Japanese Aging and Health Dynamics Study
National Survey of the Japanese Elderly

The study began in 1986 as a collaboration with the University of Michigan in the United States, with the Department of Sociology of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG) playing the central role. The project is currently being carried out by the Research Team for Social Participation and Healthy Aging of TMIG in collaboration with many researchers at other institutions, including the University of Michigan and the Institute of Gerontology of The University of Tokyo.

The study involves interview surveys of individuals aged 60 years or older throughout Japan to examine various aspects of life during its later stages. These include physical and mental health, lifestyle, family, relationships with friends and neighbors, social participation, and economic conditions. The first survey was conducted in 1987, with follow-up surveys conducted roughly every 3 years as new participants were added. The seventh wave survey was conducted in 2006, the eighth in 2012, the ninth in 2017, and the tenth in 2021 (see Fig. 1).

A feature of the study is that the same individuals are surveyed repeatedly (referred to as a panel survey or longitudinal survey). Surveying the same individuals continuously provides insight into aspects such as changes in the physical and mental health and lives of older adults, the causes of such changes, and the characteristics of individuals who live long and healthy lives. Although this type of study (longitudinal) is generally conducted in Japan today, as in other countries, our study stands out due to its continuity as early as from the 1980s.

* Please also see Overview of Survey Design for information on the methods used.

Although many of the survey questions are asked continuously to examine changes, study topics are selected to reflect the research trends and social conditions present at that time, and questions have therefore been changed and added accordingly.

For example, the main topic from the first wave (1987) to the fourth wave (1996) was a comparison of the health and well-being of older adults in Japan and the United States. The areas examined were whether various health indicators and scales of subjective well-being (SWB) that had been used in Western countries could also be used for older adults in Japan, as well as factors that affect SWB (e.g., social support, the social network, and life events).

As the long-term care insurance system was implemented in Japan beginning in 2000, in the fifth wave (1999) to the seventh wave (2006), the focus was placed on the issues of the older old, who have a greater need for private and public support. Consequently, individuals aged 70 years or older were sampled and added in the fifth wave (D of Fig. 1). In the seventh wave, a postal survey of the children (mean age, 54 years) of those participants (those aged 77 years or older in 2006) was also conducted to examine in greater detail how support is given and received between elderly individuals and their adult children.

Although the fact that the surveys have been conducted over a long period (since 1987) is a major advantage of this study, a question that arises is whether results obtained for elderly individuals at a certain point in time also apply to the elderly of today. Consequently, the eighth wave (2012) and the tenth wave (2021) included a new sample of individuals aged 60-92 years (E and F of Fig. 1), and the chronological and generational changes of elderly individuals were given focus in addition to the previous study topics. Thus, older adults who were born after World War II, including the “baby boomer” generation, became a part of the survey participants. It is therefore anticipated that if the follow-up surveys can be continued in the future, the postwar and previous generations can be compared with respect to the changes associated with aging.