非行への家族の対応行動と伝統文化—シャーマニズムヘの依存を手がかりにして—

抄録

In this article, we analysed how families in Okinawa cope with their children’s vdelinquency by their asking shamans (yuta) for interpretations of causes of their children’s delinquency and advice on necessary rituals.

The subjects were family members of 70 juveniles who were detained in a juvenile classification home. At the formal interviews with family members, the degree and contents of their resort to yuta were also investigated informally. The major results are as follows :

1. 56% of the family members had already visited yuta and asked for the interpretation of causes of their children’s delinquency. To include family members who planned to visit yuta, 60% of the subjects resorted to yuta in their coping with delinquency of their children.

2. Yuta’s interpretations of causes of delinquency were classified into 11 categories. The main three ones were (a) Ugwanbusuku (insufficiency of worship) , (b) Shijitadashi (error of succession of ancestor memorial tablets), and (c) Jiichi, yashichi karano reisyou (evil from earth or house spirit) . Common feature of yuta’s interpretations is that delinquencies are thought to be caused by external supernatural factors such as ancestor’s spirit rather than juveniles’ personal traits and attitudes.

3. The functions of family members’ resort to yuta were to give them a cognitive consonance concerning causes of delinquency and a prospect of their children’s rehabilitation by rituals and to facilitate reintegraton of family members. The influence that yuta had on juveniles was only indirect one through change of family members’ cognition and attitudes. While the change of family members’ attitudes, which was caused under the influence of yuta, reduced juveniles’ personal tensions, it hindered juveniles from reality-testing and from deepening their self-insight.