Based on research previously conducted by the authors, this paper explores the possibility of studying sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and family through quantitative surveys, which are still rarely pursued in Japan. The following three studies were presented: a study that examined issues in the measurement of SOGI in population-based surveys in Japan; a study that examined issues in capturing the presence or absence of same-sex partners; and a study that examined household/family composition and gender/family-related attitudes by SOGI and couple type (female-female, male-male, and male-female) of respondents. These studies used the “Osaka City Residents' Survey,” one of the few population-based surveys in Japan that asked respondents' SOGI, as well as its preparatory study. Examination of these studies showed the social and academic significance of promoting family research that uses SOGI as axes of analysis to overcome the challenges presented by existing research.

    This paper analyzes how lesbian and bisexual women and other sexual minorities who wanted to give birth and raise children in City A in Japan formed a self-help group, “Atarashii Kazoku no Katachi (pseudonym), mainly since the 2000s, from the perspective of the group representative, Sakura (pseudonym). While having difficult times coming to terms with her own family, Sakura learned on the Internet that a Japanese lesbian had given birth to a child through sperm donation from a third party, which strengthened her desire to have children herself. In conclusion, “Atarashii Kazoku no Katachi” has been found to fulfill an important function as a self-help group in which participants gather information on their own and support each other in their desire to have children as a member of a sexual minority.

    When conducting a questionnaire survey, researchers determine the range and types of response options on the questionnaire from which survey participants need to choose when reporting their experiences; thus, what experiences participants can report and in what way depends on the assumptions researchers hold about the experiences of the participants, which affects the structure and contents of the questionnaire. Pointing to this nature of questionnaire surveys, I discuss how we should interpret the “reality” of sexual and gender minorities and their family relationships captured and presented using this type of method, including the findings offered by the four panelists in the symposium.

    Sociological research on children's housework is scarce in Japan and rarely considered in relation to the transmission of gender roles. It is widely acknowledged that children's participation in housework is influenced by their gender, and girls spend more time on chores than boys. This paper shed some light on the teaching of housework to children and focused on its effect on how children view gender roles. This study utilized the Japanese Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents 2015 and 2017 by the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo and Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute, the data from a sample of 3,616 sons and daughters aged 10-18 who live with their parents and their mothers being analyzed.
    In this paper, whether or not teaching housework had an equalizing effect on children's ideas of gender roles is discussed. Compared with girls, boys were more likely to support the notion that “it is preferable that men engage in paid work and women in housework.” Combined with mothers' behavior in teaching skills for cooking or cleaning, it was found that the more frequently mothers teach household chores to their children, the more gender-equalized their sons' perception grows. On the other hand, however, no significant impact was found on daughters. This effect was observed even after controlling for mothers' gender ideology, education, occupation, and other factors.

    Previous studies have suggested that the trends in divorce and nonmarital childbearing show strong differences by education level. Specifically, individuals who de not have a college education are more likely to divorce or be involved in nonmarital childbearing. Further, individuals from single-parent families show lower levels of educational attainment. In China, a large number of children are left behind by one or both parents because of parental domestic labor migration than parental divorce, and individuals that are the least educated are predominantly those who have been involved in domestic labor migration. The aim of this study is therefore to identity whether the “left-behind” experience generates “diverging destinies” (McLanahan 2004) in China. Furthermore, we focus on the inequality of senior secondary education, as the academic path after senior secondary education determines the access to higher education and the future occupational status. Using survey data from the “China Family Panel Studies” (CFPS) and the propensity score matching approach, it was found that left-behind experiences have a strong negative effect on the senior secondary education academic track. This suggests a long-term negative effect on the life course of left-behind children.

    This study examines a late modern ideal of love in the United States from a cultural perspective – it considers Anthony Giddens's theory of intimacy and other previous studies. The need to focus on cultural aspects such as the self and the influence of therapy when examining the ideal of love in the United States in the 1970s is confirmed. Selected books from this perspective are examined to depict a new ideal of love that has gained popularity in the United States since the 1970s, and the characteristics of this love and its background are analyzed. The ideal of love emphasizes autonomy and equality as well as negotiation between men and women. It emphasizes intimate communication through expression of one's own feelings and self-disclosure, and in dealing with problems in relationships. This ideal of love has been influenced by therapeutic movements and second-wave feminism which gained popularity after the late 1960s. It should be acknowledged that the transformation of the family and intimacy in the late modern era is clarified not only by socio-economic and institutional aspects but also by cultural aspects.