Family Social Network in Modern Japan : An Application of Path Analysis

Abstract

This study is an effort to provide a descriptive overview of the social network of the modern Japanese family. Though the study is basically of exploratory nature, it is aimed at examining two aspects of family social network : one is the aspect of decline in the importance of the generational contunity in the Japanese family system ; the other is viability of kin linkages in the multiple context of family linkages with other social units in modern Japan. Social network and linkage are the basic concepts utilized in this study and exchange theory provides the basis for interpretations of findings. This study is a secondary analysis of the data from Cross-National Research Studies on the Family. The questionnaire on family interaction was administered to a sample of 129 families who were purposively selected for studying the particular phase of family transactions with kin and other social units. The sample families are the residents of a housing development in Metropolitan Tokyo. Family transactions with other units are examined in terms of activation of potentially existing linkages with other units in ordinary need and hypothetically created crisis situations. Path analysis is employed to examine the logical feasibility of the proposed theoretical framework in this study as well as the multivariate relationships among our variables : eleven family structure variables, the variables on two types of kin linkage (parent-child vs. sibling, and husband's kin vs. wife's kin), and the variable on kin viability in two sets of need situations. Findings indicate a positive association between the higher activation of matrilineal kin and the higher activation of non-kin linkages. This suggests that the degree of the importance of patrilineal kin may be a useful indicator of social change. Operationalization of concepts remains to be a problem in studying viability of kin in modern, industrialized society. Generalizability of the findings in this study is confined to the theoretical framework and related methodology.