Parental educational investments and aspirations in Japan

Previous models of parental educational investments focus on the composition of the sibship (number, gender, ordering, and spacing) and on the social and institutional context in which investment decisions are made. Social- institutional models predict that parents in Japan are likely to underinvest in girls because of their transient status in the family of origin and their limited earnings potential. This article contributes an understanding of the family contexts under which this model of investment does and does not apply. Through an analysis of 45 in-depth interviews conducted by the author, a family culture of investment model is developed that identifies parental gender beliefs and valuation of education as key factors shaping parental investments in prewar cohort groups. The findings from this research have implications for our understanding of international variation in the gender equity of educational attainment.