The studies of the mother-child relationship promote overprotection and overinterference by the mother as well as her isolation from society and a symbiotic relationship between mother and children.
Last year, a pediatrician, Dr. S. Kyutoku published his new book entitled “BOGENBYO”(illnesses caused by the mother). This book has been a best seller. In this book, Dr. Kyutoku says that 60% of illnesses (including physical & emotional diseases) are caused by errors during child-rearing by the mother.
I think that the theory of “BOGENBYO” is more radical than such theories as skinship, hospitalism, maternal deprivation and mothering, since it places more responsibility on the mother than other theories. These theories are the results of studies on the development of inf ants only from the viewpoint of the mother-child relationship.
Dr. J. Bowlby said in his book, “Maternal Care and Mental Health” that egoism, shop lifting, sexual misconduct and all physical, mental and social illnesses of children are caused by maternal deprivation. But his data was collected only from children who had lived in impoverished hospitals and had lost their parents in The Second world War. Surely, his data and theories strongly emphasized the need for good human relationships, especially between the mother and child in early infancy.
But these theories have been imported and uncritically applied to the mother-child relationships in Japan. Many foreign psychologists have studied and pointed out that the symbiosis between mother and child in Japan is traditionally stronger than in other countries. Even so, these theories were repeatedly introduced to Japanese mothers through many childrearing books, magazines and TV program.
If we deal with these theories only, we miss another very important point. Japanese society does not encourage father to take care of their children, though it is abnormal that the emphasis of childreaning be limited only to the mother. A more adequate study must be done on the role of the father in the development of infants.
