Social withdrawal often triggered by work: gov't study

GENEVA —

Cases of social withdrawal in which people do not leave their homes and communicate only with their families are often triggered by work, according to a government survey released by the Cabinet Office.

As the survey showed that 23.7% of such people began to withdraw in their 30s, the office said the phenomenon, which has been a social issue for some time in Japan and is often connected to school truancy, is also attributable to workplace relations.

The survey, conducted in February, involved interviews with 5,000 men and women aged 15 to 39 across the country and received responses from 3,287.

In the survey, 1.79% of the respondents were recognized as socially withdrawn, equivalent to 696,000 among the total population.

The survey also showed that 3.99% said they sympathized with social withdrawn people, equivalent to 1.55 million among the total population.

As causes for withdrawal, 23.7% cited difficulty fitting in at work and the same percentage cited sickness, followed by 20.3% who said they could not get a job, 11.9% who cited truancy from primary and secondary schools, and 6.8% who said they had difficulty fitting in at university.

By age, 33.9% were in their teens and 38.9% in their 20s.

In response to a question about family life during their time at primary and lower secondary school, 18.6% of the socially withdrawn people said their family had not given them useful advice when they sought it and the same percentage said their parents had been too protective.

© 2010 Kyodo News.