Characteristics of Time Allocation and Lifestyle of Employed Husbands and Their Wives Living in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo-Examined through Time Allocation Survey in 1990 (Part 1)

Outline of Respondents and Time Allocation Survey

Abstract

The object of the research in 1990 is to investigate the consciousness of the respondents about their future life design, then to grasp their activities and lifestyle through the time allocation survey, and finally to clarify the discrepancy between their consciousness and their present activities, from the viewpoint that the present activities/lifestyle influence those of the future. The respondents in the survey are 260 who live in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Japan. The results as follows :
(1) In comparison with the past surveys, both husbands and wives spend shorter time on housework and more time on social/cultural activities, particularly on TV watching.
(2) In spite of the fact that they show interests in the life design of their aged life, their time allocation hardly reflects them.
(3) There evidently remains the conventional lifestyle based on the role separation between men and women. This tendency is presumed to remain in their future life.