Social Networks and Family Change in Japan Revisited

Abstract

In recent decades, demographic behaviors in developed countries have been strongly affected by the increase in cohabiting unions, nonmarital births, and working mothers. These changes and their social acceptance often occur in tandem. In this article, the authors examine the relationship between the diffusion of new family behaviors and attitudes toward them in Japan, a country still very attached to marriage and traditional family arrangements. Using panel data collected in the early 2000s and an original methodology, the authors show how knowing relatives, friends, and coworkers engaged in these “innovative” behaviors can change their attitudes at the individual level, and examine whether this relationship differs for women and men.