |
| 2005 |
VOL.24-3 |
| The Worlds of Boys and Girls |
| Fifth and sixth graders of elementary schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Chiba prefecture |
| 1,152 (male; 584, female; 558, unknown; 10) |
| June to July 2004 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
Are girls really as strong, active, and rid of traditional gender consciousness as claimed by the media today? This survey asked girls in the fourth to sixth grades of elementary school when they felt embarrassed. The largest percentage, 90.1%, replied "when scolded by teacher in front of the class," and girls reported being more embarrassed than boys by over 20% in most categories. Although boys report being less embarrassed in the higher grades, this tends to increase or remain unchanged for girls.
When students were asked which statement applied more to boys or girls, the replies of both confirmed the stereotype of rowdy boys and good, obedient girls. Boys were said to like lunch, were often scolded by the teacher for misbehaving, were sloppy and unorganized, and got into fights. On the other hand, girls were said to have good handwriting, were responsible when performing assigned chores, liked to chat, often cried, and were often praised by the teacher.
Boys tend to strive for social recognition or achievement. When boys were asked about their work aspirations, 60.3% and 47.1% replied that they wanted a high-paying job or that they wanted to be famous, respectively, in contrast to 47.1% and 29.1% of girls, respectively. The highest percentage of both boys and girls, around 60%, replied that they wanted to give priority to family life over work. However, 27.6% of the girls replied that they wanted a rather easy job, a figure 6% higher than for boys. Although girls are said to be strong and feel positive about themselves these days, the survey results show that they are overly concerned about what others thinks and have low expectations of their future. While 70.9% of the boys would like to be reborn as a boy, only 46.3% of the girls wanted to be reborn as a girl, indicating that even girls in elementary school are aware of socially constructed gender differences. | |
| 2004 |
VOL.24-2 |
| Mothers Today: Communication among Mothers |
| Mothers of kindergartner, first and second graders of elementary schools in Tokyo |
| 589 |
| February to March in 2004 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
Approximately 90% of all mothers today have cellphones. Regardless of the type of work, they use the cellphone more for sending e-mail than for making phone calls. Although nearly 25% of the full-time housewives replied that they are able to confide in a neighbor and receive personal advice on childrearing matters, mothers today seem to maintain a certain distance in their relationships with friends: 83.6% try not to engage in gossip and 74.6% enjoy associating with a wide range of friends without getting too involved in particular family matters. Among mothers, 62.9% of the full-time housewives, the highest percentage, replied that raising children was difficult while 70% of all mothers replied that they were not able to reconcile raising children with what they would like to do. Among working mothers, many are satisfied with the nature of their work, but slightly less than 20% of the full-time working mothers answered that it was burden, indicating the difficulties of both raising children and working.
Related article in CRN http://www.childresearch.net/papers/parenting/2004_01_08.html | |
| 2004 |
VOL.24-1 |
| How do Elementary School Students Feel about Schoolwork? |
| Fifth and sixth graders of elementary schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Chiba prefecture |
| 1,241 (males; 643, females; 598) |
| November to December 2003 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| A recent survey indicates that elementary school students in Tokyo do not feel confident about their ability to do schoolwork. Only 21.6% replied that they were good at schoolwork in contrast to more than 50% and 70% of the respondents in Milwaukee and Beijing, respectively. While students had the most trouble with mathematics (28.3%), they were also the happiest when they received a good grade in this subject, which they considered very important for entering their desired high-school and university. As for their attitude in the classroom, less than 50% listened enthusiastically in class, and if students who replied that they sometimes felt they could hardly wait for recess are included, this percentage exceeds 80%. Schoolwork is also frustrating for some students: more than 30% state that they cannot understand their schoolwork no matter how hard they try. Many students enjoyed schoolwork that required active participation on their part: 50% of the respondents liked using the Internet very much to look up information on a favorite subject and 40% they enjoyed going on field trips to companies, factories, markets, etc. | |
| 2004 |
VOL.23-3 |
| Looking Back on Elementary School |
| Students of elementary schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama prefecture |
| 838 (males; 397, females; 441) |
| March 2003 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| The survey showed that most children enjoyed elementary school, with 46.1% replying that it was "very fun," 30.3% that it was "somewhat fun" and 17.6% that it was "more fun than not." However this feeling was clearly not shared by all students: 5.9% found elementary school either "not very fun" or "not fun at all." As for how much they had understood of their studies in the six years at elementary school, 37.6% replied at least 80%, 31.5% replied between 70 to 80%, but approximately 30% had entered junior high school without much confidence in what they had learned. Although nearly half of the students reported enjoying the 6th grade the most, higher percentages of bullying and truancy are indicated in the upper grades, with 40% having been subject to bullying or peer group exclusion. As students advance in grade, it appears that students become very polarized in their experience of school, either experiencing it a fun or difficult environment. | |
| 2003 |
VOL.23-2 |
| The Effects of "Bullying"
|
| Students of universities/colleges in Tokyo Metropolitan area |
| 1,326 (males; 358, females; 968) |
| November to December 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| The survey attempted to clarify the phenomenon of bullying by asking currently enrolled university and college students about their experience of bullying when they were in elementary, junior high, and senior high school. Students who experienced bullying dropped from 80 percent in elementary and junior high school to 30 percent in senior high school and this can be attributed to a more diverse school and social life. Approximately 40 percent of students who experienced bullying as victim, perpetrator or on-looker answered that they still recollect the experience. Furthermore, 30 to 50 percent of those who were bullied feel their personality would have been different if it had not been for bullying. | |
| 2003 |
VOL.23-1 |
| The Five-day School Week for Elementary School Students |
| Fourth, fifth, sixth graders of public elementary schools and their parents in Tokyo metropolitan area |
| Students; 889 (males; 455, females; 434) Parents; 825 |
| November 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| It has been a year now since the public school system in Japan instituted the five-day school week. How have children's daily lives changed? Benesse Education Research Center surveyed children and their parents to find out how they now spend Saturday and Sunday, and changes in their school and home life. Approximately 75% of the children were happy that Saturday had become a no-school day. By contrast, parents' views were divided equally between those who were pleased that their children had more free time to enjoy themselves and those who felt that classes would lose their flexibility due to tighter curriculum. Moreover, there was concern that the socio-economic background of the family would create greater differences in children's experiences and learning. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.22-3 |
| Family Life Today |
| Fourth, fifth, sixth graders of public elementary schools in Tokyo |
| 1,326 (males; 700, females; 626) |
| May to June 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| This study surveyed the nature of the family life today: family composition, the psychological family, a typical day in the family, occasions for communication (meals), relationship with grandparents and relatives, child participation in the family (helping at home), attitudes of parents on housework, child-raising, and work, parental guidance, etc. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.22-2 |
| Teachers' Views on Education Reform |
| Principals and teachers in 22 prefectures of Hokkaido, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Niigata, Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Aichi, Hyogo, Okayama, Kagawa, and Okinawa. |
| 47 principals and 2199 teachers |
| February to April 2002 |
| Principals of cooperating schools distributed the questionnaire which was then completed and mailed back by the teachers themselves. |
| Education reform in elementary and junior high schools has reduced the curricula content in mathematics, Japanese, and other subjects by one-third. This has been accompanied by the introduction of the five-day school week which has decreased class hours and an "integrated studies" class, the content of which is left to the discretion of the particular school. The reforms have generated criticism and concern regarding the decline of scholastic ability. This questionnaire sought the views of teachers on these reforms. It also attempted to clarify teachers' views on teaching by adding questions on scholastic ability, especially on teaching materials. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.22-1 |
| Child Abuse: The Effect of Inappropriate Treatment by the Guardian |
| First- and third-year junior high school students of the metropolitan and suburban areas |
| 824 (males, 350; females, 474); (first-year; 737, third-year; 87) |
| October to November 2001 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| This monograph indicates the degree to which children have been subject to inappropriate treatment by their parents in their formative years and the effect on their self-image and future aspirations. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.21-3 |
| How Children Spend Time After School |
| Fourth- to sixth-year elementary school students in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa |
| 1,851 (males, 913; females, 936; sex unknown, 2); (fourth-year, 668; fifth-year, 594; sixth-year, 589) |
| May to June 2001 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Deepening Ties with the Community |
| Children play outside less than before. How do children spend time after school now? Focusing on this question within the context of the community as the space in which they live, this monograph explores children's awareness of their community and relationships with people there. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.21-2 |
| Losing Weight: Children Worry about Their Appearance |
| Fourth- to sixth-year elementary school students in Tokyo, Saitama |
| 1,097 (males, 557; females, 540);(fourth-year, 347; fifth-year, 422; sixth-year, 327);(year unknown, 1) |
| February to March 2001 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| People (especially women) constantly worry about their appearance and weight. The media thrives on this subject in newspaper ads, TV commercials, and magazine articles. Is there a tendency among elementary school students to worry about their appearance, too? This survey examined children's consciousness of how they appear to others and their desire to lose weight from various perspectives including what part of the body made them most self-conscious, dieting, self-exposure, and relationships. The survey indicated that there is a strong correlation between the desire to lose weight and stress. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.21-1 |
| Relationship between Elementary School Students and their Parents from a Survey of Mothers |
| Parents of fifth- to sixth-year-students in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama |
| 1,620 mothers |
| October to November 2000 |
| Questionnaires distributed by schools |
| Mothers devoted to child-raising without expecting to be taken care of by their children in old age. |
| How do mothers of elementary school students relate to their children? What kind of parent-child relationship do they expect in the future? How do they plan to take care of their elderly parents? What do they expect from their children when they get older themselves? The survey clarified the current parent-child relationship in relation to their lifestyle as women, wives and mothers. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.20-3 |
| School Nurses as Mental Care Workers - National survey after 10 years |
| School nurses who work at elementary schools |
| 581 School nurses who work at elementary schools (24.2% response rate) |
| May and June 2000 |
| Mailed questionnaires answered by 2400 elementary school school nurses, one-tenth of the nurses nation-wide selected at random |
| As worries about interpersonal relationships increase, children want school nurses to be "moms-at-school" |
| It seems that children often go to nurse's office at elementary school for reasons other than sickness or injury these days. The role of school nurses is becoming more and more important as the number of visits to nurse's office and cases of child abuse increase. Compared with the previous national survey in 1991, the survey looked at the present situation and problems regarding the role of school nurses as well as demand for school counselors in order to review future issues. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.20-2 |
| What Kind of Place is Our School? - How children evaluate their schools |
| Fourth- to sixth-year students of public elementary schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Gunma |
| 2,059 (fouth year, 587; fifth year, 685; sixth year, 787; males, 1,052; females, 1,007) |
| February to March 2000 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Children Want an Air Conditioner and Personal Computers in Their Classrooms and Feel Uncomfortable with Collective Responsibility and Commands |
| Although society and the environment surrounding children are changing greatly, school facilities and regulations have changed little since long ago. One of the reasons for an increasing number of children who cannot adapt to school may be that school life is not comfortable. The survey asked children to assess their school in terms of cleanliness of facilities, fun of school events and the degree of satisfaction with their classes and homeroom teachers and probed into what they think is necessary at school and questions/requests they have about their school life. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.20-1 |
| Children Who are Bad at Sports |
| Fifth- to sixth-year students of elementary schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa |
| 1,983 (fifth year, 1,013; sixth year, 970) |
| September 1999 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| To decrease the number of children who have a poor self-image and are bad at sports , it is important for them to experience physical exercise in early childhood |
| Children are assessed on sports in various situations such as physical exercise classes, day-to-day play and the field day. How do they feel about being good or bad at sports? This survey looked into children's awareness of sports, their sports experience in early childhood, sports they do with their families, their self-image and peer relationships, etc. It is clear that children who are bad at sports tend to have a negative self-image and are isolated from their friends. The survey examined possible countermeasures to deal with these problems. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.19-3 |
| Have Children Changed? |
| Fourth- to sixth-year students of elementary schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa |
| 1,620 (males, 848; females, 758; unknown, 14) |
| June to July 1999 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| These days children are disciplined to be well-behaved and have lost vitality amid an artificial environment |
| In the past 20 years or so, the society and the environment surrounding children have changed very rapidly. Children are also said to have changed, but how? The survey conducted in 1999 made a comparison with the Elementary School Version of Monograph of 1980 and examined the change in children's behavior and awareness in areas such as favorite food, life experience, gender roles, future aspirations, and so on. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.19-2 |
| How to Understand "Classroom Collapse" - A survey of schoolteachers |
| Elementary school teachers in Tokyo |
| 2,500 distributed surveys: 520 responses (males, 170; females, 347: 21% response rate) |
| February to March 1999 |
| Mailed questionnaires |
| Prevent student rage through flexible response, cooperation among teachers and the understanding of children |
| "Classroom collapse" is a situation in which teaching and learning becomes impossible because children make noise and walk around during class. The phenonmenon of "classroom collapse" occurs in three phases: 1) classroom disorder (teaching and class management do not go well), 2) classroom confusion (children feel alienated from the teacher), and 3) classroom rage (teaching becomes impossible). The survey covered elementary schoolteachers, trying to clarify the actual situation to find countermeasures and how to prevent problems. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.19-1 |
Children's Play
|
| Fifth- to sixth year students of six elementary schools in Tokyo metoropolitan area (Tokyo, Kanagawa), Chubu and Shikoku area (Toyama, Kochi) |
| 492 (fifth year, 253; sixth year, 239; males, 261; females, 231) |
| October 1998 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Children like staying at home better than going outside and seek relaxation in their play |
| These days, not many children can be seen playing together in the neighborhood while more and more children go to cram schools or private lessons and spend time on electronic games, etc. Children's lives after school and their way of playing have also changed greatly with time. This survey looked into children's play from various perspectives such as life after school, places to play, playmates, play experience, play enthusiasm, daily sense of fulfillment, and so on. | |
| 1998 |
VOL.18-3 |
The Experience of being Praised and Scolded
|
| Fourth- to sixth-year students of elementary schools in Tokyo, Chiba (9 schools, 6 classes) |
| 1828 (valid responses 1791) |
| June to July 1998 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Children are often praised but not scolded much |
| An increasing number of parents cannot scold their children and do not know how to discipline their children. On the other hand, the problem of child abuse has received much attention. This survey examines the situations in which children are praised or scolded by their parents or other adults in their community; how parents praise or scold their children and children's experience of being severely scolded by their parents. | |
| 1998 |
VOL.18-2 |
Relationship with Friends
|
| Fifth- to sixth-year students of elementary schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Gifu |
| 1,566 (fifth year, 791; sixth year, 771; males, 834; females, 728; unknown, 4) |
| February 1998 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Appointments/rules are more important than ties of friendship! |
| An increasing number of children are under stress and concerned about their peer relationships in their school life. It has also been pointed out that emotional bonds among children have weakened. What kind of relationships do elementary school children have? The survey looked into the emotional ties among peer groups at school. | |
| 1998 |
VOL.18-1 |
| Academic Achievement in Memorization and Analysis - Studying is difficult |
| Sixth-year students in public elementary schools and their parents and guardians in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama |
Questionnaire of parents and guardians: 1,210
Questionnaire of students 1: 213 (males, 109; females, 104)
Questionnaire of students 2: 220 (males, 117; females, 103) |
Questionnaire of parents and guardians: October 1997
Questionnaire of students: February 1998 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Home economics is a subject that will be very helpful in the future |
| With the five-day school week due to be instituted in 2002, the curriculum is now being revised. The Curriculum Council is having a heated discussion about the reduction of classes and educational content. How do children and their parents feel about academic achievement, the curriculum, and evaluation? The survey tried to find out what sort of academic achievement children need from the viewpoints of parents and children. | |
| 1997 |
VOL.17-3 |
| The School as a Comfortable Place |
| Sixth-year students of public elementary schools in Tokyo, Chiba |
| 1,722 (males, 852; females, 870) |
| June to July 1997 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Are schools comfortable or uncomfortable places for students? |
| In recent years an increasing number of children are suffering from trouble with interpersonal relationships. Some children refuse to attend school while others go to school, but take refuge in the nurse's office, or are bullied by friends. The survey examined whether school is a place where children can express themselves and feel comfortable. | |
| 1997 |
VOL.17-2 |
| Children and Media |
| Fifth- to sixth-year students of fourteen elementary schools (of which, nine schools promote IT use in classes) in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba |
| 2,514 (males, 1,278; females, 1,229; unknown, 7) |
| February to March 1997 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Relationship between elementary school children and personal computers |
| Nowadays TVs, videos, electronic notebooks, cellular phones, and other advanced electronic media have become a part of children's lives. More than 90% of elementary school children in the country have personal computers. How and to what extent do children use these media? | |
| 1997 |
VOL.17-1 |
| Have Mothers Changed? |
| Mothers of day care, kindergarten, and 1-year-elementary school children in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama |
| 1,511 |
| October 1996 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| The maternal myth has collapsed! About half of mothers have a negative attitude of child rearing and say it is not for them |
| The survey covered mothers of preschool children and first graders of elementary school. It looked into the extent to which mothers feel restricted by the family, how social norms continue to affect women's thinking and restrict their behavior, and their concerns about child rearing. | |
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