Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: John Edwards (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)
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Volume: 21 Number: 1 Page: 33–41
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A Cross-cultural Analysis of Age Identity in Japan and the United States
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Hiroshi Ota, Jake Harwood, Angie Williams and Jiro Takai
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Age identity (Garstka et al., 1997) was examined with regard to its structure in Japan and the United States. Factor analysis confirmed the validity of a one-factor structure in both countries. Cluster
analysis suggested a three-cluster solution in both Japan (ingroup identification and significance, sense of similarity, ingroup positive evaluation) and the USA (ingroup orientation, age centrality, ingroup
positivity). In Japan, age-group pride and positive experiences clustered with age-group identifications and awareness. This points to the importance of a sense of group membership in Japanese young people’s
positive feelings about their age group. In the USA, the two items clustered with likeability, value and importance, and were distinct from ingroup identification. This suggests that American individuals
gain a sense of pride and positive experience when they like, value and give importance to being young. Finally, our Japanese respondents ranked age-group positivity and attachment lower than the Americans
did, suggesting that positive feeling associated with being young may be less common in Japan. Future studies of intergenerational communication using age identity were suggested.
© Multilingual Matters 2000
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