Hikikomori is a culture-bound syndrome found primarily in Japan where young Japanese may lock themselves in their rooms and refuse to come out for years at a time.  The disorder, also known as “social isolation syndrome,” has three key characteristics: 1. No motivation to participate in school or work; 2. No signs of other psychological disorders; 3. Persistent social withdrawal for at least six months.

The disorder primarily affects young men. There is a lifetime prevalence rate of 4.6% of Japanese young people, ages 15 – 34.  It is estimated that hikikomori affects 1.2 million young people (Norasakkunkit, Uchida & Toivonen, 2012).  The goal of young people with hikikomori is to avoid possible social interactions with others who may know them and judge them. Although the disorder was relatively rare in the past, it has been rising significantly over time – does this mean that globalization could be playing a role in the rise of the disorder?

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2014) applied Berry & Sam’s acculturation model to explain the origins of hikikomori.  Japanese youth may not see the benefit of conformity and social harmony which is characteristic of Japanese society and yet do not feel that they are part of the globalized community and its values. This leads to identity confusion and marginalization.

Since getting access to people who suffer from hikikomori is very difficult, the researchers used a sample of 195 Japanese university students. The participants were given a standardized test to see whether they were at high risk or low risk for hikikomori. The researchers then gave the participants a test to measure their attitudes about social harmony and social conformity.  The test looked at three levels:  perception of their current self, their ideal self, and general Japanese society. They also were asked to take a test to measure their sense of local identity (high on social harmony and collectivism) and global identity (high on individualism and achievement).

The results showed that both groups agreed that social harmony and conformity were highly valued by Japanese society. However, when assessing the current self and ideal self, the students at high-risk for hikikomori ranked social harmony values much lower than the low-risk students.  That is, high-risk students would ideally like to be lower in harmony seeking and conformity than what they perceive to be the case in Japanese society as a whole. In addition, high-risk students scored lower than low-risk students on both local identity and global identity.  It appears that the local culture may alienate many Japanese youths who may then decide not to conform to the cultural norms, but do not identify with or know how to access the globalized culture, and so they withdraw from society.

The study is a correlation study; no cause and effect may be determined.

The sample size was relatively large, allowing for some level of generalizability.

The study uses an analogous approach - that is, the participants do not actually suffer from hikikomori, but they have several of the risk factors that are associated with the disorder. Although this allows researchers to investigate their research question, it is questionable to what extent the findings can be applied to actual hikikomori.

All data were self-reported. The study is open to demand characteristics when answering the questions on the tests.

Even if there is a strong correlation, it is not clear why these specific symptoms manifest themselves in Japanese culture when they are not seen in most other cultures among marginalized groups.