Do identifiable personality traits survive among members of an ethnic or racial group even when people grow up in a different culture? A unique study involving Japanese children adopted and raised in mainland China after World War II tackled this question.

More than 2500 Japanese children orphaned in China at the end of World War II were adopted into Chinese families. Their Japanese backgrounds were concealed to the greatest possible extent. There were two reasons: (1) Chinese culture valued genetic relationships and looked down on others, and (2) Japan was an enemy to China at that time. Anyone suspected of being Japanese was a target for discrimination.

Many adopted people were not told they had been adopted. Others, who were old enough at the time of placement to remember their birth parents, did not discuss their circumstances out of respect for their adoptive parents' concerns. As adults, about half of the adopted people did not reveal their Japanese heritage to their spouses before marriage.

The Japanese government started a program in 1981 (more than forty years later), to help the Japanese remaining in China return to Japan and search for their birth families, and to remain permanently if they wished. 1,488 of these individuals, by then middle-aged adults, visited Japan, accompanied by their Chinese spouses and children.

The China Returned Orphans Settlement Promotion Center was set up by the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Japanese Government to provide language training and resettlement guidance. A bi-cultural research team - Weh-Shing Tseng, MD; Keisuke Ebata, MD; Masahiro Miguchi, Ph.D.; Midori Egawa, Ph.D.; and Dennis G. McLaughlin, Ph.D. - interviewed 25 of the returning families. They studied the motives for returning to Japan, childhood experiences of the adopted people in cross-cultural adoptions, and signs of Japanese personality traits in the adult adopted people.

The Interview Process

Eleven men and fourteen women were interviewed along with their Chinese spouses. Interviews were conducted in Chinese within the first three months of the return to Japan. The average age of participants was 46.

Because Japanese and Chinese share the same Mongolian racial background, and because the Japanese subjects had been raised as Chinese, the interviewers assumed they would not be immediately able to recognize which partner of each couple was Japanese and which was Chinese. They were surprised to be able to identify 85% of the Japanese partners correctly within 30 seconds of meeting the couples. Some relied on physical characteristics, while others depended on clues from facial expression, gestures, and manner. The Japanese partner was described as more polite, orderly, and serious. These characteristics were more distinguishable among the females and less obvious in some of the male subjects, particularly those who were farmers or laborers.

Chinese spouses were asked if they had noticed any personal characteristics about their partners that distinguished them from other Chinese adults of the same gender. 84% said they had. Comments described interpersonal relations (polite, obedient, group-oriented, thoughtful), attitude toward work (serious, hard-working, responsible, orderly, takes initiative, strives for achievement, endures hardship), and habits (likes to be clean, fond of sweets). A check was made to determine whether there were any gender differences, any differences according to age at separation from the birth parents (1-3 years versus 4-8 years) and any interactions between gender and age at separation. The only statistically significant difference found was for interpersonal relations. Female subjects who were 4-8 years old at separation had more traits noted under interpersonal relations.

The four Chinese spouses who said their partners had no distinguishable Japanese characteristics were wives of farmers or laborers. Nine of the 14 female Japanese subjects were described as liking to be more clean than the average Chinese person (taking more frequent baths, doing more laundry, or cleaning the house more often). An unexpected finding was that 40% of the Japanese subjects were particularly fond of sweets. They added sugar to rice or preferred very sweet desserts - eating habits that are not characteristic of the Chinese.

Discussion

Research has identified particular personality traits associated with the Japanese and the Chinese peoples. This study shows that the Chinese spouses of Japanese adopted people perceived personality differences between their partners and Chinese adults of the same gender. The authors speculate that the spouses' subjective descriptions reflect noticeable differences in social characteristics between the Japanese adopted people and their Chinese counterparts. Because the traits mentioned match traits identified as characteristic of Japanese character in general studies, the authors conclude that the adopted people retained Japanese traits. Subjects adopted before the age of 3 seemed less likely to retain characteristic Japanese behavior patterns. In contrast, temperament is more closely related to heredity. The retention of personality traits in the form of temperament and taste preferences may explain why the adopted people retained their Japanese characteristics.

The authors concluded that Japanese adopted people who had lived as Chinese for most of their lives grew up as Chinese in many respects. Language, lifestyle and social adjustment, had become almost indistinguishable from Chinese people. However, they also found most subjects had retained certain Japanese facial expressions, gestures and mannerisms that allowed them to be distinguished from their Chinese counterparts by the bi-culturally-oriented investigators more accurately than would have been guessed. Spouses' comments showed that personality characteristics related to social behavior were found mostly in those who were adopted after the age of three. Other traits related to temperament and taste preferences appeared less related to social experience.

What does this mean? Characteristics of race or ethnicity endowed by heredity are present in all of us, no matter how subtle the traits may be or how much effort is made to conceal them. Because this particular study didn't address the issue of how the adopted people themselves felt about their lives, we don't have insight into this aspect of their identity. Perhaps the fact that each had returned to Japan with a Chinese spouse and children speaks to the human need to acknowledge all that one is: heredity (returning to Japan in search of genetic roots) and environment (marriage and family attachments with those who share one's lifestyle). We hope these individuals feel positive about all aspects of themselves and feel comfortable and accepted in both their Japanese and Chinese backgrounds.

Copyright ©1998-2008 by Pact, An Adoption Alliance
http://www.pactadopt.org
info@pactadopt.org