A research group led by NISHIMURA Kazuo (Project Professor at the Kobe University Center for Social Systems Innovation) and YAGI Tadashi (Professor at the Doshisha University Faculty of Economics) have released survey results showing that children who receive positive attention and care from their parents have high incomes, high happiness levels, academic success, and a strong sense of morality. These findings will be presented as a discussion paper at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI, a Japanese policy think tank).

Project Professor Nishimura’s group aimed to discover the effects of parenting methods in Japan. To achieve this, in January 2016 they carried out an online survey as part of the RIETI project “Fundamental Research for Sustainable Economic Growth in Japan”. They obtained answers from 5000 women and men to questions and statements about their relationships with their parents during childhood, including statements such as “My parents trusted me”, and “I felt like my family had no interest in me”. Using this data, they identified four key factors: (dis)interest, trust, rules, and independence, as well as “time spent together”, and “experiences of being scolded”. Based on their results, the research group divided parenting methods into the following 6 categories.

Supportive :

High or average levels of independence, high levels of trust, high levels of interest shown in child, large amount of time spent together

Strict :

Low levels of independence, medium-to-high levels of trust, strict or fairly strict, medium-to-high levels of interest shown in child, large amount of rules

Indulgent :

High or average levels of trust, not strict at all, time spent together is average or longer than average

Easygoing :

Low levels of interest shown in child, not strict at all, small amount of time spent together, few rules

Harsh :

Low levels of interest shown in child, low levels of independence, low levels of trust, strict

Average :

Average levels for all key factors

The results demonstrated that people who had experienced “supportive” child-rearing where parents paid them a lot of positive attention reported high salaries, academic success, and high levels of happiness. On the other hand, participants subjected to a “strict” upbringing where parents paid them high levels of attention combined with strict discipline reported high salaries and academic achievement, but lower happiness levels and increased stress.