I meant in the sense that perhaps parents, with children displaying early signs of social phobia, are more accommodating. Are families too enabling of behaviour that can become entrenched?
I mean, what are they supposed to do, kick their children out of the house?
In the end, the genesis of Hikkikomori's reclusion is their feeling of having failed at life. They can't deal with society's expectations of them, so they withdraw from it completely. There's not much parents can do to change that feeling of failure.
It's not really a distinctly Japanese phenomenon. I'm sure you can find just as many young recluses in every developed country. Japan just found a cute term for it, that's all.
