集落の過疎・高齢化と住民の生活意識 : 島根県中山間地域での量的調査データをもとに

　本稿の目的は，集落の過疎・高齢化と住民の生活意識の関係について，2012年.月に島根県飯石郡飯南町の20歳以上の住民を対象に行なった質問紙調査のデータ分析を通して問題提起することである。　
　今回はそのために，回答者の居住集落の高齢化率，人口増加率，世帯増加率のそれぞれをカテゴリカルな変数にし，カテゴリーごとの生活意識変数の平均得点を比較した。年齢の効果も考慮して分散分析を行なったところ，次のような傾向が伺えた。すなわち，（1）集落の存続についての意識では，高齢化率が高い集落の住民ほど危機意識が強いといった直線的な関係がある，（2）しかし，地域への思い入れや住民どうしの結びつきに関しては，過疎・高齢化の進行とともに衰退していくものの，ある時点まで過疎・高齢化が進むと，とくに高年層においてはポジティブに転換し，持ち直していく。とくに（2）は，過疎・高齢化が進むにつれて集落が衰退することを強調する，「限界集落」論の集落消滅モデルに沿わないという点で興味深い。

This paper examines the relationship between depopulation and aging in villages and residents’ attitudes toward their life, by analyzing the data from a survey administered to residents 20 years of age and over in Iinan-cho (a town in Iishi county, Shimane prefecture) in January 2012. Using three categorical variables regarding the population of each village in Iinan-cho (i.e., the ratio of aging, the increasing rate of the population, and the increasing rate of households), this paper compares and contrasts the effect of depopulation and aging in villages on residents’ attitudes toward their life. Analysis of variance showed the following tendencies. 1) There is a linear relationship between a sense of crisis about continuance of their villages and depopulation and aging in villages. However, 2) the attachment to their villages and the feeling of closeness among residents decline as depopulation and aging in villages progress at the beginning, and then, especially in the case of the elderly (people over 65 years old), these attitudes become positive and recover when depopulation and aging in villages progress considerably. This suggests more research is necessary to clarify why residents in villages in critical situation show more positive attitudes toward their community life.