Hikikomori: A Scientometric Review of 20 Years of Research

Abstract

The Japanese term hikikomori was first used to describe prolonged social withdrawal in the 1990s. Since then, research across the world have reported similar prolonged social withdrawal in many countries outside Japan. This study systematically analyses the evolution of literature on hikikomori in the past 20 years to gain a better understanding of the development of the knowledge base on hikikomori since it garnered attention in Japan. Findings from the scientometric review indicate many perspectives on the etiology of hikikomori including cultural, attachment, family systems and sociological approaches. However, similarities with modern type depression, a novel psychiatric syndrome, have been proposed and there are signs of a recent paradigm shift of hikikomori as a society-bound syndrome rather than a cultural-bound syndrome unique to Japan. As research into hikikomori continues to grow, results from the review also highlight the need for a more universally shared definition of hikikomori in order to better consolidate cross-cultural research for meaningful and valid cross-cultural comparisons which can help to promote evidence-based therapeutic interventions for hikikomori.

Validation of the German version of the 25‐item hikikomori questionnaire 25

“…As very recently stated by Neoh et al. ( 2023 ): there is a “recent paradigm shift of hikikomori as a society‐bound syndrome rather than a cultural‐bound syndrome unique to Japan” (p. 1).…”

“…For example, when we used a cut-off score of 59 (sensitivity: 0.74; specificity: 0.90 in the original study byTeo et al (2018)) the prevalence was 12.4% and when we used a cut-off score of 71 (sensitivity: 0.58; specificity: 0.90 in the original study byTeo et al (2018)), the prevalence equaled 3.4%.Overall, future cross-country comparisons are therefore recommended to further examine potential differences in the prevalence of hikikomori between countries and regions. As very recently stated byNeoh et al (2023): there is a "recent paradigm shift of hikikomori as a society-bound syndrome rather than a cultural-bound syndrome unique to Japan" (p. 1).…”

Exploring Psychiatric Home-Visit Nursing Practices for Patients with Schizophrenia and Hikikomori with a Thematic Analysis

“…Notably, the first three themes bore a resemblance to key elements of psychiatric nursing practice when establishing relationships between patients and nurses [17]. Patients with SH, the focus of this study, often have limited external contact and interaction, which can be attributed to their coping strategies in managing stressors, including social withdrawal and a lack of spontaneity [2,18]. The provision of PHVN services is contingent upon a voluntary agreement between the patient and the home-visit nursing agency.…”

Culture and the assumptions about appearance and reality: a scientometric look at a century of research

“…When setting the scaling factor k to 1, the standard g-index is used. Conversely, higher values of k correspond to a higher number of included documents ( Neoh et al, 2023b ). TOP N includes all the N most cited documents within a time slice into the network.…”