A Note on Cross-Cultural by Age-Group Comparisons of Anxiety Scores

Iwawaki and his associates (1967) were surprised to discover that Japanese 9-year-olds had lower anxiety scores than their French or American counterparts. Their findings contrasted with prior results of cross-cultural comparisons of college groups, among whom Japanese had the highest anxiety. In the present paper, the Iwawaki results are re-examined in the light of Benedict's (1946) finding of a nonlinear inverse relation between Japanese and American societal pressures or constraints upon individuals at particular ages. A generalized hypothesis is formulated about the relation of anxiety to age-linked shifts in societal pressures.