POLYVINYL ALCOHOL, AND AQUEOUS EMULSION, ADHESIVE AND EMULSION POLYMERIZATION DISPERSANT EACH CONTAINING THE SAME

The present invention provides a specific polyvinyl alcohol having a symmetry factor that satisfies the following formula (1) as determined according to JIS K 0124 (2011) and thus having excellent clarity and viscosity stability in the form of an aqueous solution: 0.70 ? W0.05h/2f ? 1.10 (1) , where W0.05h is a peak width at a 5% peak height , and f is a distance from a leading edge point a at the 5% peak height to an intersection point b between a horizontal line including the leading edge point a and a vertical line including a peak top. The present invention also provides an emulsion polymerization dispersant containing this polyvinyl alcohol and thus having excellent polymerization stability. The present invention further provides an aqueous emulsion and an adhesive each containing this polyvinyl alcohol and thus not only exhibiting excellent fluidity but also forming a water resistant coating film.