Japanese and U.S. Marriage Experiences: Traditional and Non-traditional Perceptions of Family

Abstract

Structured home interviews with 99 U.S. and 60 Japanese families included a projective exercise in which families made pictures of the family. The marital relationship, as presented in that picture, was compared for the two samples. The data can be summarized with two overarching themes: similarity and tradition. A number of themes were similar for families in both cultures: the tendency to see the parents/mates as a unit, and to see them as close to each other, the greater likelihood of including grandmothers in the family (compared with grandfathers), and the pattern of sons being more likely to be closest to fathers, daughters to mothers. Traditional themes were more common in the Japanese families. Marriage appeared to be based more o n a personal relationship in the U.S., with mates seen as more similar to each other than in Japan. Father/husbands were more likely to be seen as isolated in Japan; with mother/wives depicted as more connected with children.