Attitudes of University Students on Marriage and Family Matters

Abstract

The data in this paper are from a survey made by the writer in 1955, when he was a Fulbright Research Professor connected with Tokyo University. The theme of the total study was changing marriage and family patterns in Japan, especially since World War II. One phase of the study was a survey, by means of a questionnaire, of the opinions of more than 5, 000 university and high school students (approximately equal in number) in cities and towns of all four islands, from Sapporo to Kagoshima, carefully selected to represent different culture areas. The quetionnaire, constructed with the aid of Japanese sociologists, family court workers and anthropologists, covered more than 50 questions, mostly of the multi-plechoice type. It was printed in Japanese and administered in the classroom, (mostry to third and fourth year students) by the local professors, with the writer's Japanese assistant present to explain the purpose of the study and answer any questions on meaning or procedure. The questionnaire was strictly anonymous, and the students were urged to give their own true opinion, regardless of whether or not these coincided with current public opinion. They seemed to take the study seriously and to answer conscientiously, with extremely few individual exceptions. About half of the high school returns and approximately one-third of the university returns were from girls. This short paper can deal with only a few of the many questions covered, and with only the 2609 students (1756 boys and 853 girls) in the 24 universities and colleges covered