University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number PM060
Survey Title Japanese Life Course Panel Survey of the Middle-aged (JLPS-M), Wave 1-6, 2007-2012
Depositor Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys (JLPS) project, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' on the SSJDA website.

- Apply to SSJDA. SSJDA's approval is required.
Educational Purpose Available for both research and instructional purposes.
Period of Data Use Permission Usage period is unlimited for research purposes. Usage period is one year for educational purposes.
Access to Datasets Download
SSJDA Data Analysis SSJDA Data Analysis (online data analysis & metadata browsing system) is available for this data.
Summary Along with changes in the labor market structure, the drastic decline in the birthrate, the growing proportion of elderly people, and the progress of globalization, the way of employment, marriage, family, education, social attitudes, and lifestyle in Japanese society are about to undergo a substantial change. When considering the future direction of Japanese society, it is extremely important to clarify the cause of changes that are currently occurring, or where these changes are occurring.

The panel research project of the Institute of Social Science of the University of Tokyo uses a panel (follow-up) survey method to empirically elucidate these issues. For this reason, the Institute of Social Science at The University of Tokyo is implementing three panel surveys, as a nationwide survey on changes in working style and lifestyle (called the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys, or JLPS). JLPS consists of a youth panel (JLPS-Y), a middle-aged panel (JLPS-M), a panel of high school graduates (JLPS-H).

JLPS-Y and JLPS-M, which started in January 2007, include comprehensive questionnaire items on topics such as occupation, family, education, social attitudes (including political attitude) and health, and is one of the few large panel surveys in Japan. Items related to occupation are also very detailed, and items in compliance with the national survey on social stratification and social mobility (SSM Survey) are being asked.

In this way, JLPS is not only focused on a design that allows for international comparative analysis, especially with reference to the experience of extensive panel surveys in the UK and the US, but we also refer to survey items of existing Japanese surveys (including cross-sectional items).

JLPS-Y covers the so-called “young generation” from 20 to 34 years old as of the end of December 2006, and JLPS-M covers the “middle-aged generation” from 35 to 40 years old. The question items for both groups are the same.

Among the above three surveys, the survey recorded here relates to “Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys of the Middle-aged” (JLPS-M) from Wave 1 to Wave 6 respectively, conducted between 2007 and 2012. The survey has been scheduled to continue every year after that. The “Youth Panel Survey” conducted in the same period of 2012 is included in SSJDA survey number PY060.
For the “Middle-aged Panel Survey (Waves 1 to 5)” conducted from 2007 to 2011, please refer to PM010, PM020, PM030, PM040 and PM050 respectively.

In addition, from 2011, taking into consideration the dropout of respondents due to the long-term follow-up, new subjects of the same generation (39 to 44 years old in 2011) have been added for continuing surveys. Continuous survey data from 2007 is in PM060.sav, and additional survey data from 2011 is in PM060_add2.sav.

In promoting the panel research project of the Institute of Social Science Research, the following funds have been received. Research fund of the Institute of Social Science of The University of Tokyo (from 2003); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant for Scientific Research (Basic Research S: 2006-2009, FY 2010-2014); Grant-in-aid for Health and Labor Science Research (Policy Science Promotion Research: FY 2004-2006); scholarship donation: Outsourcing Inc. (Chairman and CEO: Haruhiko Doi, head office: Shizuoka city): FY 2006 - 2008.
Data Type quantitative research: micro data
Universe Male and female residents in Japan aged between 35 and 40 in December 2006
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size [Original sample] Number of responses: 1,058 Response rate: 88%
[Additional sample] Number of responses: 202 Response rate: 80%
Date of Collection 2012-01 ~ 2012-03
January to March in 2012 (Wave 6)
Time Period 2007 ~ 2012
Spatial Unit Japan
Japan
Sampling Procedure Probability: Stratified
Probability: Multistage
A stratified two-stage sampling method was employed.
1. The populations was stratified by region (10 groups) and city size (4 groups) (271 sites).
2. The populations was also stratified by sex and age (five-year intervals).
3. The Basic Resident Register was mainly used as a list of population members. The voter registration list was also used for sampling areas where the Basic Resident Register could not be used for sampling.
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
For the original sample, the questionnaires were mailed to the respondents and collected by visiting their houses.
For the additional sample, the questionnaires were mailed to the respondents and collected via mail.
For both of the original and additional sample, the respondents were asked to participate in the survey with advance notice that it is a follow-up survey.
Investigator The surveys were organized by the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys (JLPS) Project, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo.
The surveys were conducted by the Central Research Services, Inc.
DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.PM060
Sponsors (Funds) This research was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) (numbers 18103003 and 22223005) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The research was also support by the Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo and the Outsourcing, Inc.
Related Publications (by the Investigator) https://csrda.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/panel/dp/
https://csrda.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/panel/outcome/
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation [Chosa-hyo]
Major Survey Items (1) Attributes/Job of the respondent
- Gender/year of birth, work, current (recent) occupation/employment situation

(2) Life
- Everyday life, current life circumstances, experiences during the past year, person to consult with/content

(3) Family
- Family members living together and other family
- Parents, siblings, children

(4) Education/Academic background/Qualifications
- Experience attending tutoring school (juku), etc., educational level you wanted to reach when you were in 3rd year of junior high school
- Conditions at the time of enrolling in junior high school and high school
- The state of education since high school graduation, the situation of the last school you attended, the first job obtained after leaving the last school you attended
- Qualification acquisition and acquisition year

(5) Usual health condition
- Your health condition, feelings about health, experience of disease/disability, smoking/drinking, thoughts about difficulties and problems in life
- Number of days off of work or school due to illness or injuries in the past year, number of hospital visits and stays, and number of visits to the dentist in the past year
- Thoughts about difficulties and problems in life

(6) Social attitude/Political attitude/Other thoughts
- Satisfaction level (work, married life), hopes/anxieties, important matters for you (success at work, family life, etc.)
- Thoughts about Japanese society, thoughts about residential area/people
- Political opinion/interest, the party you voted for in the proportional representation of the Upper House election (held in July 2010), favorability rating of political parties and foreign countries
- Status identification, groups/organizations with which you are affiliated

(7) Housing/Assets
- Type of residence, housing expenses/mortgage payment and its monthly amount
- Things owned at home, annual income (yours/spouse/the household’s total), source of household income
- Total assets of the household, inheriting assets/receiving gifts from parents or your spouse’s parents

(8) Marriage
[Married/divorced or death]
- Marital status, age of marriage, premarital relationship with current spouse, cohabitation before marriage
- Employment status of spouse, sharing of housework with spouse
- Things you tried to meet people of the opposite sex before getting married

[Unmarried/separated due to divorce or death]
- Marriage intention, items on what you regard as important about a marriage partner
- Whether or not you are currently dating a person, dating period, how you met, cohabitation
- Things you have done to meet people of the opposite sex

(9) Image of the future/Others
- The way you hope to work in 10 years’ time, life circumstances in 10 years’ time, awareness about employment/social security (pension system, employment, childcare leave)

* Since the above are the items of the main surveys from Wave 1 to Wave 6, some waves include the items not listed in the questionnaire.

[Additional survey questions]
Conditions at the age of 15, last school you attended, first job, parents’ jobs

* For details of survey items, please refer to the questionnaire.

* These public data do not include the variables corresponding to the following question items.


[Wave 1] Applicable question items
- Question 4 (8) 1-a
- Question 15

[Wave 2] Applicable question items
- Question 5 (additional question 1), (additional question 2), (additional question 2-1), (additional question 2-2), (additional question 3), (additional question 3-1)
- Question 11 (3) (additional question) reason, (4) (additional question) reason, (5) (additional question) reason
- Question 19 (additional question) school name, department/discipline
- Question 27 disease name
- Question 28 disease name/disability name

[Wave 3] Applicable question items
- Question 5
- Question 6 (1)
- Question 7 (1) (additional question) school name, department/discipline,
(2) (additional question) school name, department/discipline
- Question 13 (3) (additional question), (4) (additional question)

[Wave 4] Applicable question items
- Question 5 (additional question 1)
- Question 9 (1) (additional question) school name, department/discipline,
(2) (additional question) school name, department/discipline
- Question 56
- Question 58

[Wave 5] Applicable question items
- Question 5 (additional question 1)
- Question 6 (1) (additional question) school name, department/discipline, (2) (additional question) school name, department/discipline
- Question 59 (additional survey)

[Wave 6] Applicable question items
- Question 7 title of qualification
- Question 8 (additional question) school name, department/discipline
- Question 65 (additional question) (additional survey) school name, department/discipline
Date of Release 2015/07/16
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Consumption and consumer behaviour
Income, property and investment/saving
Diet and nutrition
Drug abuse, alcohol and smoking
General health and well-being
Employment
Unemployment
Working conditions
Conflict, security and peace
Political behaviour and attitudes
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND GROUPINGS
Equality, inequality and social exclusion
Family life and marriage
Gender and gender roles
Social conditions and indicators
Topics in SSJDA Society/Culture
Version 1 : 2015-07-16
1.1 : 2023-10-12
Notes for Users - If you wish to use variables concerning prefectures of residence, either at the time of each survey or when the respondent was at age 15 (Question 15 of Wave 1, Question 59 of Wave 5 additional survey), variable on the name of university (Question 19 additional question of Wave 2), variables on troubles and difficulties in workplaces (Question 56 of Wave 4), or variable on the name of university (Question 65 additional question of Wave 6), you must apply for them separately from the viewpoint of confidentiality.

- If you wish to use the above variables, first receive the ordinary dataset and contact the SSJ data archive (ssjda@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp) once you confirm that an application for the restricted data is essential in order to achieve the research purpose.

- Please refer to the data “readme” for the unique variables of each wave.

- Datasets may be upgraded due to large-scale data correction, etc. Data provided from this data archive comprise Version 1.0. Future corrections will be published in the following URL, so please check it when appropriate and modify your own data.
https://csrda.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/panel/