![]() ![]() The strongest factor was a high level of interpersonal difficulty, as measured by the degree of agreement with statements such as ‘I am anxious about the possibility of meeting people that I know,’ ‘I am anxious about what others might think of me,’ and ‘I cannot blend into groups.’ Throwing dishes and hitting walls was far more likely than hurting a family member with whom they lived. The hikikomori in the sample were more likely to have a history of psychiatric treatment, to have dropped out of school and to have a tendency towards violence to themselves (self-harming, for instance), but not to others. Since these kinds of neighbourhoods can contain ‘diverse people and cultures, and more outdoor options and job opportunities, future studies should clarify if these factors are associated with hikikomori’, the researchers write. The more social and cultural activities an area offered, the fewer hikikomori by percent the researchers found. But one local demographic variable did stand out as being protective: living in an area filled with businesses and shops. Yong and Nomura found no relationship with country region, number of family members or social class. Still, 20 of the 58 hikikomori were female. The condition has also been considered more common among men, and this study provides the first epidemiological evidence to back this up. Based on the survey data, hikikomori were just as likely to live in a village as in a big city. But that’s not what Yong and Nomura found. It has been suggested that hikikomori is primarily an urban phenomenon. The respondents also answered demographic questions and questions about their mental health. Researchers classified as hikikomori anyone who, for at least the past six months, never or rarely left their home, unless they had a practical reason for staying in, such as being pregnant, being busy with housework (yes, really), being a homemaker, or having been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The participants answered questions about how often they left their home (and for those who didn’t, how long they’d remained inside). The researchers Roseline Yong and Kyoko Nomura of the Department of Public Health at the Graduate School of Medicine at Akita University in Japan analysed survey data from 3,287 male and female participants aged 15-39, who were randomly selected from 200 different urban and suburban municipalities all over Japan, representing a cross-section of Japanese society. ![]() A new study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, plugs some of the knowledge gaps. However, while some assumptions about risk factors have been made, based largely on reports of specific cases, there has been a lack of population-based research. No one knows how many hikikomori exist (the term refers both to the condition and to the people with it), but surveys suggest that 1.79 per cent of Japanese people aged 15-39 meet the criteria. While the condition was first described in Japan, cases have since been reported in countries as far apart as Oman, India, the United States and Brazil. The phenomenon has captured the popular imagination, with many articles appearing in the mainstream media in Japan and beyond in recent years, but surprisingly it isn’t well-understood by psychologists. Hikikomori is a Japanese term that describes people who stay holed up in their homes, or even just their bedrooms, isolated from everyone except their family, for many months or years. ![]()
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