To confirm or to Maintain Self-Consistency? Hikikomori Risk in Japan and the Deviation From Seeking Harmony [32]	2014	Cohort	Japan	N = 195	Partecipants were divided into high risk vs. low risk of becoming hikikomori. High risk students shared similar social perceptions about pervasive values in their society as low risk students, thereby ruling out deficits in social perception as being associated with hikikomori risk. Instead, high risk students were not motivated to conform to others’ behaviors relative to low-risk students and this difference was fully mediated by differences in preferred levels of harmony-seeking. Furthermore, high risk students scored lower on both local identity and global identity relative to low-risk students, thereby reifying their marginalized identity in Japanese society.
The prevalence and correlates of severe social withdrawal (hikikomori) in Hong Kong: A cross-sectional telephone-based survey study [31]	2019	Cross sectional	China	N = 1010	The prevalence rates of more than 6 months, less than 6 months and self-perceived non-problematic social withdrawal were 1.9%, 2.5% and 2.6%, respectively. In terms of the correlates, the internationally and locally defined socially withdrawn youths are similar, while the self-perceived non-problematic group is comparable to the comparison group. The study finds that the prevalence of severe social withdrawal in Hong Kong is comparable to that in Japan.