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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 Junior High School Students |
| Monograph: Junior High School Students has been a valuable resource for topics pertaining to elementary school children for 27 years since it was first published in 1978. This special issue will be the final one. The following are the topics that have been covered in this series. |
| Chapter 1. Overview: Disappearing Regional differences. Chapter 2. School: Satisfaction differs by class, Do children have friends in class?, How important are classes and studying?, Continued exam anxiety, Has the five-day school work created stress?, Popular public junior high schools, etc. Chapter 3. Teacher-student relations: Changes in teaching, Student evaluations, Reconstructing teaching models, etc. Chapter 4. Instruction and guidance: Problem behavior and uncommunicative students, A comfortable environment for students, etc. Chapter 5. The family: Parent-child communication -Good parent-child relations without teenage rebellion, What does home mean for children? -Warmth and comfort, Being a mother -Being more than a wife and mother, etc. Chapter 6. Junior high school students in society: Everyday experience and self-image, Relationship and rules, Electronic media use, etc. | |
| 2005 |
VOL.79 |
| Selecting a Junior High School |
| Parents of sixth graders in public elementary schools in two wards of metropolitan Tokyo where school choice has been implemented |
| 561 |
| February to March 2004 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
How do parents chose a junior high school for their child? This survey studied the parents of sixth-graders in two wards of metropolitan Tokyo that permit school choice for public junior high schools. 26.8% of the parents consider private junior high schools at exam time, including the 0.9% who consider junior high schools affiliated with national universities, and 25.4% actually enroll their children in private junior high schools. Most of the mothers of children who enrolled in a private junior high school were full-time homemakers or self-employed and the children were often the only child. This indicates that time and economic affluence are key factors in the choice of a private junior high school. 90.8% of the parents send their children to a cram school, and those whose children attended cram school four or more days a week accounted for 65.2%. The most common reason for sending their children to a private junior high school was that they wanted their children to achieve a higher level of academic achievement.
Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward began introducing school choice in 2000 in an effort to expand the options available to parents for public junior high schools. While response has been largely positive because it is seen as promoting competition among schools and creating distinctive schools, a large percentage, 65.1%, believe that parents tend to select the school based on hearsay.
The most important criteria in selection were distance to school, environment and whether good friends also attended the school. Only 15.3% of the parents gave high priority to academic achievement. Among parents who selected a public school outside the school district, 45% reported that a particularly important criterion was little incidence of bullying and truancy, indicating that bullying was a crucial consideration. It appears that parents who place top priority on academic achievement tend to select a private junior high school while those who select public junior high make their choice on the basis of location, incidence of bullying, and personal guidance. | |
| 2004 |
VOL.78 |
| Studious and Non-Studious Junior High School Students |
| First to third graders of junior high schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa Chiba and Saitama prefecture |
| 1,561 (males; 817, females; 744) |
| November to December in 2003 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Students are spending less time studying at home. In 1990, 18.8% studied an average of 0 to 30 minutes, but this percentage has risen 12 points over the past 11 years: from 22.5% in 1996 to 30.7% in 2001. Moreover, this survey indicates that more than 30% now study 0 minutes. In contrast, 26.5% study more than 2 hours. The subject least understood was English, with more than 30% replying that they understand only about a third of the class or nothing at all. Students aiming to enter competitive high schools and universities study more, but no correlation is seen between the hours spent studying and the percentage of those agreeing or disagreeing that studying was not the most determining factor for later success in life. With the exception of TV viewing, there were no major differences in lifestyle habits between students who study and those who do not. Students who study tend to have goals, but students who do not see a purpose of studying are clearly increasing. | |
| 2004 |
VOL.77 |
| What is the Family for Junior High School Students? |
| First to third graders of junior high schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa Chiba and Saitama prefecture |
| 1,355 (males; 697, females; 653, unknown; 5) |
| February 2004 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Junior high school students seem to regard the home as a place where they are secure and comfortable as themselves, with 84.2% replying that they feel at ease when they are at home. As for conversations with their parents, 26.7% often talk with their father and 54.9% with their mother; among girls, a high percentage of 71.9% report that they often talk with their mother. Overall, they seem to enjoy good relationships with their parents: 70.6% felt their parents understood them either very well or rather well while only 9.0% felt totally misunderstood. They also have a positive image of their parents, with nearly 90% replying that their parents either worked very hard or took good care of the family and home. When asked to compare themselves with their parents, students only reported surpassing their mother in physical strength, and felt that they could not possible outdo their parents in the near future in terms of other capabilities, social skills, or earning power. The results suggest that fewer junior high students now undergo the so-called second rebellious period that occurs in adolescence. If this second rebellious period is a necessary stage in the process of becoming independent from one's parents, the question then is: how will students who do not undergo this stage establish their own identity? | |
| 2004 |
VOL.76 |
| Declining Sense of Right and Wrong |
| First to third graders of public junior high schools in Tokyo, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefecture |
| 1,528 (males; 780, females; 748) |
| May to June, 2003 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| In the survey, 14.2% of the children did not consider stealing comic books to be wrong. This percentage increases in the higher grades: 8.7% in the first year compared with 21.4% in the third year. When children's sense of right and wrong is correlated with strictness of parental discipline, a larger percentage of those who stated that they would never shoplift also had stricter parents. (75.2% reported that their parents' discipline was strict). 87.6% considered walking out of class to be wrong and 50.2% disapproved of talking during class. The survey also showed that children actually refrained from doing what they felt was wrong. About 55% of both girls and boys replied that whenever they witnessed bullying, they pretended not to notice. While their sense of the norms of conduct is not always exemplary, the survey does not indicate that it has totally deteriorated. Children seem to avoid making strict judgments in their own lives and this leniency regarding the norms of conduct tends to become more pronounced in the upper grades. | |
| 2003 |
VOL.75 |
| Junior High School Students in Tokyo and Seoul |
First to third graders of junior high schools in Tokyo metropolitan area and Soul read more |
| 1,831 (Japan; 807, Korea; 1,024) |
| November 2002 to February 2003 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Findings show marked differences between junior-high school students in Tokyo and Seoul. Junior-high school students in Tokyo feel they have friends they can talk to at school and parents at home who are reliable and will protect them. They tend to spend time watching TV and relaxing. They feel physically well and enjoy every day. However, they seem to lack pressure to work hard for the future. Forty percent of junior high students in Seoul try to enter a difficult university or graduate school. They feel a sense of achievement and social recognition as they respond to their parents' expectations. They spend many hours studying. Perhaps because of stress, many do not feel physically well and are tired in the morning. Pressure at school may be the reason that many students do not want to go to school. | |
| 2003 |
VOL.74 |
| The Five-day School Week for Junior High School Students |
| First to third graders of six junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama |
| 1,721 (males; 886, females; 835) |
| November 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| After a year of the five-day school week, children are contented with being able to spend Saturdays leisurely, but also now feel busier from Monday to Friday. Although Saturday activities sponsored by the school and community have become important, and sports programs initiated by the community and schools have increased, most respondents seemed to be searching for ways to spend the day off. There also seems to be concerns over a widening scholastic gap with private schools that hold classes on Saturday and the fact that the economic resources of the family increasingly determine how children spend their Saturdays, that is, whether the family can afford to send children to cram school, sport clubs and so forth. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.73 |
| Motivated Girls and Laid-back Boys |
| First to third graders of five junior high schools in Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa |
| 1,494 (males; 774, females; 720) |
| May 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Coeducation was introduced after WWII. Until the recent past, boys and girls tended to follow a different orientation in curriculum, with boys taking classes in shop and technology and girls taking home economics. Today, however, both boys and girls take home economics and students' names are not classified by gender on the class rolls. These and other measures indicate that education is becoming gender-free. Nevertheless, these changes have made girls more motivated and focused while boys seem dispirited and lack initiative. Is this impression backed by reality? This study surveyed junior-high school students on the learning atmosphere and how they feel at school. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.72 |
| Comparison of Students Advancing to High School in 1988 and 2002 |
| Third year students of 14 junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa |
| 1,655(males; 857, females; 798) |
| March, 2002 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| In the past, high school entrance exams grouped students according to their deviation value, but today a selection process using diverse criteria is increasingly employed to evaluate students' abilities. These criteria include admission on recommendation, interviews, and essays. This shift is expected to erode the notion that entering a good high school necessarily ensures a good job and life and to change the importance of advancing to high school for students. The questionnaire examined the effect of these changes in the entrance exam system and society on the behavior and perceptions of third year students at junior high schools. | |
| 2002 |
VOL.71 |
| Junior High Schools and Media Use |
| First- to third-year students in public junior-high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama read detail |
| 2,001(males, 1057; females, 944) |
| October to December 2001 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| The survey asked junior high school students about their use and views towards electric media such as computers and cellular phones. Media will develop at an even faster pace, and these children are likely to be flooded with even more information. For this reason, we think it will become even more important to cultivate media literacy of young people. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.70 |
Problems of Junior High School Students
Students with Problems: The Appearance and Reality |
| First- to third-year students in public junior-high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa |
| 2,118 (males, 1,151; females, 967; first-year, 720; second-year, 726; third-year, 672) |
| April to May 2001 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| What sort of the problems do junior high school students have during this time of remarkable physical and emotional development? The survey asked them about their experience with having problems, ways to resolve problems, frequent remarks from others, and if they had been hurt by remarks about their appearance, etc., to examine the problems of contemporary junior high school students and explore solutions from a variety of perspectives including self-image, self-esteem, and physical condition. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.69 |
School as a Place to Be
Comfortable class atmosphere determines enjoyment of school |
| First- to third-year students in public junior-high schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Gunma |
| 1 : 2,167 (males, 1,143; females, 1,020; first year, 698; second year, 726; third year, 743)(sex unknown: first-year, 1; third-year, 3) 2 : 2,210 (males, 1,174; females, 1,030; first year, 743; second year, 724; third year, 743)(sex unknown: first-year, 1; second-year, 2; third-year, 3) |
| 1. June, 2000 2. November, 2000 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| When junior high school students return for the second semester, it is surprising how much they have grown and changed emotionally, physically, and in other indescribable ways during the summer vacation. How do students change in the course of one year during such a sensitive time as puberty? This survey examined junior high school students' development and emotional changes over a period of a year by having the same students respond a nearly identical questionnaire twice, in June and November 2000. The survey indicated a significant correlation between their relationships with classmates and teachers and how comfortable they felt at school. | |
| 2001 |
VOL.68 |
| Junior High School Teachers Express Themselves - A national survey of junior high school teachers |
| Junior high school teachers in various areas of Japan |
| 7,200 distributed surveys; 792 valid responses (males 40.9%, females 59.1%); response rate 11.0% |
| October to December 2000 |
| Mailed questionnaires |
| Junior high school teachers are too busy and completely exhausted! |
| Teachers are very busy these days because they have many other responsibilities besides teaching: looking after students, school events and coaching, and club activities. We conducted a national survey of junior high school teachers and have asked them about their working conditions, their concerns and aspiration as schoolteachers, their opinions about educational reform these days, etc. to clarify the problems and find countermeasures. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.67 |
| Mothers of Junior High School Students - Hesitation to let their children go |
| 1,277 mothers out of 1,366 parents and guardians of first to third-year students of public junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gunma |
| 1,277 (first year, 412; second year, 388; third year, 445; unknown, 32; males, 612; females, 614; unknown, 51) |
| May 2000 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Mothers who value the home and have dedicated themselves to child rearing! |
| How do mothers raise junior high school students who are going through puberty? What worries them and what is important? The survey examined their awareness in terms of their identity and happiness as mothers, their greatest concerns for their children, attitudes toward their children's awareness of norms, assessment and expectation of their husbands, how they feel looking back their way of life, and so on. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.66 |
| How Junior High School Students Perceive their Rights |
| First- to third-year students of public junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa |
| 1,238 (first year, 363; second year, 368; third year, 507; males, 640; females, 598) |
| November to December 1999 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Education to enhance the power of self-determination! - Students who make their own decisions are more active in exercising their rights and have a better understanding of their obligations and constraints |
| Six years have passed since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was put into effect in Japan. The Convention enpowers children to exercise their rights, but to what extent are they familiar with it? What awareness do they have of their rights? The survey looked into junior high school students' awareness of their rights at school and home such as the right of self-determination, the right to express one's opinions, privacy, and so on. | |
| 2000 |
VOL.65 |
| Classroom Disorder (student survey) |
| First- to third-year students of public junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama |
| 1,616 (first year, 455; second year, 679; third year, 482; males, 867; females, 746; unknown, 3) |
| July to October 1999 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Giving students a sense of fulfillment in school life is necessary to relieve the pent-up stress and rage of students that is the root cause of disorder! |
| In Vol.63 "Thinking about Classroom Disorder," classroom disorder was discussed in three phases: 1) classroom collapse (classes are not orderly), 2) classroom confusion (student feel alienated from their teachers), and 3) classroom rage (teaching becomes impossible due to rebellious behavior) and we looked into the actual situation from the perspective of junior high school teachers. How do students see classroom disorder and what do they think? This student survey is a comparison with the previous survey of schoolteachers about deviant behavior in classes, and so on. By looking at the students' sense of normative behavior, their health and stress, the mechanism of disorder has become clear. Students suffering from pent-up stress lack a sense of fulfillment in their school life and tend to display problematic behavior which other students follow, leading to disorder of the whole class. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.64 |
| Looking Back on Junior High School Life - Survey of third-year students of junior high school in March |
| Third-year male and female students of junior high schools in Tokyo |
| 1,159 (males, 601; females, 533; unknown, 5) |
| March 1999 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Friends, teachers and school events are the main enjoyments of junior high school life. |
| Bullying, classroom collapse, and the problematic behavior of explosive students are current problems that involve junior high schools. The media reports that junior high school students suffer from stress, lead isolated school lives, and are worried about high school entrance exams, club activities and peer relationships. The survey asked third-year students in junior high schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area to look back on their three year's of junior high school just before graduation. It looked into their satisfaction with school life, experiences at school, what they have achieved and expectations they have of high school. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.63 |
| Thinking about Classroom Disorder (teacher survey) |
| Junior high school teachers in Tokyo |
| 2, 500 distributed surveys; 569 responses (males, 56.1%; females, 43.9%; 22.8% response rate) |
| February to March 1999 |
| Mailed questionnaires |
| To stop classroom disorder, teachers need to have a close relationship with their students, cooperate with other teachers and parents, and act flexibly! |
| "Classroom collapse" is a major issue these days: students talk among themselves, are disruptive, go in and out of the classroom, and make teaching impossible. A problem that not only affects schools, it is also a phenomenon arising from various factors in rapidly changing society. The situation has three phases: 1) classroom collapse (classes are not orderly), 2) classroom confusion (student feel alienated from their teachers), and 3) classroom rage (teaching becomes impossible due to rebellious behavior). The survey covered teachers of junior high school and clarified the actual situation and background, trying to find out possible countermeasures. | |
| 1999 |
VOL.62 |
| Are Studies at Junior High School Necessary? |
Questionnaire of parents of third-year junior high students in Tokyo, Saitama
Questionnaire of first-year high school students in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama |
Questionnaire of parents: 357
Questionnaire of students: 239 |
Questionnaire of parents: July to October 1998
Questionnaire of students: May to June 1998 |
| Questionnaire of parents, students: Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| The important subjects students must study hard are Japanese and English languages! |
| The school curriculum has been revised in preparation for the full implementation of five-day week school system starting in 2002. Educational content has been reduced because the number of classes will decrease. What do parents of junior high school students think about the content of the current curriculum? What do they expect of junior high school education? What do they think is necessary in current education? This survey covered parents of third-year students in junior high school and first-year students in high school who have just completed three years of junior high school. The respondents were given questions on each subject at junior high school and then asked for their views on academic achievement. | |
| 1998 |
VOL.61 |
Mukatsuku (anger) and Kireru (exploding with rage) among Japanese Youth
|
| First- to third-year male and female students of four junior high schools in Tokyo |
| 1,235 (first year, 439; second year, 373; third year, 423; males, 648; females, 587) |
| May to July 1998 |
| Questionnaires distributed through schools and interviews |
| Students who easily explode with rage do not get along well with their friends and parents; nor do they have a place where they feel comfortable! | |
| 1998 |
VOL.60 |
| Junior High Shool Students in Cities and Mountain Villages - Thinking about regional and school difference |
| First- to third-year male and female students in junior high school in Akita, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Shimane, Kyushu |
| 2,086 (first year, 715; second year, 689; third year, 682; males, 1,071; females, 1,015) |
| February to March 1998 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Students have the common mentality although they have different behavior and possessions. |
| In the current information-oriented society, people have access to the same programming everywhere in the country and can obtain information and commodities with various types of information technology. There seems to be less regional difference compared with the past but is this true of the mentality of junior high school students? With the cooperation of six schools (names are fictitious), the survey examined differences in behavior and perception among junior high school students. | |
| 1998 |
VOL.59 |
Psychological Shutdown of Junior-High School Students
|
| First- to third-year students of public junior high schools in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa |
| 1,858 (first year, 484; second year, 696; third year, 678; males, 931; females, 927) |
| September to October 1997 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Students find junior high school life hectic, emotionally confusing, physically demanding, and stressful to the point of anger. |
| Junior high school is said to be a time when young people feel unstable due to an imbalance between mental and physical development. In such circumstances how do junior high school students spend time every day and what are their concerns and complaints? How do they get rid of their stress? The survey looked into the mental and physical aspects of junior high school life. | |
| 1997 |
VOL.58 |
| The View of Life by Junior High School Students |
| First- to third-year students in public junior high schools in Tokyo, Saitama |
| 1,966 (first year, 672; second year, 749; third year, 545; males, 1,013; females, 953) |
| June to July 1997 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Students want to find work that suits them on their own! |
| What kind of dreams do junior high school students have and how do they want to lead their lives? In order to understand their way of thinking, the survey looked into various perceptions; their exposure to the information media, what they want for the future, desired occupation, their view of life, and so on. | |
| 1997 |
VOL.57 |
| Interpersonal Relationships at School |
| First- to third-year students in public junior high schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa |
| 1,560 (first year, 515; second year, 606; third year, 439; males, 842; females, 718) |
| February to March 1997 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Students are satisfied with their friends, but have lots of worries about peer relationships! |
| Junior high school seems to be full of the stress of group life. Do students have a place where they feel at mental ease? The survey looked into the degree of satisfaction at junior high school, relationship with teachers and friends, and the meaning of having friends, and so on. | |
| 1997 |
VOL.56 |
| What Parents Expect of School |
| Parents and guardians of students in four public junior high schools in Tokyo |
| 1916 (mothers, 970; fathers 96; others, 10) |
| October to December 1996 |
| Questionnaire distributed by schools |
| Is the status quo OK? Parents who are not active in school reform and PTA activities! |
| It is very difficult to give a proper guidance to junior high school students who are going through puberty. School and family should work together to enhance the sound growth of students. In such circumstances, what do parents of junior high school students feel about their teachers and the current situation at junior high school? What do they expect of education in the future? The survey looked into the parents' awareness. | |
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