A study of National Character and the process of Its Formation in Japan and the United States

下列研究是在1996和1997财政年度进行的。1 .青少年国民性形成基本信息的收集与分析；2 .对日本国内外现有青少年和成人（20岁以上）态度调查数据的收集、二次分析和评价；3 .加利福尼亚州青少年测试前调查的绩效与评价（参与该项目的3名日本研究人员于1996年访问美国，与美国团队成员讨论该项目）；在美国进行一项重大调查（日本首席调查员于1997年访问了纽约的民意调查公司，讨论调查的安排）。采用配额抽样方法，选择了1 000户有一名青少年及其父母的家庭。在面对面的访谈中，研究人员向青少年（13岁至18岁）和青少年的父母提出了88个核心问题。这些问题包括家庭与朋友的关系，对学校和社区未来计划的态度，以及对宗教和民族性格的态度。另外一组15个问题被分配给青少年。这些额外的问题针对的是成熟的问题，是基于斯坦福青少年量表。调查数据的分析目前正在进行中。从这项研究中得出的新见解如下。从之前的国民性研究数据来看，美国和日本青少年在国民性形成方面的态度差异相当大。然而，在本研究中，日本和美国的20岁以上成年人和青少年对唯物主义和后唯物主义的态度和思维方式都得到了支持，这为趋同理论提供了证据和支持。根据以往的调查研究结果和目前的前测结果，开放式问题的定量分析对于发现和揭示两国国民性形成的过程是必不可少的。少

The following research was conducted during fiscal years 1996 and 1997.1. Collection and analysis of basic information on the formation of national character among adolescents ;2. Collection, secondary analysis and evaluation of existing attitudinal survey data among adolescents and adults (over 20 years of age) within and outside of Japan ;3. Performance and evaluation of pre-test surveys among adolescents in the State of California (three Japanese researchers who participated in the project visited the United States in 1996 to discuss the project with the U. S. team members) ;4. Performance of a major survey in the United States (the Japanese principal investigator visited the polling company in New York in 1997 to discuses arrangements for the survey).Using quota sampling methodology 1,000 households containing an adolescent and his/her parent were selected. A core set of 88 questions was administered to both the adolescents (aged 13 to 18) and the parents of the adolescents in face … More to-face interviews. These questions covered such topics as family relationship with friends, attitudes toward school and community future plans, and attitudes toward religion and national character. An additional set of 15 questions was administered to the adolescents. These additional questions targeted the issue of maturity and were based on the Stanford Scale of Adolescence. Analysis of the survey data is currently in progress.New insights stemming from the study are as follows.1. From the previous national character study data, differences in adolescent attitudes between the United States and Japan with respect to the formation of national character were found to be quite substantial. In the present study however, attitudes and ways of thinking about materialism and post-materialism were supported not only for the adults over age 20 but also for the adolescents in both Japan and the United States, lending credence to and support for convergence theory.2. Based on previous survey research results and the present pre-test results, it was found that quantitative analysis of open-ended questions is imperative for detecting and revealing the processes involved in the formation in national character in both nations. Less