Kenichi Shimokawa and Dr. David Shwalb, Psychology
The study of temperament has an important part in furthering our understanding about human development. Although the word “temperament” is defined in various ways by researchers, two leading theorists defined it as “constitutionally based individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation” (Rothbart & Bates, 1997, p. 108). This definition, particularly, the term “constitutional” emphasizes the biological aspect of temperament. However, Dr. Shwalb and other researchers found evidences that suggest the influence of culture on how people perceive others temperament. Specifically, we studied the differences between maternal perceptions of Japanese and American child temperament to better understand how mothers from different cultures viewed their children.
To understand how mothers perceived their children’s temperament, we distributed free-response based questionnaires to mothers of children, whose age ranged from 0 to 6 years old. To study Japanese maternal perception, we used the returned questionnaires from Japanese mothers Dr. Shwalb collected in Japan. In these questionnaires, mothers were asked the following question in Japanese:
“We wish to know the characteristics of your child’s behavioral style (equivalent to adults’ character), as he/she eats, plays, cries, sleeps, etc., in daily life. Rather than what he/she can do, we are asking how he/she normally does things. Below, please list specific items you think reveal your child’s behavioral style and character.
The returned questionnaires generated over 1,500 individual items. Each item on the questionnaires was transcribed onto an index card along with codes representing the child’s age and gender, and we translated those items into English. Items were next divided into two age groups (0 to 2 years and 11 months old, and 3 to 5 years and 9 months old). This process of writing items on index cards and translating them was a long pains taking task.
After we divided the items into two age groups, we grouped similar items together to make 88 categories. To ensure the reliability of making categories, my wife, who is also Japanese and bilingual sorted the items independently. This was the basis for creation of a Likert rating scale questionnaire, to be distributed to a sample of Japanese mothers.
To make comparison between Japanese and American maternal perceptions, we distributed questionnaires to mothers of children at BYU preschool. Unfortunately, the return rate of the questionnaires was low (25 %). Because of this, we distributed questionnaires again two months later. In addition, because of the age demographics of the children at the preschool, we were not able to collect enough data from mothers of 5 year-olds. To obtain comparable size of responses, we are contacting other sources for more data at this time.
The responses from American mothers were similarly broken into each item and transcribed onto index cards. The same procedures were followed to sort the items into about 80 categories. Because Dr. Shwalb had relocated to Louisiana due to his new appointment at a university there, his research assistant in Louisiana did the coding and sorting of the American data.
Currently, we are finishing the process of sorting the rest of the Japanese items and collecting more American data. As soon as these processes are finished, our next step is to create Likert rating scale questionnaires based on the categories we come up with and distribute them to mothers in Japan as well as mothers in the United States. After those questionnaires are returned, we will perform statistical analyses on the data to figure out the major constructs found in perceptions of both Japanese and American mothers. We expect there will be differences between two populations. We also believe that the differences will be attributed to the cultural differences. I expect that the findings will be useful in understanding how mothers see their children and how the maternal perception might influence the children’s temperament.
This project has been a great learning experience for many reasons. First, I was able to work one on one with an experienced researcher. Second, I had opportunities to perform most of the work that was associated with this project, such as writing an IRB proposal, collecting data, translate over 1500 items, preparing the data for various analyses, and write a proposal for a presentation based on this research. Dr. Shwalb and I submitted a proposal to present this research at a conference and were accepted to present it. I will be the one to present the study, and this will be another great learning opportunity for me. We are also planning on publishing several articles and book chapters based on this study.
At the same time, this project was not without obstacles and challenges. First, as it is inherent in many qualitative researches, the project is taking a very long time. This certainly requires patience and longevity. Second, data collection did not go as easy as I expected. Perhaps due to the busy schedules most mothers have, we struggled to obtain enough sample in this study. However, this challenge had taught me the reality of psychological research and helped me to prepare for future research project I will do, such as a dissertation project for graduate school.
Above all, I am grateful for my wife who has been always encouraging and supportive of me throughout the entire process of this research project. This research (though it is not finished yet) will not have succeeded if it was not for my wife’s support.