Life Cycle Patterns in Japan, China, and the United States.

The stem family in Japan is seemingly not consonant with the idea of life cycle which has produced important contributions to the study of the conjugal family, but the life cycle pattern of the Japanese family can be described as having three distinct stages which are manifest in the sequence of the role complex unique to it. A similar analysis is attempted with regard to the Chinese joint family. A new set of cycle stages is developed in order to cope with the changing status of the contemporary Japanese family. Thus, extensive applicability of the developmental framework is demonstrated for a cross-cultural study of the family in world revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]