Rindfuss, Ronald R., Minja Kim Choe, Larry L. Bumpass, Noriko O. Tsuya, 2004, “Social Networks and Family Change in Japan,” American Sociological Review, 69(6): 838-61.
Japan, unlike most Western countries, has not experienced several components of the second demographic transition, including cohabitation, widespread use of childcare centers, unmarried childbearing, and nonmarriage. Yet there is evidence that Japan is ripe for change in such family behaviors. This article examines a set of innovative questions related to knowing individuals who have engaged in these behaviors by type of relationship (sibling, other relative, friend, and coworker) respondent has to such individuals. We find that a large proportion of the Japanese population knows someone who has cohabited, used childcare, had a nonmarital birth, or plans to remain unmarried. This knowledge is patterned by both relationship domain and social structural variables. There is a strong positive association between knowing someone who has engaged in one of these behaviors and attitudes toward nontraditional family behavior, suggesting pathways by which micro-level interpersonal interactions may be linked to macro-level social change.
The aim of this study is, through a secondary analysis of the number of child abuse reports filed with children’s welfare centers, to examine activities to prevent child abuse in Japan. The number of cases of child abuse, filed in 47 prefectures and 12 ordinance-designed major cities, can be analyzed by focusing on the regional differences among them. Adopting the perspective of social constructionism, this study regards the number of child abuse reports as a rate of discovery rather than incidence, and analyzes the differences between urban areas and rural ones through some variables. The main findings can be summarized as follows. (1) Especially since the latter half of the 1990s, urban areas have been carrying out activities to prevent child abuse (in this study, termed “child abuse discovery activities”), and all areas have been converging on an average discovery rate. (2) In urban areas, new types of child abuse (sexual abuse, emotional/psychological maltreatment, and neglect) were discovered a few years later than physical maltreatment. In 2001, the first whole year when child abuse prevention law was put into force, all types of maltreatment were discovered relatively higher in urban areas. (3) Neighbors, acquaintances/friends and medical facilities have been discovering child maltreatment in urban areas significantly and particularly in 2001 most urban public organizations have higher rate significantly. In Japan, child abuse is often discussed in the context of contemporary and urban ways of life, such as “the weakening of local bonds and blood relationships,” “increase in nuclear families” and “psychological troubles arising in the course of growth and development.” However, as stated above, since the latter half of 1990s, urban areas have been the forerunners of child abuse prevention activities in Japan. Therefore, the way of life in urban areas cannot be identified as a causal factor of child abuse. Rather, the great interest that urban people, medical facilities and public organizations have in child abuse is behind the incidence of “abuse” in urban areas.