Oshio Takashi
Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8603, Japan.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2012 Sep;27(3):259-74. doi: 10.1007/s10823-012-9169-y.
The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the associations of life satisfaction with family and social relations among the Japanese elderly. Ordered logit models were estimated to explain life satisfaction with a rich set of explanatory variables, using micro data of 3,277 elderly Japanese adults (1,679 men and 1,598 women) collected from the first-wave sample from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR). This study found that men are less satisfied with life when living without their spouse; women are less satisfied with life when they live and/or have close relations with their parents-in-law; coresidence with an unmarried son is negatively associated with life satisfaction for both men and women; and, a larger number of friends and social activities enhance life satisfaction for women but not for men. Men are more sensitive than women to overall family relations, while the relative importance of social relations is higher for women. These results confirmed gender differences in the associations of life satisfaction with family and social relations in Japan-a nation characterized by a gender-asymmetric society and multi-generational family settings.
本研究旨在调查日本老年人生活满意度与家庭及社会关系之间关联的性别差异。利用从日本老年退休研究（JSTAR）第一波样本中收集的3277名日本老年成年人（1679名男性和1598名女性）的微观数据，估计有序logit模型，用丰富的解释变量来解释生活满意度。本研究发现，男性在没有配偶陪伴时对生活的满意度较低；女性在与公婆同住和/或与公婆关系密切时对生活的满意度较低；与未婚儿子同住对男性和女性的生活满意度均有负面影响；较多的朋友和社交活动能提高女性的生活满意度，但对男性则不然。男性比女性对整体家庭关系更敏感，而社会关系对女性的相对重要性更高。这些结果证实了在以性别不对称社会和多代家庭环境为特征的日本，生活满意度与家庭及社会关系之间的关联存在性别差异。
