WATARU KOYANO
JAPANESE ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY: A REVIEW OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
ABSTRACT. Reviewed are research findings related to Japanese attitudes toward the elderly. Although several studies approaching this theme have been published in Japan since 1952, most of them are not known outside Japan because they were written in Japanese. These studies explored the presence of negative attitudes which were usually masked with rituals of respect for the elderly. People's proper use of tatemae, culturally defined normative meaning, and honne, actual feeling, in their attitudes toward the elderly is discussed as a potential source of the American idealization of aging in Japan. Key Words: attitudes toward the elderly, image of the elderly, stererotypes of old age,
knowledge about old age, Japan, review.
INTRODUCTION Because of her unique mixture of Oriental tradition and modernization, Japan has been given a special position in aging research on which the theories of aging developed in Western culture can be tested. Unfortunately, the language barrier makes it difficult for Western social gerontologists to observe aging in Japan directly. Thus, some of them may know it only through Palmore's works, said to be colored by "the American idealization of old age in Japan" (Tobin 1987). Palmore (1975) and Palmore and Maeda (1985) tried to test two theories of aging, aging-modernization theory and disengagement theory, in the Japanese context, and the latter concluded "the theory of low status for the aged is false. On the contrary, Japan shows that a tradition of respect for elders can maintain relatively high status and integration" (Palmore and Maeda 1985: 113). However, in her review of Palmore's first edition of The Honorable Elders (1975), Naoi (1976: 59) pointed out Palmore's idealization of the Japanese tradition of respect for the elderly and said "by stressing respect for the elderly, Palmore estimated the status of the elderly in Japan unreasonably highly. It is not surprising that a Westemer was strongly impressed by honorific language or priority in seating" (translated by the author). From the standpoint of the Japanese social gerontologist, attitudes toward the elderly and the actual feeling of the Japanese seem to be hidden in the overt behavior of respect for the elderly such as observed by Palmore. Japanese attitudes toward the elderly, people's actual feelings, and the way in which they are hidden, at least from the view of a foreign visitor, must be explored and taken into account. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 4: 335-345, 1989. © 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
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The purpose of this article is to explore Japanese attitudes toward the elderly by reviewing research findings. There have been several articles related to this theme published in Japan since 1952. However, the findings are not known outside Japan because most of them were written in Japanese, and thus, were not incorporated in Palmore's works. Reviewing the research findings will shed a different light on aging in Japan. STEREOTYPES OF OLD AGE The earliest study on attitudes toward the elderly in Japan was undertaken by Kakusho Tachibana in 1951. The results of the study were published in 1952 in a small research report not widely distributed and reported again by Tachibana (1971). In this study, 764 female university or college students were asked to describe, in their own terms, both positive and negative aspects of the elderly. For the positive aspects, 75% of the total responses concentrated on 3 characteristics: experienced (37%), kind (19%) and attentive (19%). For the negative aspects, 6 characteristics respectively accumulated over 10% of the total responses: not in step with the times (18%), stubborn (16%), meddlesome (14%), prolix (13%), selfish (12%) and grumpy (10%). Tachibana's study was duplicated by Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). In Yoshida, 8 positive and 18 negative characteristics of the elderly were indicated by 210 female college students. Among them, 4 positive and 4 negative characteristics were used by over 10% of the subjects: experienced (20%), kind (13%), attentive (10%) and helping with housework (10%) as positive aspects of the elderly; meddlesome (25%), stubborn (16%), prolix (14%) and feudalistic (12%) as negative aspects. For the positive aspects, 72% of the total responses concentrated on these 4 characteristics, while 53% were given for the negative aspects. In Okamura, 1,099 university, college or high school students were recruited as subjects and asked to describe positive and negative aspects of the elderly. The characteristics used by the subjects in their descriptions were classified into 13 categories, respectively. Among them, 5 positive and 3 negative characteristics were used by over 10% of the subjects: experienced (21%), kind (18%), being an adviser (13%), making the family harmonious (12%) and attentive (11%) for the positive aspects; stubborn or conservative (23%), superstitious or not in step with the times (22%) and prolix (13%) for the negative aspects. Tachibana and Yoshida stressed the concentration of responses for the positive characteristics of the elderly. Makizono (1986) also observed that young subjects (ranged in age from 15 to 24 years) were likely to indicate more different characteristics for the negative aspects than for the positive aspects, and that the subjects' descriptions of the negative aspects were more realistic and detailed than those of the positive aspects. Makizono, as well as Tachibana and Yoshida, suggested that the characteristics used to describe the positive aspects were more stereotypical or idealistic than those used for the negative aspects. In other words, the latter was closer to the subjects' actual feelings than
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the former. The results of Okamura were not consistent with those of Tachibana, Yoshida and Makizono in this regard. However, this inconsistency seems to be caused by Okamura's insufficient analysis: when she generated categories of characteristics from subjects' own terms, she constrained the number of categories to 13 both for the positive and negative aspects, and made such inadequate categorizations as "stubborn or conservative" and "superstitious or not in step with the times". Amhoff, Leone, and Lorge (1964) reported a cross-cultural study on stereotypical perceptions of the elderly including a Japanese sample. The subjects were university students of 6 countries: United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Greece, Puerto Rico and Japan. Amhoff et al. used a list of 100 statements about the elderly and asked their subjects to respond to each statement with either "true" or "false". However, some of the statements seem to be related to cognitive knowledge rather than to stereotype. For example, the Japanese students responded with "lxue" to Statement #41, "Old people are usually supported by their children", indicating their correct knowledge on aging in Japan at that time, but not showing their agreement on a stereotypical view. Thus, it seems safe to restrict our review to 27 statements classified as "personality". Among them, 11 statements were positive (kind, gentle, honest, etc.), and the remaining 16 statements were negative (grouchy, stubborn, selfish, etc.). The Japanese sample showed a significant difference in percentage of agreement on 21 out of 27 statements in comparison with the U.S. sample, on 24' statements with the Swedish sample, 20 with the Puerto Rican, 19 with the British, and 15 with the Greek. Generally, the Japanese sample showed a significantly higher percentage of agreement on negative statements and a lower percentage on positive statements. For example, in the U.S.-Japan comparison, the Japanese sample showed a significantly higher percentage of agreement on 1 positive and 11 negative statements and a lower percentage on 9 positive statements, and in the Sweden-Japan comparison, a significantly higher percentage on 13 negative statements and a lower percentage on 10 positive and 1 negative statements (see Table I). Reviewing the results of Amhoff et al., Tachibana (1971: 214) remarked that the feature of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly could be seen in the excess of negative stereotypes over positive stereotypes. WISHES AND ROLE EXPECTATIONS TOWARD THE ELDERLY Students' wishes for the elderly were also reported by Tachibana's earliest study (Tachibana 1971), as well as Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). The responses were just opposite of the negative aspects of the elderly mentioned by the subjects, and almost identical across these three studies. In Tachibana, responses accumulating over 10% of the total responses were "be in step with the times" (31%) and "not interfere with" (14%). In Yoshida, wishes expressed by over 10% of the subjects were "be in step with the times" (24%) and "lead a sunny life" (14%), and in Okamura, "be in step with the times" (42%) and "not
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WATARUKOYANO TABLE I Number of statements for which significant difference in percentage of agreement was found in the comparison with Japan (Amhoff,Leone and Lorge 1964) Positive trait Higher % Lower % in Japan in Japan
United States Sweden Puerto Rico Great Britain Greece
1 0 0 1 0
9 10 9 8 8
Negative trait Higher % Lower % in Japan in Japan 11 13 10 9 4
0 1 1 1 3
Note: The total number of statements was 11 for positive traits and 16 for negative traits.
interfere with" (15%). The response "lead a sunny life" in Yoshida may be seen as the opposite of grumpy, prolix, stubborn or irritated behavior. The most frequent response, "be in step with the times", seems to be a reflection of rapid social change after World War II, since the studies were undertaken at 11 to 14 years after the war using university, college or high school students at that time as subjects. Kurushima, Matsuda, Taji, Miyazaki and Yamamoto (1976) reported female university students' attitudes toward the social participation of the elderly in 4 domains: occupation, control over family finances, discipline of grandchildren and mediation of conflict. For all of them, the subjects (n=438) did not prefer active participation of the elderly, but "conditional" (i.e. only if needed) participation. The percentage of subjects preferring "conditional" participation was 79% for occupation, 65% for family finances, 79% for discipline, and 46% for mediation, while that of active participation was only 7%, 0%, 12%, and 23%, respectively. Omachi (1981) reported university students' expectations for roles or activities of the elderly. Among 13 roles or activities listed, only one of them was indicated by over 20% of the subjects (n=747): transmitter of wisdom of life (26%), and 11% of the subjects chose "I don't want to be interfered with", even though Omachi allowed completely free multiple choice in her questionnaire. The results of these two studies seem to indicate a lack of strong preference or expectation for active social participation of the elderly. The subjects of both studies, as well as those of Tachibana, Yoshida and Okamura, preferred not to be interfered with by the elderly rather than their active social participation. The subjects of these studies were restricted to university or high school students, and obviously did not represent Japanese adults. However, the results indicating the lack of expectation for active social participation of the elderly seem to coincide with the fact that elderly family members played only marginal or unimportant roles in their families (Koyama 1967).
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Murai (1976) analyzed the characteristics of grandparents respected by their grandchildren. The subjects were 113 junior high school students and their grandparents. The grandchildren were only asked whether they respected their grandparents, and the grandparents were separately interviewed about their backgrounds and everyday lives. The percentage of the grandchildren respecting their grandparents was 28%. The respected grandparents were younger, highly educated, knowledgeable about current social affairs, had hobbies, rich, gave money, praised grandchildren, and frequently went out with them. Murai concluded that grandchildren were realistic, and grandparents could not be respected by virtue only of being a grandparent. ATTITUDES TOWARD OWN AGING The majority of Japanese university or college students do not think about their own old age. The percentage of students not thinking about this were 85% in Moriya (1974) and 64% in Omachi (1981). Nevertheless, some Japanese social gerontologists were interested to know students' attitudes toward their own old age since the responses might be reflections of students' views of the elderly. In Tachibana's earliest study (Tachibana 1971), the subjects were asked to describe their ideals in old age. The responses accumulating over 10% of the total responses ~vere "to be liked by and to understand young people" (19%), "not to interfere with young people" (16%), and "to be in step with the times" (14%). The question was duplicated by Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). The most frequent response in both studies was "to be liked by and to understand young people" (indicated by 36% of the subjects in Yoshida and 37% in Okamura). Moriya (1974) asked 442 female college students to indicate the qnzlities and capabilities which they did not want to lose in their old age. Major responses were physical and mental youthfulness (indicated by 39% of the subjects), physical health (12%) and aspiration or motivation (10%). Moriya remarked that for the majority of subjects, aging meant a process in which they would lose the youthful features they were proud of. In Omachi (1981), subjects were asked to indicate the matters of worry in their own old age. Frequently indicated worries were physical health (32%), financial adequacy (27%) and family relationships (20%). If these responses can be seen as the reflection of students' views of old age, it seems reasonable to say that old age and the elderly were pessimistically viewed by them: the elderly were likely to be physically or mentally ill, having financial and family problems, not in step with the times, unable to understand young people, interfering with them, and consequently, not liked by them.
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IMAGE OF THE ELDERLY Some studies directly focused on the image of the elderly. Ando (1974) asked 40 teachers of kindergarten to indicate what colors seemed to fit the image of the elderly. Most subjects selected dark colors such as gray (indicated by 60% of the subjects) and brown (23%), and only one subject selected a bright color (pink). The responses might simply indicate that the elderly were expected to dress in these dark colors and not in bright colors, such as pink. Nevertheless, Ando suggested, without any consideration on patterns of dressing and social expectations, that the responses reflected the subjects' negative view of the elderly. Sato and Nagashima (1976) asked 500 university students to indicate adjectives, nouns and verbs which seemed to fit the image of the elderly. The subjects indicated 1,977 adjectives, 1,931 nouns and 412 verbs. Among them, 8 adjectives and 5 nouns were indicated by over 10% of the subjects. Among the frequently used adjectives, only one was positive: kind (indicated by 25% of the subjects), and the remaining seven were negative: lonely (34%), old (14%), dark (14%), pitiful (14%), sad (13%), weak (11%) and stubborn (12%). Most of the frequently indicated nouns were appearance-oriented and negative: wrinkles (18%), loneliness (17%), gray hair (15%), death (12%) and cane (11%). Among the verbs, the most frequently indicated was "to die" (6%). Sato and Nagashima commented that the attention of university students was exclusively directed toward the negative aspects of aging. Nagashima (1974) reported the factor structure of images of the elderly. He presented 40 adjectives or statements to 340 young (ranging in age from 20 to 59 years) and 173 elderly (aged 60 years and over) subjects, and asked them to evaluate how the adjectives or statements seemed to fit the image. The factor analysis yielded 6 factors of the image both for the young and the elderly subjects. The first two factors, called Physical Decline and Conceptual Image, were similarly found both in the young and the elderly subjects. The former was heavily loaded on such statements as graying, vision loss, hearing loss, and moving slowly, and the latter was loaded on adjectives such as lonely, miserable, weak and declining. Semantic differential technique has become common in studies on the image of the elderly. Moriya (1975) administered 26 pairs of adjectives to 366 female college students, and reported the profile of mean scores both for "ideal" and "actual" images of the elderly. The ideal image of the elderly was characterized as cheerful, stable, friendly, flexible, polite, clear, thoughtful, lovely, warm, clean and healthy, while the actual image was estimated as being inactive, polite, slow and inflexible. Because the actual image was generally estimated in the opposite direction of the ideal image, Moriya concluded that students viewed aging as the process in which they should inevitably stray from their ideals. Using 10 pairs of adjectives, Hosaka and Sodei (1986) tried to estimate the image of the elderly held by 794 university students. From the profile of mean scores, the image of the elderly was estimated as weak, stubborn, dark, filthy, passive, miserable, warm and gentle. Inoue (1980) briefly reported the profile of
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mean scores for 12 pairs of adjectives both in young (university students and adult males aged 30 to 49 years) and elderly subjects. The image of the elderly was characterized as somber, sad and weak by the elderly as well as by the young subjects. Hosaka and Sodei (1988) administered 50 pairs of adjectives to 567 university students. The profile of mean scores revealed a generally negative image of the elderly characterized as being conservative, somber, leisurely, static, slow, gray, passive, weak, small, nonproductive, dull, stubborn, warm, kind and gentle. The factor analysis of 50 adjectives yielded 6 common factors named Capability (heavily loaded on adjectives such as excellent, competent and clever), Active and Self-Supportive Nature (active, busy and productive), Happiness (satisfied, happy and cheerful), Cooperation (objective, obedient and rational), Gentleness (gentle, modest and lovely), and Social Extroversion (positive, open and extrovert). Based on the factor structure, six scales respectively corresponding to the factors were constructed and used in the analysis. While the mean scores of Capability and Gentleness were almost "neutral", the mean scores of the remaining 4 scales were quite negative. The most negative mean score was found for Active and Self-Supportive Nature. Hosaka and Sodei concluded that university students very negatively viewed the elderly, especially regarding their physical strength, activity and productivity, even if students might positively evaluate some emotional traits of the elderly as warm and gentle. POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE MISCONCEPTIONS Maeda and Sussman (1980) and Koyano, Inoue, and Shibata (1987) reported the relative magnitude of positively and negatively biased misconceptions about aging measured by Palmore's (1977) Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ). In Maeda and Sussman, FAQ was administered to 591 Japanese and 206 American representative samples of married adults (Japanese sample ranged in age from 20 to 49 years, and American sample ranged 21 to 64 years). The mean score o f percent-error positive, one of the subscores of FAQ indicating the amount of positively biased misconceptions, was significantly lower in the Japanese than in the American sample, and the mean score of percent-error negative, the subscore indicating the amount of negatively biased misconceptions, was significantly higher in the Japanese than in the American. Maeda and Sussman concluded that, contrary to general beliefs in Japan as well as in the United States, the Japanese were more negatively prejudiced than the American counterpart. Koyano et al. observed a significant and great excess of percent-error negative over percent-error positive in 555 representative samples of Japanese adults ranged in age from 30 to 59 years. They suggested that the inclination of the Japanese to acknowledge age-related negative changes made the percent-error positive low, and consequently brought about the great excess of percent-error negative. They also suggested that the excess of percent-error negative seemed to be much greater in Japanese than in American or Australian people. Both Maeda and Sussman and Koyano et al. confirmed the presence of
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strongly negative attitudes toward the elderly among Japanese adults. Because the excess of percent-error negative over percent-error positive was so large in the Japanese, Palmore (1988: 5) suggested the possibility of a mistranslation of FAQ. However, the results of both studies indicating the prominence of negative attitudes were consistent with the results of other studies cited previously. Particularly, the findings of Amhoff et al. (1964) and Tachibana's remarks on that (1971: 214) are noteworthy in this regard, since they had already brought to light the excess of negative stereotypes over positive stereotypes as a feature of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly. TATEMAE A N D HONNE IN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY: DISCUSSION
Studies investigating the attitudes toward the elderly have revealed the presence of strongly negative attitudes. It seems impossible to deny such continuously observed facts, even though social gerontologists may easily point out many defects in the studies, such as lack of representativeness of sample or insufficient statistical analysis. On the other hand, the tradition of respect for the elderly reported by Palmore (1975) and Palmore and Maeda (1985) is apparently alive in Japan. For example, nowadays, "silver seats" (for which the elderly and the handicapped are said to have priority for seating) exist in every train, subway and bus, and Keiro no Hi (Respect for Elders Day) has been a national holiday since 1966. Thus, the remaining question is in what way negative attitudes toward and respect for the elderly can simultaneously exist together. The Law for the Welfare of the Elderly (enacted in 1963) has proudly declared "The elderly shall be loved and respected as those who have contributed toward the development of society for many years, and shall be warranted a healthful and peaceful life" (Article 2). Obviously, this statement is a manifestation of the respect for the elderly as noted by Palmore. However, no Japanese literally believes this statement because everyone knows that it is merely tatemae and not honne. The pair of words, tatemae and honne, is frequently used in Japanese everyday conversation, and the Japanese are said to use them properly. Tatemae indicates culturally defined normative meaning while honne indicates actual meaning or feeling. In other words, tatemae is the realm of "shall" and honne is the realm of "be". For example, in tatemae, university students shall be vigorous seekers of knowledge, but in honne, they are apathetic seekers of units. The proper use of tatemae and honne may signify the generally realistic, rather than idealistic, nature of the Japanese mind since it implicitly permits the presence of something far from ideal. Considering people's proper use of tatemae and honne, Soeda (1978) schematically described the structure of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly in a two-way classification table (Table II). The columns of Table 2 are tatemae
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TABLE II Structure of attitudes toward the elderly (Soeda, 1978) Tatemae
H onne
(Shall)
(Be)
Elderly as Object (Passive voice)
Respect
Scorn Indifference
Elderly as Subject (Active voice)
The seasoned The wise
The infantile The silly
(shall) and honne (be), and the rows indicate the difference of voice (passive or active). According to Soeda's explanation, in tatemae, the elderly shall be respected as being seasoned (i.e. free from intense passion) and wise, just as declared by the Law for the Welfare of the Elderly. However, in honne, the elderly are scorned as being infantile or silly, or showed an icy indifference. Soeda neither presented new research findings nor explicitly referred to any research on the attitudes toward the elderly. Nevertheless, his notion has been generally accepted by the Japanese social gerontologists, because it seems to correspond both with research findings and their everyday experiences. From the standpoint of the Japanese social gerontologist, the striking contrast between tatemae and honne in Soeda's table seems to explain successfully a background of the coexistence of strongly negative attitudes and respect. People are likely to express and feign tatemae and try to mask. honne with tatemae, because expressing honne may possibly cause sanctions. Thus, people's honne can hardly be found in formal statistics or written materials. Further, it is difficult even for a native Japanese observer to know people's honne without enough experience and/or sufficient research design. As a foreign visitor, Palmore successfully observed many aspects of aging in Japan. However, his observation was restricted only to the culturally defined normative meaning, tatemae: respect for the elderly. He seemed unable to observe people's actual feelings, honne: negative attitudes. Contrary to Palmore's works, the studies reviewed here approached, or at least, tried to approach honne. Thus, the striking discrepancy between results reported by Palmore and results observed in the studies becomes quite understandable. Makizono's comment (1986: 4) on Palmore's works is a typical opinion of most Japanese social gerontologists; she stated "we Japanese feel ashamed at reading Palmore's indication, because we know that people's behavior and regime, which might be taken as manifestations of respect for the elderly, are mostly courtesy custom without substance, and that Japanese respect for the elderly is merely tatemae" (translated by the author).
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WATARUKOYANO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was partly supported by St. Andrew's University Research Grant: Collaborative Research #64. The professional advice of Dr. M. Fromm is gratefully acknowledged by the author. The author is also grateful to Ms. S. Kajitani for her assistance. REFERENCES CITED Ando, S. 1974 Kindergarteners' opinions about the aged (Yochien-kyoyu no rojin-kan ni tsuite). Bulletin of Morioka College (Morioka Tankidaigaku Kenkyu Hokoku) 25: 57-64 (written in Japanese). Arnhoff, F.N., H.V. Leone, and I. Lorge 1964 Cross-cultural acceptance of stereotypes toward aging. Journal of Social Psychology 63: 41-58. Hosaka, K., and T. Sodei 1986 Attitudes of university students toward old people (Daigakusei no rojin-kan). Japanese Journal of Gerontology (Ronen Shakai-Kagaku) 8:103-116 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Hosaka, K., and T. Sodei 1988 The images of university students holds of the aged: Analysis through the semantic differential technique (Daigakusei no rojin image: SDhou ni yoru bunseki). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 27:22-33 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Inoue, K. 1980 Attitudes of the elderly toward life and death (Rojin no shisei-kan). In Geropsyehology (Ronen-Shirtrigaku). K. Inoue, and K. Nagashima, eds. Pp. 188-202. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten (written in Japanese). Koyama, T. 1967 Role Structure of the Modern Family (Gondai Kazokn no YakuwariKozo). Tokyo: Baifukan (written in Japanese). Koyano, W., K. Inoue, and H. Shibata 1987 Negative misconceptions about aging in Japanese adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 2: 131-137. Kurushima, K., J. Matsuda, M. Taji, A. Miyazaki, and K. Yamamoto 1976 Study on the structure of consciousness toward the elderly (1) (Rojin-mondai ni kartsuru ishikikozo no kenkyu (1)). Bulletin of Okayama Prefectural Junior College (Ok~yamaKenritsu Tankidaigaku Kenkyu Kiyo) 20:99-106 (written in Japanese). Maeda, D., and M.B. Sussman 1980 Japan-U.S. cross-cultural study on the knowledge of aging, the attitude toward old people, and the sense of responsibility for aged parents (Sei-sonen no rojin-kan oyobi roshin ni taisuru sekinin-ishiki). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 12:29--40 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Makizono, K. 1986 Youth's attitudes toward the elderly (Gendai seinen no ronen-kan). Seishonen Mondai 33(9): 4-13 (written in Japanese). Moriya, K. 1974 Old age image of women's junior college students (Joshi-tandaisei no ronen-zo). Memoirs of the Mejiro Gakuen Women's Junior College (Mejiro Gakuen Joshi-Tankidaigaku Kiyo) 11:83-90 (written in Japanese). Moriya, K. 1975 Normal psychology (Seijo shinri). In Approach to the Psychology of Aging (Rojin-Shinri eno Approach). K. Hasegawa and T. Kashu, eds. Pp. 24-45. Tokyo: Igaku Shoin (written in Japanese). Murai, T. 1976 Research on the elderly and their grandchildren: The respectable elderly (Rojin to mago no chosa: Sonkei sareru rojin towa). Kosei no Shihyo 24(6): 9-17 (written in Japanese). Nagashima, K. 1974 A study on the image of aging (Roka-image ni tsuite). Journal of the Department of Liberal Arts in Asia University (Ajia Daigaku Kyoyo-Bu Kiyo) 9: 90-106 (written in Japanese). Naoi, M. 1976 Review of The Honorable Elders (Shohyo: The Honorable Elders). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 4:58-60 (written in Japanese).
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Okamura, M. 1961 College and high school students' opinions about the aged: Preliminary report (Gakusei no rojin-kan ni tsuite: Rojin chosa yoho to shite). Journal of Home Economics of Japan (Kaseigaku Zasshi) 12:287-292 (written in Japanese). Omachi, C. 1981 Young people's wishes toward the elderly and expectations for their old age (Seinen wa rojin ni nani wo nozomi jibun no rogo ni nani wo ldtai suruka). Doho Daigaku Ronso 44 A.5:295-317 (written in Japanese). Palmore, E. 1975 The Honorable Elders: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Aging in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. Palmore, E. 1977 Facts on aging: A short quiz. The Gerontologist 17: 315-320. Palmore, E. 1988 The Facts on Aging Quiz: Measuring knowledge and stereotypes. Center Reports on Advances in Research 11(3), Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Palmore, E., and D. Maeda 1985 The Honorable Elders Revised: A Revised CrossCultural Analysis of Aging in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. Sato, Y., and K. Nagashima 1976 Image of aging (4) (Roka-image (4)). Yokufukai Geriatric Journal (Yokufukai Chosa Kenkyu Kiyo) 60:73-76 (written in Japanese). Soeda, Y. 1978 Toward the subjective image of the elderly (Shutai-teki na ronen-zo wo motomete). Gendai no Esprit 126:5-24 (written in Japanese). Tachibana, K. 1971 Gerontology (Ronengaku). Tokyo: Seishin Shobo (written in Japanese). Tobin, J.J. 1987 The American idealization of old age in Japan. The Gerontologist 27: 53-58. Yoshida, S. 1959 Youth's images of the elderly (1): Case of female university students (Seinen no rojin-kan (1): Joshigakusei no baai). Annual Report of the Prefectural University of Mie (Mie-Kenritsu Daigaku Kenkyu Nenpo) 3(2): 177-188 (written in Japanese).
Department of Sociology St. Andrew's University 237-1 Nishino, Sakai City, Osaka 588, Japan
JAPANESE ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY: A REVIEW OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
ABSTRACT. Reviewed are research findings related to Japanese attitudes toward the elderly. Although several studies approaching this theme have been published in Japan since 1952, most of them are not known outside Japan because they were written in Japanese. These studies explored the presence of negative attitudes which were usually masked with rituals of respect for the elderly. People's proper use of tatemae, culturally defined normative meaning, and honne, actual feeling, in their attitudes toward the elderly is discussed as a potential source of the American idealization of aging in Japan. Key Words: attitudes toward the elderly, image of the elderly, stererotypes of old age,
knowledge about old age, Japan, review.
INTRODUCTION Because of her unique mixture of Oriental tradition and modernization, Japan has been given a special position in aging research on which the theories of aging developed in Western culture can be tested. Unfortunately, the language barrier makes it difficult for Western social gerontologists to observe aging in Japan directly. Thus, some of them may know it only through Palmore's works, said to be colored by "the American idealization of old age in Japan" (Tobin 1987). Palmore (1975) and Palmore and Maeda (1985) tried to test two theories of aging, aging-modernization theory and disengagement theory, in the Japanese context, and the latter concluded "the theory of low status for the aged is false. On the contrary, Japan shows that a tradition of respect for elders can maintain relatively high status and integration" (Palmore and Maeda 1985: 113). However, in her review of Palmore's first edition of The Honorable Elders (1975), Naoi (1976: 59) pointed out Palmore's idealization of the Japanese tradition of respect for the elderly and said "by stressing respect for the elderly, Palmore estimated the status of the elderly in Japan unreasonably highly. It is not surprising that a Westemer was strongly impressed by honorific language or priority in seating" (translated by the author). From the standpoint of the Japanese social gerontologist, attitudes toward the elderly and the actual feeling of the Japanese seem to be hidden in the overt behavior of respect for the elderly such as observed by Palmore. Japanese attitudes toward the elderly, people's actual feelings, and the way in which they are hidden, at least from the view of a foreign visitor, must be explored and taken into account. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 4: 335-345, 1989. © 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
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The purpose of this article is to explore Japanese attitudes toward the elderly by reviewing research findings. There have been several articles related to this theme published in Japan since 1952. However, the findings are not known outside Japan because most of them were written in Japanese, and thus, were not incorporated in Palmore's works. Reviewing the research findings will shed a different light on aging in Japan. STEREOTYPES OF OLD AGE The earliest study on attitudes toward the elderly in Japan was undertaken by Kakusho Tachibana in 1951. The results of the study were published in 1952 in a small research report not widely distributed and reported again by Tachibana (1971). In this study, 764 female university or college students were asked to describe, in their own terms, both positive and negative aspects of the elderly. For the positive aspects, 75% of the total responses concentrated on 3 characteristics: experienced (37%), kind (19%) and attentive (19%). For the negative aspects, 6 characteristics respectively accumulated over 10% of the total responses: not in step with the times (18%), stubborn (16%), meddlesome (14%), prolix (13%), selfish (12%) and grumpy (10%). Tachibana's study was duplicated by Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). In Yoshida, 8 positive and 18 negative characteristics of the elderly were indicated by 210 female college students. Among them, 4 positive and 4 negative characteristics were used by over 10% of the subjects: experienced (20%), kind (13%), attentive (10%) and helping with housework (10%) as positive aspects of the elderly; meddlesome (25%), stubborn (16%), prolix (14%) and feudalistic (12%) as negative aspects. For the positive aspects, 72% of the total responses concentrated on these 4 characteristics, while 53% were given for the negative aspects. In Okamura, 1,099 university, college or high school students were recruited as subjects and asked to describe positive and negative aspects of the elderly. The characteristics used by the subjects in their descriptions were classified into 13 categories, respectively. Among them, 5 positive and 3 negative characteristics were used by over 10% of the subjects: experienced (21%), kind (18%), being an adviser (13%), making the family harmonious (12%) and attentive (11%) for the positive aspects; stubborn or conservative (23%), superstitious or not in step with the times (22%) and prolix (13%) for the negative aspects. Tachibana and Yoshida stressed the concentration of responses for the positive characteristics of the elderly. Makizono (1986) also observed that young subjects (ranged in age from 15 to 24 years) were likely to indicate more different characteristics for the negative aspects than for the positive aspects, and that the subjects' descriptions of the negative aspects were more realistic and detailed than those of the positive aspects. Makizono, as well as Tachibana and Yoshida, suggested that the characteristics used to describe the positive aspects were more stereotypical or idealistic than those used for the negative aspects. In other words, the latter was closer to the subjects' actual feelings than
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the former. The results of Okamura were not consistent with those of Tachibana, Yoshida and Makizono in this regard. However, this inconsistency seems to be caused by Okamura's insufficient analysis: when she generated categories of characteristics from subjects' own terms, she constrained the number of categories to 13 both for the positive and negative aspects, and made such inadequate categorizations as "stubborn or conservative" and "superstitious or not in step with the times". Amhoff, Leone, and Lorge (1964) reported a cross-cultural study on stereotypical perceptions of the elderly including a Japanese sample. The subjects were university students of 6 countries: United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Greece, Puerto Rico and Japan. Amhoff et al. used a list of 100 statements about the elderly and asked their subjects to respond to each statement with either "true" or "false". However, some of the statements seem to be related to cognitive knowledge rather than to stereotype. For example, the Japanese students responded with "lxue" to Statement #41, "Old people are usually supported by their children", indicating their correct knowledge on aging in Japan at that time, but not showing their agreement on a stereotypical view. Thus, it seems safe to restrict our review to 27 statements classified as "personality". Among them, 11 statements were positive (kind, gentle, honest, etc.), and the remaining 16 statements were negative (grouchy, stubborn, selfish, etc.). The Japanese sample showed a significant difference in percentage of agreement on 21 out of 27 statements in comparison with the U.S. sample, on 24' statements with the Swedish sample, 20 with the Puerto Rican, 19 with the British, and 15 with the Greek. Generally, the Japanese sample showed a significantly higher percentage of agreement on negative statements and a lower percentage on positive statements. For example, in the U.S.-Japan comparison, the Japanese sample showed a significantly higher percentage of agreement on 1 positive and 11 negative statements and a lower percentage on 9 positive statements, and in the Sweden-Japan comparison, a significantly higher percentage on 13 negative statements and a lower percentage on 10 positive and 1 negative statements (see Table I). Reviewing the results of Amhoff et al., Tachibana (1971: 214) remarked that the feature of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly could be seen in the excess of negative stereotypes over positive stereotypes. WISHES AND ROLE EXPECTATIONS TOWARD THE ELDERLY Students' wishes for the elderly were also reported by Tachibana's earliest study (Tachibana 1971), as well as Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). The responses were just opposite of the negative aspects of the elderly mentioned by the subjects, and almost identical across these three studies. In Tachibana, responses accumulating over 10% of the total responses were "be in step with the times" (31%) and "not interfere with" (14%). In Yoshida, wishes expressed by over 10% of the subjects were "be in step with the times" (24%) and "lead a sunny life" (14%), and in Okamura, "be in step with the times" (42%) and "not
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WATARUKOYANO TABLE I Number of statements for which significant difference in percentage of agreement was found in the comparison with Japan (Amhoff,Leone and Lorge 1964) Positive trait Higher % Lower % in Japan in Japan
United States Sweden Puerto Rico Great Britain Greece
1 0 0 1 0
9 10 9 8 8
Negative trait Higher % Lower % in Japan in Japan 11 13 10 9 4
0 1 1 1 3
Note: The total number of statements was 11 for positive traits and 16 for negative traits.
interfere with" (15%). The response "lead a sunny life" in Yoshida may be seen as the opposite of grumpy, prolix, stubborn or irritated behavior. The most frequent response, "be in step with the times", seems to be a reflection of rapid social change after World War II, since the studies were undertaken at 11 to 14 years after the war using university, college or high school students at that time as subjects. Kurushima, Matsuda, Taji, Miyazaki and Yamamoto (1976) reported female university students' attitudes toward the social participation of the elderly in 4 domains: occupation, control over family finances, discipline of grandchildren and mediation of conflict. For all of them, the subjects (n=438) did not prefer active participation of the elderly, but "conditional" (i.e. only if needed) participation. The percentage of subjects preferring "conditional" participation was 79% for occupation, 65% for family finances, 79% for discipline, and 46% for mediation, while that of active participation was only 7%, 0%, 12%, and 23%, respectively. Omachi (1981) reported university students' expectations for roles or activities of the elderly. Among 13 roles or activities listed, only one of them was indicated by over 20% of the subjects (n=747): transmitter of wisdom of life (26%), and 11% of the subjects chose "I don't want to be interfered with", even though Omachi allowed completely free multiple choice in her questionnaire. The results of these two studies seem to indicate a lack of strong preference or expectation for active social participation of the elderly. The subjects of both studies, as well as those of Tachibana, Yoshida and Okamura, preferred not to be interfered with by the elderly rather than their active social participation. The subjects of these studies were restricted to university or high school students, and obviously did not represent Japanese adults. However, the results indicating the lack of expectation for active social participation of the elderly seem to coincide with the fact that elderly family members played only marginal or unimportant roles in their families (Koyama 1967).
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Murai (1976) analyzed the characteristics of grandparents respected by their grandchildren. The subjects were 113 junior high school students and their grandparents. The grandchildren were only asked whether they respected their grandparents, and the grandparents were separately interviewed about their backgrounds and everyday lives. The percentage of the grandchildren respecting their grandparents was 28%. The respected grandparents were younger, highly educated, knowledgeable about current social affairs, had hobbies, rich, gave money, praised grandchildren, and frequently went out with them. Murai concluded that grandchildren were realistic, and grandparents could not be respected by virtue only of being a grandparent. ATTITUDES TOWARD OWN AGING The majority of Japanese university or college students do not think about their own old age. The percentage of students not thinking about this were 85% in Moriya (1974) and 64% in Omachi (1981). Nevertheless, some Japanese social gerontologists were interested to know students' attitudes toward their own old age since the responses might be reflections of students' views of the elderly. In Tachibana's earliest study (Tachibana 1971), the subjects were asked to describe their ideals in old age. The responses accumulating over 10% of the total responses ~vere "to be liked by and to understand young people" (19%), "not to interfere with young people" (16%), and "to be in step with the times" (14%). The question was duplicated by Yoshida (1959) and Okamura (1961). The most frequent response in both studies was "to be liked by and to understand young people" (indicated by 36% of the subjects in Yoshida and 37% in Okamura). Moriya (1974) asked 442 female college students to indicate the qnzlities and capabilities which they did not want to lose in their old age. Major responses were physical and mental youthfulness (indicated by 39% of the subjects), physical health (12%) and aspiration or motivation (10%). Moriya remarked that for the majority of subjects, aging meant a process in which they would lose the youthful features they were proud of. In Omachi (1981), subjects were asked to indicate the matters of worry in their own old age. Frequently indicated worries were physical health (32%), financial adequacy (27%) and family relationships (20%). If these responses can be seen as the reflection of students' views of old age, it seems reasonable to say that old age and the elderly were pessimistically viewed by them: the elderly were likely to be physically or mentally ill, having financial and family problems, not in step with the times, unable to understand young people, interfering with them, and consequently, not liked by them.
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IMAGE OF THE ELDERLY Some studies directly focused on the image of the elderly. Ando (1974) asked 40 teachers of kindergarten to indicate what colors seemed to fit the image of the elderly. Most subjects selected dark colors such as gray (indicated by 60% of the subjects) and brown (23%), and only one subject selected a bright color (pink). The responses might simply indicate that the elderly were expected to dress in these dark colors and not in bright colors, such as pink. Nevertheless, Ando suggested, without any consideration on patterns of dressing and social expectations, that the responses reflected the subjects' negative view of the elderly. Sato and Nagashima (1976) asked 500 university students to indicate adjectives, nouns and verbs which seemed to fit the image of the elderly. The subjects indicated 1,977 adjectives, 1,931 nouns and 412 verbs. Among them, 8 adjectives and 5 nouns were indicated by over 10% of the subjects. Among the frequently used adjectives, only one was positive: kind (indicated by 25% of the subjects), and the remaining seven were negative: lonely (34%), old (14%), dark (14%), pitiful (14%), sad (13%), weak (11%) and stubborn (12%). Most of the frequently indicated nouns were appearance-oriented and negative: wrinkles (18%), loneliness (17%), gray hair (15%), death (12%) and cane (11%). Among the verbs, the most frequently indicated was "to die" (6%). Sato and Nagashima commented that the attention of university students was exclusively directed toward the negative aspects of aging. Nagashima (1974) reported the factor structure of images of the elderly. He presented 40 adjectives or statements to 340 young (ranging in age from 20 to 59 years) and 173 elderly (aged 60 years and over) subjects, and asked them to evaluate how the adjectives or statements seemed to fit the image. The factor analysis yielded 6 factors of the image both for the young and the elderly subjects. The first two factors, called Physical Decline and Conceptual Image, were similarly found both in the young and the elderly subjects. The former was heavily loaded on such statements as graying, vision loss, hearing loss, and moving slowly, and the latter was loaded on adjectives such as lonely, miserable, weak and declining. Semantic differential technique has become common in studies on the image of the elderly. Moriya (1975) administered 26 pairs of adjectives to 366 female college students, and reported the profile of mean scores both for "ideal" and "actual" images of the elderly. The ideal image of the elderly was characterized as cheerful, stable, friendly, flexible, polite, clear, thoughtful, lovely, warm, clean and healthy, while the actual image was estimated as being inactive, polite, slow and inflexible. Because the actual image was generally estimated in the opposite direction of the ideal image, Moriya concluded that students viewed aging as the process in which they should inevitably stray from their ideals. Using 10 pairs of adjectives, Hosaka and Sodei (1986) tried to estimate the image of the elderly held by 794 university students. From the profile of mean scores, the image of the elderly was estimated as weak, stubborn, dark, filthy, passive, miserable, warm and gentle. Inoue (1980) briefly reported the profile of
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mean scores for 12 pairs of adjectives both in young (university students and adult males aged 30 to 49 years) and elderly subjects. The image of the elderly was characterized as somber, sad and weak by the elderly as well as by the young subjects. Hosaka and Sodei (1988) administered 50 pairs of adjectives to 567 university students. The profile of mean scores revealed a generally negative image of the elderly characterized as being conservative, somber, leisurely, static, slow, gray, passive, weak, small, nonproductive, dull, stubborn, warm, kind and gentle. The factor analysis of 50 adjectives yielded 6 common factors named Capability (heavily loaded on adjectives such as excellent, competent and clever), Active and Self-Supportive Nature (active, busy and productive), Happiness (satisfied, happy and cheerful), Cooperation (objective, obedient and rational), Gentleness (gentle, modest and lovely), and Social Extroversion (positive, open and extrovert). Based on the factor structure, six scales respectively corresponding to the factors were constructed and used in the analysis. While the mean scores of Capability and Gentleness were almost "neutral", the mean scores of the remaining 4 scales were quite negative. The most negative mean score was found for Active and Self-Supportive Nature. Hosaka and Sodei concluded that university students very negatively viewed the elderly, especially regarding their physical strength, activity and productivity, even if students might positively evaluate some emotional traits of the elderly as warm and gentle. POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE MISCONCEPTIONS Maeda and Sussman (1980) and Koyano, Inoue, and Shibata (1987) reported the relative magnitude of positively and negatively biased misconceptions about aging measured by Palmore's (1977) Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ). In Maeda and Sussman, FAQ was administered to 591 Japanese and 206 American representative samples of married adults (Japanese sample ranged in age from 20 to 49 years, and American sample ranged 21 to 64 years). The mean score o f percent-error positive, one of the subscores of FAQ indicating the amount of positively biased misconceptions, was significantly lower in the Japanese than in the American sample, and the mean score of percent-error negative, the subscore indicating the amount of negatively biased misconceptions, was significantly higher in the Japanese than in the American. Maeda and Sussman concluded that, contrary to general beliefs in Japan as well as in the United States, the Japanese were more negatively prejudiced than the American counterpart. Koyano et al. observed a significant and great excess of percent-error negative over percent-error positive in 555 representative samples of Japanese adults ranged in age from 30 to 59 years. They suggested that the inclination of the Japanese to acknowledge age-related negative changes made the percent-error positive low, and consequently brought about the great excess of percent-error negative. They also suggested that the excess of percent-error negative seemed to be much greater in Japanese than in American or Australian people. Both Maeda and Sussman and Koyano et al. confirmed the presence of
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strongly negative attitudes toward the elderly among Japanese adults. Because the excess of percent-error negative over percent-error positive was so large in the Japanese, Palmore (1988: 5) suggested the possibility of a mistranslation of FAQ. However, the results of both studies indicating the prominence of negative attitudes were consistent with the results of other studies cited previously. Particularly, the findings of Amhoff et al. (1964) and Tachibana's remarks on that (1971: 214) are noteworthy in this regard, since they had already brought to light the excess of negative stereotypes over positive stereotypes as a feature of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly. TATEMAE A N D HONNE IN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY: DISCUSSION
Studies investigating the attitudes toward the elderly have revealed the presence of strongly negative attitudes. It seems impossible to deny such continuously observed facts, even though social gerontologists may easily point out many defects in the studies, such as lack of representativeness of sample or insufficient statistical analysis. On the other hand, the tradition of respect for the elderly reported by Palmore (1975) and Palmore and Maeda (1985) is apparently alive in Japan. For example, nowadays, "silver seats" (for which the elderly and the handicapped are said to have priority for seating) exist in every train, subway and bus, and Keiro no Hi (Respect for Elders Day) has been a national holiday since 1966. Thus, the remaining question is in what way negative attitudes toward and respect for the elderly can simultaneously exist together. The Law for the Welfare of the Elderly (enacted in 1963) has proudly declared "The elderly shall be loved and respected as those who have contributed toward the development of society for many years, and shall be warranted a healthful and peaceful life" (Article 2). Obviously, this statement is a manifestation of the respect for the elderly as noted by Palmore. However, no Japanese literally believes this statement because everyone knows that it is merely tatemae and not honne. The pair of words, tatemae and honne, is frequently used in Japanese everyday conversation, and the Japanese are said to use them properly. Tatemae indicates culturally defined normative meaning while honne indicates actual meaning or feeling. In other words, tatemae is the realm of "shall" and honne is the realm of "be". For example, in tatemae, university students shall be vigorous seekers of knowledge, but in honne, they are apathetic seekers of units. The proper use of tatemae and honne may signify the generally realistic, rather than idealistic, nature of the Japanese mind since it implicitly permits the presence of something far from ideal. Considering people's proper use of tatemae and honne, Soeda (1978) schematically described the structure of Japanese attitudes toward the elderly in a two-way classification table (Table II). The columns of Table 2 are tatemae
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TABLE II Structure of attitudes toward the elderly (Soeda, 1978) Tatemae
H onne
(Shall)
(Be)
Elderly as Object (Passive voice)
Respect
Scorn Indifference
Elderly as Subject (Active voice)
The seasoned The wise
The infantile The silly
(shall) and honne (be), and the rows indicate the difference of voice (passive or active). According to Soeda's explanation, in tatemae, the elderly shall be respected as being seasoned (i.e. free from intense passion) and wise, just as declared by the Law for the Welfare of the Elderly. However, in honne, the elderly are scorned as being infantile or silly, or showed an icy indifference. Soeda neither presented new research findings nor explicitly referred to any research on the attitudes toward the elderly. Nevertheless, his notion has been generally accepted by the Japanese social gerontologists, because it seems to correspond both with research findings and their everyday experiences. From the standpoint of the Japanese social gerontologist, the striking contrast between tatemae and honne in Soeda's table seems to explain successfully a background of the coexistence of strongly negative attitudes and respect. People are likely to express and feign tatemae and try to mask. honne with tatemae, because expressing honne may possibly cause sanctions. Thus, people's honne can hardly be found in formal statistics or written materials. Further, it is difficult even for a native Japanese observer to know people's honne without enough experience and/or sufficient research design. As a foreign visitor, Palmore successfully observed many aspects of aging in Japan. However, his observation was restricted only to the culturally defined normative meaning, tatemae: respect for the elderly. He seemed unable to observe people's actual feelings, honne: negative attitudes. Contrary to Palmore's works, the studies reviewed here approached, or at least, tried to approach honne. Thus, the striking discrepancy between results reported by Palmore and results observed in the studies becomes quite understandable. Makizono's comment (1986: 4) on Palmore's works is a typical opinion of most Japanese social gerontologists; she stated "we Japanese feel ashamed at reading Palmore's indication, because we know that people's behavior and regime, which might be taken as manifestations of respect for the elderly, are mostly courtesy custom without substance, and that Japanese respect for the elderly is merely tatemae" (translated by the author).
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This study was partly supported by St. Andrew's University Research Grant: Collaborative Research #64. The professional advice of Dr. M. Fromm is gratefully acknowledged by the author. The author is also grateful to Ms. S. Kajitani for her assistance. REFERENCES CITED Ando, S. 1974 Kindergarteners' opinions about the aged (Yochien-kyoyu no rojin-kan ni tsuite). Bulletin of Morioka College (Morioka Tankidaigaku Kenkyu Hokoku) 25: 57-64 (written in Japanese). Arnhoff, F.N., H.V. Leone, and I. Lorge 1964 Cross-cultural acceptance of stereotypes toward aging. Journal of Social Psychology 63: 41-58. Hosaka, K., and T. Sodei 1986 Attitudes of university students toward old people (Daigakusei no rojin-kan). Japanese Journal of Gerontology (Ronen Shakai-Kagaku) 8:103-116 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Hosaka, K., and T. Sodei 1988 The images of university students holds of the aged: Analysis through the semantic differential technique (Daigakusei no rojin image: SDhou ni yoru bunseki). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 27:22-33 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Inoue, K. 1980 Attitudes of the elderly toward life and death (Rojin no shisei-kan). In Geropsyehology (Ronen-Shirtrigaku). K. Inoue, and K. Nagashima, eds. Pp. 188-202. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten (written in Japanese). Koyama, T. 1967 Role Structure of the Modern Family (Gondai Kazokn no YakuwariKozo). Tokyo: Baifukan (written in Japanese). Koyano, W., K. Inoue, and H. Shibata 1987 Negative misconceptions about aging in Japanese adults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 2: 131-137. Kurushima, K., J. Matsuda, M. Taji, A. Miyazaki, and K. Yamamoto 1976 Study on the structure of consciousness toward the elderly (1) (Rojin-mondai ni kartsuru ishikikozo no kenkyu (1)). Bulletin of Okayama Prefectural Junior College (Ok~yamaKenritsu Tankidaigaku Kenkyu Kiyo) 20:99-106 (written in Japanese). Maeda, D., and M.B. Sussman 1980 Japan-U.S. cross-cultural study on the knowledge of aging, the attitude toward old people, and the sense of responsibility for aged parents (Sei-sonen no rojin-kan oyobi roshin ni taisuru sekinin-ishiki). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 12:29--40 (written in Japanese, with an English abstract). Makizono, K. 1986 Youth's attitudes toward the elderly (Gendai seinen no ronen-kan). Seishonen Mondai 33(9): 4-13 (written in Japanese). Moriya, K. 1974 Old age image of women's junior college students (Joshi-tandaisei no ronen-zo). Memoirs of the Mejiro Gakuen Women's Junior College (Mejiro Gakuen Joshi-Tankidaigaku Kiyo) 11:83-90 (written in Japanese). Moriya, K. 1975 Normal psychology (Seijo shinri). In Approach to the Psychology of Aging (Rojin-Shinri eno Approach). K. Hasegawa and T. Kashu, eds. Pp. 24-45. Tokyo: Igaku Shoin (written in Japanese). Murai, T. 1976 Research on the elderly and their grandchildren: The respectable elderly (Rojin to mago no chosa: Sonkei sareru rojin towa). Kosei no Shihyo 24(6): 9-17 (written in Japanese). Nagashima, K. 1974 A study on the image of aging (Roka-image ni tsuite). Journal of the Department of Liberal Arts in Asia University (Ajia Daigaku Kyoyo-Bu Kiyo) 9: 90-106 (written in Japanese). Naoi, M. 1976 Review of The Honorable Elders (Shohyo: The Honorable Elders). Social Gerontology (Shakai Ronengaku) 4:58-60 (written in Japanese).
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Okamura, M. 1961 College and high school students' opinions about the aged: Preliminary report (Gakusei no rojin-kan ni tsuite: Rojin chosa yoho to shite). Journal of Home Economics of Japan (Kaseigaku Zasshi) 12:287-292 (written in Japanese). Omachi, C. 1981 Young people's wishes toward the elderly and expectations for their old age (Seinen wa rojin ni nani wo nozomi jibun no rogo ni nani wo ldtai suruka). Doho Daigaku Ronso 44 A.5:295-317 (written in Japanese). Palmore, E. 1975 The Honorable Elders: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Aging in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. Palmore, E. 1977 Facts on aging: A short quiz. The Gerontologist 17: 315-320. Palmore, E. 1988 The Facts on Aging Quiz: Measuring knowledge and stereotypes. Center Reports on Advances in Research 11(3), Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Palmore, E., and D. Maeda 1985 The Honorable Elders Revised: A Revised CrossCultural Analysis of Aging in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. Sato, Y., and K. Nagashima 1976 Image of aging (4) (Roka-image (4)). Yokufukai Geriatric Journal (Yokufukai Chosa Kenkyu Kiyo) 60:73-76 (written in Japanese). Soeda, Y. 1978 Toward the subjective image of the elderly (Shutai-teki na ronen-zo wo motomete). Gendai no Esprit 126:5-24 (written in Japanese). Tachibana, K. 1971 Gerontology (Ronengaku). Tokyo: Seishin Shobo (written in Japanese). Tobin, J.J. 1987 The American idealization of old age in Japan. The Gerontologist 27: 53-58. Yoshida, S. 1959 Youth's images of the elderly (1): Case of female university students (Seinen no rojin-kan (1): Joshigakusei no baai). Annual Report of the Prefectural University of Mie (Mie-Kenritsu Daigaku Kenkyu Nenpo) 3(2): 177-188 (written in Japanese).
Department of Sociology St. Andrew's University 237-1 Nishino, Sakai City, Osaka 588, Japan
