Research of the construction of child Poverty Survey Database

 The role of this group is to construct the database for the use of other groups and its own analysis.  Specifically, it is to harmonize, integrate, and prepare manuals for the survey data provided by various  prefectural and municipal governments. In addition, in order to complement the government data, the  group will conduct a large-scale quantitative survey in the first year, along with a qualitative panel survey  to follow-up. A qualitative panel survey consists of repeated interview surveys of the same subjects, and by  continuing this survey during the period of this PJ, it is possible to prove the causal relationship  between the external factors and the outputs. Since there is a huge amount of work to deal with in this  group, we employ 1 postdoctoral researcher and 3-6 graduate students (temporary employment). This  group will hold regular consultation with the integration group about the details of data cleaning, policies of  data integration and the schedules. .

Research of the relationship between child poverty and region

The Regional analysis group will provide additional information (number of child-related facilities, number  of convenience stores and grocery stores, gap indicators within regions, etc.) to the database for each  region (preferably elementary school regions, but also middle school districts and administrative districts,  as the details of different residential location information varies by municipality) and analyze whether these  municipality characteristics are related to the impact that poverty brings to children. Each members  of the Regional Analysis Group is involved in the surveys of local governments in their respective university  locations (Hokkaido, Sapporo City, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, Okinawa Prefecture, and Aichi Prefecture),  and thus will create a tailor-made policy recommendations　for these municipalities.

Child Poverty Research Incorporating a Gender Perspective

 The Gender Group will address issues related to poverty and gender. The first perspective is to examine  gender gaps in the impact of poverty children. Previous analyses of high school students by Research  Center for Child and Adolescent Poverty have shown that girls have lower expectation on education  achievement than boys and are expected by their parents to take on the role of supporting family budget  (Kawaguchi, 2020). Also, girls are more likely to do part-time jobs than boys, and this situation is known to  be verified only in poor households. Children poverty analyses have revealed a relationship between  various outputs (academic achievement, physical strength, self-esteem, nutrition, health condition, mental  condition, etc.) and poverty, but this relationship varies by gender. So, this group will clarify the mechanism  of this relationship. In addition, we will analyze single father households, for which there is  little accumulation of research, and gender minorities, as well as conduct textual analysis of the anxieties of  households raising children from the free text sections of the survey forms. The Group will be headed  by Akiko Oishi (Chiba University), who has deep insight into the part-time employment of high school boys  and girls from the perspective of labor economics, and will include Yoshiko Saga (Osaka Prefecture  University), who analyzed single-parent households in the Osaka survey, Kei Suemori (Nihon Fukushi  University), who analyzed surveys in Aichi Prefecture, Ai Ando (Chiba University), a specialist in family  sociology, Ryo Kawaguchi (Tokyo Metropolitan University), who specializes in gender studies, and Saori  Kamano (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research), a leading researcher on gender  minorities in Japan. The group is also planning an international symposium in its fourth year.

Theoretical and empirical study of implementation feasibility of poverty research

 The Implementation Feasibility Study Group will examine each element of Evidence Based Policy Making  (EBPM), such as political process, public opinion formation, procurement of financial resource, mobilization  of actors such as government and NPOs, and their coordination, which is necessary to reflect the findings  from each research planning group in policies as evidence, with the aim of making concrete policy  recommendations and their implementation. The group will be headed by Kaori Suetomi (Nihon University)  and Noriko Yamano (Osaka Prefecture University), who are also the members of the Cabinet  Office’s “Research and Study for Establishment of Education and Welfare Database to Support Children in  Poverty”. It also includes Taro Miyamoto (Chuo University), who is familiar with the connection between  politics and NPOs and has served as the chairperson of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s “Study  Group for Discussion on Self-Support for the Needy,” Takashi Horie (Tokyo Metropolitan University), who is  familiar with the formation process of public opinion, and Akio Kurokawa (Kanagawa University of Human  Services), who was involved in compiling the “Science for Policy” project at JST RISTEX, the model project  of this PJ.

The analysis of the impact of the interaction between Foreign Roots and Poverty on Children

 The Foreign Roots Group will analyze the poverty and living conditions of children with foreign roots (both  parents with foreign nationality and one parent with foreign nationality). This group includes Yanfei Zhou  (Japan Women’s University) who has been analyzing obesity among children with foreign roots, and  Yoshimi Chitose (Department of National Institute of Population and Social Security Research) who  conducted the surveys in Shizuoka Prefecture and Iwata City, as the Co-investigators, and will use this PJ  database to analyze children with foreign roots in comparison with children in general.

 The analysis not only allows comparison of children with Japanese parents and children with foreign roots,  but also includes the analysis of children whose one parent is Japanese, whose nationality is Japanese, and  who have been raised in Japan since birth.

The Clarification of Health Gap of children

 The health group will analyze the relationship between poverty and children, especially those with health  problems and those with parents who have health problems. The main targets are children with obesity,  diseases, or with parents who have depression or other poor health conditions. This group includes Takeo  Fujiwara, who is internationally acclaimed for his child abuse research in the field of public health (and also  a member of the consortium), and Atsushi Sakai, a developmental psychologist (Tokyo Metropolitan  University). The analyses will also delve into the issue of poverty in the parents’ generation.