Age and gender effects in the cultural life script of Japanese adults

Imagining the future: A cross-cultural perspective on possible selves

“…We analysed the frequency with which life script categories featured in the possible selves of participants from different cultures. It was predicted that participants would generate possible selves that reflect cultural life script events, such as marriage, occupational transitions, and parenthood (events that feature in the life scripts of participants from a range of cultures, e.g., Rubin et al, 2009;Erdogan et al, 2008;Janssen, Uemiya & Naka, 2014). This proposal is supported by the results of Rathbone, Conway, and Moulin (2011), who examined the temporal distributions of British young adults' possible and current selves.…”

Cultural life scripts of Japanese adolescents

“…Thus, it is assumed that the life scripts of the high school students who pass this exam are more mature than those of junior high school students. A comparison between the present data and the only available data on Japanese adults (Janssen et al, ) may reveal developmental differences between Japanese adolescents and adults.…”

“…However, some gender‐specific life script differences may occur, particularly in cultures outside Europe and the US. As mentioned in the Introduction, Ottsen and Berntsen's () study of 24 Qatari men and 31 Qatari women indicated that men tended to mention more Qatari‐specific and more religious events in their life scripts, and Janssen et al's () study of a sample including many Japanese men and women found lower proportions of mentions of “retirement” and “death of partner” and earlier estimated ages at “marriage” and “having a baby” in women.…”

“…The notion of a life script has been examined by several previous studies, and these studies have suggested that certain events, that is, life script events, will be common among all members of a society, and that many of these events will be experienced across a similar time period (e.g., Berntsen & Rubin, ; Bohn & Berntsen, ; Erdoğan, Baran, Avlar, Taş, & Tekcan, ; Janssen, Uemiya, & Naka, ; Ottsen & Berntsen, ; Rubin, Berntsen, & Hutson, ). In addition, some previous studies have suggested that most life script events have “positive” valences (e.g., Berntsen & Rubin, ; Bohn & Berntsen, ; Erdoğan et al, ; Janssen et al, ; Ottsen & Berntsen, ; Rubin et al, ) and occur between 15 and 30 years of age (e.g., Bohn, ; Erdoğan et al, ; Janssen et al, ; Ottsen & Berntsen, ; Rubin et al, ).…”

“…Janssen et al () asked 759 Japanese adults to describe online the seven most important events in the life of a Japanese infant and concluded that Japanese life scripts were similar to those of European countries and the US, although there were a few cultural and gender‐specific differences. However, the Japanese life scripts had some categories, such as “university entrance examination” and “high school entrance examination,” that were not found in the European or American life scripts.…”