Susan Holloway Research Team Studies Mothers of Japanese Preschoolers

Mothers of Japanese preschoolers are usually seen as key to their children's academic success. Adjunct Professor Susan Holloway has assembled a research team that is probing to find out how Japanese moms contribute to their children's early education, and how they view their own efforts to help their kids. "Japanese mothers portray themselves quite differently from the image we Americans have of them," said Holloway. Her early findings are already challenging many U.S. preconceptions of Japanese society.

Holloway is working with three GSE doctoral students in the Cognition and Development area of study-Kazuko Behrens, Sawako Suzuki, and Yoko Yamamoto. The research group has interviewed 120 mothers of preschool children, about half in the Osaka region in southern Japan, and half in Sapporo in the north of Japan. "The sample is also diverse in terms of family income and educational level," Holloway explained. "Our goal is to get an in-depth look at Japanese mothers." The team has also selected 16 moms they will profile more extensively through home visits and additional sessions at six-month intervals.

"The curious thing is that Japanese mothers are considered to be such an effective force in helping with their children's education, but researchers have shown that they don't all view themselves that way," Holloway said. "In fact they are known for giving themselves very low ratings as moms." The early findings of Holloway's research project show that the situation is in fact much more nuanced than previous studies had shown. "For one thing, not all mothers expressed the self doubts that came through in early research," Holloway said. "We took the time to talk in depth to these mothers, so they were less likely to use the self-deprecating comments that are considered polite. Americans are used to thinking about the Japanese as a homogeneous, group-oriented society but we found a lot of variation, with some mothers expressing a good deal of confidence in their parenting skills, and others showing a lot of anxiety."

In the U.S., mothers with a sense of parenting self-efficacy are more likely to advocate for their children, to pursue new educational opportunities for them, and to persevere in finding solutions to difficult problems. For these reasons, Holloway's research team was particularly interested in understanding what factors lead to a sense of self-efficacy among Japanese mothers. "We found three factors that influence whether the mothers feel self-efficacious about their ability to contribute to their preschoolers' education. The first factor is class," Holloway said. "Contrary to our assumptions about class differences being less important in Japan, the wealthier moms had a better estimation of their ability to socialize their kids and prepare them for school.

"The next factor is support from the husband," Holloway continued. "Even though Japanese dads often work long hours and are supposed to socialize with male co-workers in the evening, we found that moms felt more efficacious as parents when their husbands provided emotional support. Contrary to the prevailing myth, fathers are not unimportant to members of the Japanese family system. "

And another factor is the moms' own memories of their childhoods. Those who had positive recollections of their relationship with their parents feel more efficacious as parents," Holloway stated. "Again, this runs contrary to the image of Japan as a paradise for young children, where mothers are always sweet and patient. There were quite a few instances of family violence among the mothers in our sample. These mothers were uncertain about their parenting skills because they felt they had never been exposed to a good model of parenting."

Holloway has also become aware through this study of the tightrope that Japanese mothers have to walk when it comes to preparing their children for elementary school. "They're in a bind," she commented. "They have the sense that kids should be carefree, without pressure. At the same time, education is seen as the road to success and status, and key decisions about children's education are made early. So they often end up pressuring their children by signing them up for lessons and tutoring or buying them educational materials for study at home but feeling bad about it."

During this stage of her research, Holloway is reluctant to make any generalizations that can be applied to U.S. families and education. "I want to evaluate Japanese society on its own terms," she said. "At this point I'm especially attracted to describing the trade-offs that moms have to make and the complexity of their situation than in abstracting out the lessons to be learned."

Supported by a new grant from the Spencer Foundation, Holloway's study is going to continue to follow the 120 families through the transition from preschool to elementary school. "98% of Japanese kids go to preschool," she said, "so there is a lot to look at in terms of how their families support them in the transition from preschool to first grade. I'm sure we're going to learn some things that are applicable to the situation in the States, where there is a lot of interest in boosting kids' achievement through universal preschool."

Children and mothers at introductory visit at Fushiko Preschool in Sapporo, Japan


Susan Holloway