Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 9;15(11):e0241571. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241571. eCollection 2020.
It has been suggested that an increasing proportion of young adults in Japan have lost interest in romantic relationships, a phenomenon termed "herbivorization". We assessed trends in heterosexual relationship status and self-reported interest in heterosexual romantic relationships in nationally representative data.
We used data from seven rounds of the National Fertility Survey (1987-2015) and included adults aged 18-39 years (18-34 years in the 1987 survey; sample size 11,683-17,675). Current heterosexual relationship status (married; unmarried but in a relationship; single) was estimated by sex, age group and survey year, with singles further categorized into those reporting interest vs. no interest in heterosexual romantic relationships. Information about same-sex relationships were not available.
Between 1992 and 2015, the age-standardized proportion of 18-39-year-old Japanese adults who were single had increased steadily, from 27.4 to 40.7% among women and from 40.3 to 50.8% among men. This increase was largely driven by decreases in the proportion of married women aged 25-39 years and men aged 30-39 years, while those in a relationship had increased only slightly for women and remained stable for men. By 2015, the proportion of single women was 30.2% in those aged 30-34 years and 24.4% in those aged 35-39 years. The corresponding numbers for men were 39.3% and 32.4%. Around half of the singles (21.4% of all women and 25.1% of all men aged 18-39 years) reported that they had no interest in heterosexual romantic relationships. Single women and men who reported no interest in romantic relationships had lower income and educational levels and were less likely to have regular employment compared to those who reported such an interest.
In this analysis of heterosexual relationships in nationally representative data from Japan, singlehood among young adults had steadily increased over the last three decades. In 2015 around one in four women and one in three men in their thirties were unmarried and not in a heterosexual relationship. Half of the singles reported no interest in romantic relationships and these women and men had lower income and educational levels and were less likely to have regular employment.
据报道，越来越多的日本年轻人对恋爱关系失去了兴趣，这种现象被称为“草食化”。我们评估了全国代表性数据中异性恋关系状况和自我报告的异性恋关系兴趣的趋势。
我们使用了七轮全国生育调查（1987-2015 年）的数据，包括 18-39 岁的成年人（1987 年调查中为 18-34 岁；样本量为 11683-17675 人）。当前的异性恋关系状况（已婚；未婚但有伴侣；单身）按性别、年龄组和调查年份进行估计，单身者进一步分为报告对异性恋关系有兴趣和无兴趣的人群。同性关系的信息不可用。
1992 年至 2015 年间，18-39 岁日本成年人的标准化单身比例稳步上升，女性从 27.4%上升到 40.7%，男性从 40.3%上升到 50.8%。这一增长主要是由于 25-39 岁已婚女性和 30-39 岁男性的比例下降所致，而有伴侣的女性比例仅略有增加，男性比例保持稳定。到 2015 年，30-34 岁女性单身比例为 30.2%，35-39 岁女性单身比例为 24.4%。男性的相应数字分别为 39.3%和 32.4%。大约一半的单身者（18-39 岁的所有女性中有 21.4%，所有男性中有 25.1%）表示他们对异性恋关系没有兴趣。报告对浪漫关系没有兴趣的单身女性和男性的收入和教育水平较低，与报告有兴趣的人相比，他们更有可能没有稳定的工作。
在这项对日本全国代表性数据中异性恋关系的分析中，过去三十年来，年轻人的单身率稳步上升。2015 年，三分之一的 30 多岁女性和四分之一的 30 多岁男性未婚且没有异性恋关系。大约一半的单身者表示对浪漫关系没有兴趣，这些女性和男性的收入和教育水平较低，更有可能没有稳定的工作。
