原水爆実験に対する青少年の態度とその及ぼす心理的影響

抄録

Atomic and Hydrogen bombs are being tested in the Pacific Ocean, and part of the radioactive fallout from the experiments in Bikini atoll came down upon the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a fishing boat of Yaizu City, and caused the death of Captain Aikichi Kuboyama, which was sensationally reported by newspaers and other means of mass communication. People were astounded at the danger of radioactivity, and have come to express unusual attention to the event.
The author's intention in the present paper is to compare the interest taken by, and the influences produced on the youth living in Yaizu City of Shizuoka prefecture who were directly and strongly affected by the event, and those of the youth living in other parts of the prefecture, whose knowledge about the event is rather indirect, though much closer than that of those living in other districts of Japan.
The method taken by the author isthat of questionnaire, which was carried out by home-room teachers of various grades of schools. In order to make the conditions even, the author asked the teachers to give their students only one set of examples and not to give any other misleading directions.
The examinees were students from the second to the ninth grades. The number of questions was twelves, and the answers were anonymously submitted.
The investigation has revealed that the Atomic and Hydrogen bomb experiments are giving young people terrors and uneasiness, their conception and understanding about the experiments are considerably nigh, and that they are greatly interested in the event. The make-up of their attitudes is mostly due to gossips of the grown-up and to mass communication media. It has been also found that those living in Yaizu feel the matter closer to themselves than those living in other parts, that the higher their academic grades are, the more profound their conception appears, and that boys are more interested than girls. Very few agree with this kind of experiments, and most of the subjects believe that the tests should be forbidden, or expelled for the permanent peace of the world and the everlasting welfare of the human race.
The author believes that it is of great interest and of worth to give the same type of inquiries to the youth of those countries which have made these dengerous experiments and those of other countries, and to compare the result with that presently attained.