Factors relating to the difference in the expectation of life by prefecture in Japan of late.

To investigate the cause of difference in the expectation of life by prefecture in Japan of late, relationships between the expectations of life by sex, age and prefecture in Japan in 1980 and prefectural character items (33), temperature items (3), economic items (3), educational items (2) and medical items (3) were studied through simple correlation, partial correlation, multiple correlation and factor analysis, and the following results were obtained. 1) Correlation coefficents between the expectations of life by age were significant and large in each sex excluding those for 65 year-old man. And there were high correlations in the expectation of life for 65 year-old man and woman. 2) Partial correlation coefficients between the expectations of life for 0, 20 and 40 year-old men and items concerning substantiality in mind and livelihood protection rate, those for 0 year-old woman and dependence on religion, those for 20 year-old woman and adaptability, and those for 65 year-old woman and taste for fish and education were significant. 3) Correlation coefficients between the expectations of life for 65 year-old man and factors of temperature and urban environment, and those for 40 year-old woman and factors of urban environment and easiness of life were significant. 4) On the forward selection procedure of multiple correlation between the expectations of life for man and items, the similar items were selected for the first or second variable to the cases of partial correlations and factor analyses . Above results suggest that factors relating to the difference in the expectation of life by prefecture differ between sexes and ages, and substantiality in mind and poverty relate to that for man under 65 years, so do temperature and urban environment for 65 year-old man, while dependence on religion relates to that for 0 year-old woman, adaptability for 20 year-old woman, urban environment and easiness of life for 40 year-old woman, taste for fish and education for 65 year-old woman.