The aim of this study is to analyze the life histories of women who had difficult "problems" The data were collected between November, 1980 and August, 1981 at an institution located in urban area and financed by a local government. The institution's main functions are to provide women who, according to their own or other's judgement, have "problem" with a shelter, and to help them reorganize their life-style.
　For data, we rely mainly on the records the inmates kept at the institution but we also directly observed a number of interview sessions between newly arrived inmates and the staff of the institution. Of all the inmates who stayed at the institution during the period December, 1978 to June, 1981, the records of 297 inmates are used as valid cases.
　Our analysis focusses mainly on following points:
(1) What kind of careers are likely to lead to "problems"?
(2) How are certain types of "problems" likely to influence various careers?
(3) Which kinds of careers are likely to amplify those "problems"?
　Although the inmates' "problems" are multi-faceted, some of the prominent ones are "lack of the resources necessary for subsistence" "decline in roleperformance ability" "strain in interpersonal relationships" and "lack of interpersonal relationships"
　We studied the following careers: childhood, school, occupation, interpersonal relationships, illness, deviance, and public protection and care. In order to analyze the inmates' "problems" we observed the process of change in these careers and also the interrelations between them.

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　This paper focusses its attention on 158 inmates who have been associated with some form of mental disorder. I divided the inmates into four groups. The first group contained 71 women who have been labeled mental patients. The second consisted of 41women labeled mentally retarded. The 46 women in the third group have been associated with both mental illness and mental retardation. 135 women have been associated with neither and I use this group as the control group in my comparative study.
　I attempt to reconstruct the life histories of the women with mental disorders and show how mental disorders and women's careers interact.

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　This paper focusses its attention on 158 inmates who have been associated with some form of mental disorder. I divided the inmates into four groups. The first group contained 71 women who have been labeled mental patients. The second consisted of 41women labeled mentally retarded. The 46 women in the third group have been associated with both mental illness and mental retardation. 135 women have been associated with neither and I use this group as the control group in my comparative study.
　I attempt to reconstruct the life histories of the women with mental disorders and show how mental disorders and women's careers interact.

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　I analyze, in this paper, the careers of the inmates who came to the institution with conjugal problems. They numbered 96, and are those women who asked for the protection and help of the institution because of marital problems and for whom the institution considered protection or reorganization of life-style at the institution was necessary.
　The aims of my analysis are: (1) to study the distinctive career factors and the interrelations between them of "inmates with conjugal problems" (2) to identify some career patterns and inquire into the typical processes in which conjugal problems became manifest, and (3) to examine how such inmates dealt with the problems in relation to their careers. I found six career patterns and described the manifestation process for each. The career factors that are effective in distinguishing the career patterns are "present occupation" "occupation as marriage" "legal status of the marriage" "present membership of the household" "the forms in which the problems manifested themselves" and "husband's present occupation".

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　Of the 297 inmates studied, abut one fourth have engaged in prostitution. The aim of this paper is to illustrate and analyze the careers of these inmates. By a "career" we mean one of many components of a person's life history, such as school career, occupational career, and marriage career. Acts of prostitution are treated as a part of the process of a deviant career, "career of prostitution"
　First the career of the inmates who have engaged in prostitution are compared with the careers of those who have not, in order to illustrate the characteristics of the careers of the former. Some of the findings from the comparison are as follows: The inmates who have engaged in prostitution tend to have less education, are more likely to have run away fromhome and to have repeated marriage (namely common-law marriage ) more often. Also, there are more "mentally retarded" among the inmates who have committed prostitution.　It is likely that inferior job opportunities due to lower educational achievement, "mental retardation" and running away are some of the "causes" of prostitution.
　In the latter part of the paper, we observe the sequential process of "career of prostitution" in detail. The initial act of prostitution was usually committed when the inmates lived apart from their "conventional significant others". Also, interestingly, a number of the inmates' "careers of prostitution" show intermittence. By employing the age at which the initial act was commited and two other features as criteria, a typology of the inmates' "career of prostitution" is developed. It contains four types --- "the early-quitter" "the intermittently down fallen" "the exploited" and "the destitute" We hope this typology, along with other findings in this paper, will facilitate further reseaches on prostitution and the careers of women who have committed prostitution.

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　Women who suffer from their husband's violence, women whose relations with their family were reduced because of repeated hospitalization in mental hospitals or by their "career of prostitution" ---, "the institution for troubled women" receives women suffering from these "problems".
　Women encounter and interact, with the staff of the institution and also with other inmates. Interactions between inmates and staff have structural characteristics as follows; (1)staff need informations about inmates' careers and other private affairs in order to deal with them adequately, (2)on the basis of this information staff categorize inmates according to their "problems" and it means that inmates are assigned an identity, (3)the social setting of the institution pressures inmates to accept "an assigned identity".
　In conjunction with the type of the inmate's "problems" these structural characteristics determine interactions between inmates and staff. At the same time, the degree of "compatibility of recognition" of inmates' "problems" has significant influences on their interactions. Influences on the "compatibility of recognition" are as follows; (1)cognition of the existence of "problems" and their content, (2)estimates of inmates' careers, (3) estimates of their ability to solve their own "problems" (4)attribution of responsibility for "problems".
　For example, women who have the "problem" of "husband's violence" Inmates attribute its cause to their husband's personal character, but staff often attribute it, to the inmates own personal character, partly because of their restricted institutional competence. And so, compatibility of recognition is difficult. These incompatibilities sometimes make inmates take action escape from the institution without staff permission.
　But, even if compatibility of recognition can be gained, another type of inmates' reaction occurs. Though it is passive, it has a radical influence on inmates' personality. By accepting "the assigned identity" they accept that they have problems but no ability to solve them, and they attribute responsibility for or the cause of their "problems" to themselves. That is to say, they form an identity which may be called "a need to be protected identity" Contrary to the goal of the institution to help inmates' independence, some of the inmates increase their dependence upon the instituion.
　From the short term point of view, the institution contributes much to the inmates' problem-solving. However, from long term view point, it may be said to have produced women who have an affinity to the institution.

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