40% of fathers don’t scold their children, Fukuoka survey shows

The old Japanese saying naming dangerous things, namely “earthquakes, thunders, fires and daddy,” no longer rings true. A survey held in Fukuoka, Kyushu, showed that the amount of fathers who lack confidence in bringing up their kids are on the increase, the Asahi Shimbun reports. Some 40% of fathers of middle and high school students responding to the survey said they do not interfere with what their children do with their life.

The survey, carried out once every 5 years since 1976 by the education faculty at the Kumamoto University, also revealed that 9.9% of fathers of middle and high school students say they lack confidence in bringing up their children, which is 0.6% higher since the last survey carried out in 2001. 30.5% of the fathers responded that their “children talk with their mother, but not with me,” while 9.3% admitted they did not understand their children.

The reseachers also pointed to a lack of parental role models made apparent by the survey. Among parents of high school students, 3.4% of the fathers and 2.2% of the mothers said they saw no problem in “enjo kosai,” a euphemism for teenage prostitution meaning “compensated dating.” In addition, 7.7% of fathers and 3.4% of mothers said they saw no problem in cheating on exams.

“There amount of no-good dads has increased,” Noritsugu Koga, one of the researchers responsible for the survey summarized the trend that has become visible in the last few years. “The kids (of these parents) will also grow up to become parents one day. I want parents to make an effort and show their kids what it means to be an adult.“

The survey was carried out among 3,500 people, of which 2,897 responded. 367 of the respondents were fathers and 573 mothers.

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3 responses to “40% of fathers don’t scold their children, Fukuoka survey shows”

Taisei, Oct 26 at 2:52 pm :

One only has look at what is happening on the news with “problem youth” in Japanese society today. It is a sad fact that many Japanese families are facing problems with parent child reltionhips. I personally believe that the Japanese culture has a huge part to play in this. Also, a lack of quality time of fathers and thier children is also a contributing factor with the “father figure” missing from the daily life of their son or daughter.
I personlly think Japanese men are weak. They cannot fully express themselves and when they do its only thru sake!

Tom, Oct 27 at 9:17 am :

This article suggests that reason why 40% of fathers don’t scold their children is because of an increase in a “lack of confidence” and a decline in parenting skills. But this is unwarranted for various reasons: first, the article bases the no-confidence attribution from a 9.9% of verbal reports. While this may be true, a 0.6% increase in a span of 6 years is minimal. Moreover, the 9.9% should not be regarded as a token for the 40% of fathers who don’t scold their children. It neglects the possibility that the other 30% of fathers do not scold their children for moral reasons rather than weakness of character. Secondly, the 30.5% of fathers who say that their children talk with their mother instead of with them simply reflects a cultural pattern that may not have as strong of a connection with the level of confidence of the father, as the article suggests. Similarly, the 9.3% who reported they did not understand their children does not necessarily reflect either lack of confidence or bad parenting skills. Think of how hard it is to understand any human being - parent, friend, or children. Not understanding does not imply lack of an attempt to understand. Third, although 3.4% of fathers said they had no problems with compensated dating, and 7.7% said they have no problem with cheating in exams, look on the bright side! That means 96.6% of fathers are against compensated dating! And 92.3% are against cheating on exams! I’d say the moral standards of Japanese fathers today look pretty decent. These statistics are not conclusive and maybe even deceiving.

Agree with Tom, Nov 05 at 12:42 pm :

I like this part: 3500 in survey, 2897 responded - 367 fathers and 573 mothers. That leaves 1957 respondents that are neither father or mother?? BTW, Wikipedia has the population of Fukuoka Prefecture at 5,057,932 (as of 2004). 367 fathers means squat. Now I’m bias because my wife is from Fukuoka and her family is great, and her father is a great man, but seriously, do the math - its a far reach to get ANY reliable info here.