Japanese Childrearing Two Generations of Scholarship

This book integrates the past half-century of cross-cultural research on Japanese childrearing and socialization, placing current findings in their historical context and offering concrete suggestions for new research. Coupling retrospectives by influential senior scholars with reaction papers by younger-generation scholars, the volume illustrates the lasting value of past scholarship and mentoring at the same time as it explores how theories and methodology in the field have evolved over time. The volume concludes with a discussion of the implications of research on Japan for the general study of culture and development.

DAVID SHWALB is Associate Professor of International Studies at Koryo Women's College, Nagoya. He received his BA from Oberlin College and an MA and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan. He was an exchange student at Waseda University, a Monbusho English Fellow in Hiroshima, and a Fulbright Dissertation Fellow at Tokyo University. His research on school and family socialization has included projects on fathering, abacus juku education, tatemae/honne (social cognition), cooperation/competition, and temperament.

BARBARA SHWALB is Associate Professor at Nagoya Shoka University. She received her BS, MA, and MAT degrees from Southeast Missouri State University. Her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology is from the University of Michigan. At Michigan she was a research associate with the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. She was a public school teacher for 5 years, and served as a Monbusho Research Fellow at Tokyo University. Her research combines cognitive psychological frameworks and statistical methods to integrate individual, group, and cultural learning issues.

The Shwalbs have five children.