The purpose of the present paper is to present an overview of complex and less often reported information about the influence of child maltreatment on abused children when they are in educational contexts. Dramatic increases in the incidence of child maltreatment have been reported in many countries, and Japan is no exception. Although adversities and sequelae of maltreatment on children's socioemotional development, as well as clinical considerations, have been widely discussed in Japan, maltreated children's academic competence has hardly been examined. Many maltreated but clinically non-treated children exist and attend school. Hence, the present paper examines the school adaptation and adjustment, as well as the academic achievement, of maltreated children. Schools and teachers were discussed in terms of their potential roles as alternative resources and supports that could help abused children overcome adversity and enhance their later development.

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The so-called “decline in academic standards” has been a matter of wide public concern since the latter half of 1999. This debate began with a heated controversy between two opposing opinions -those of people who support the government's policy of “education with latitude” versus those of people who believe that teachers should reinforce basic scholastic proficiency such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but at present a relatively multi-faceted recognition of this issue is dominant in public opinion, possibly due to appeals that have been made by educational psychologists. Not a few misconceptions in the general educational views held in Japan have been pointed out in educational psychology. It is possible that these misconceptions have influenced the direction of Japanese education in a negative way,.thus causing the decline in Japanese academic standards. Studying at school, which ideally should develop human intelligence, seems to have turned into meaningless labor, from which many students are thought to be trying to escape. New movements stressing practical activities have been carried out in Japanese educational psychology in order to raise the level of academic quality of (a) students' learning,(b) teacher training, and (c) educational reform in schools. The emphasis on researchers' practical activities is being accelerated in Japanese educational psychology today.

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While they are school age, students need support in many areas, including study, mental and/or social issues, career development, and health. Ishikuma's (1999) school psychology theory of psychoeducational services contains many suggestions for school counselors who want to respond to students'support needs. The present report describes some of the author's practice as a school counselor. The method for delivering psycho-educational services is discussed in the framework of school psychology. A core team supporting a student, which is a form of psycho-educational service (Tamura, 1998), consists of a teacher, a parent, and a coordinator (for example, a school counselor). The team assesses the status of the student, discusses the support program, and supports the student using all support resources, while each member activates the others' specialties and roles. In the present author's practice, coordination and mutual consultation in the support process were found to be effective for supporting students. A Support Planning Sheet and Support Resource Checklist were developed which were useful for assessing the resources and support needs of the students and making the support plan.

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The present paper reports the design, implementation, and evaluation of a Web-based personalized system of instruction (PSI) with several college courses. Personalized system of instruction (PSI) courses feature self-paced and mastery learning checked by tests at the end of every learning unit. For the present courses, learning materials were written in HTML, and delivered to the students on CD-ROM. The dropout rate was less than 10% throughout 3-5 years of the study. Evaluation at the end of the courses showed that students in the PSI courses got higher grades than students in traditional lecture-style classes.

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The present paper describes several characteristics and goals of integrated study. The reasons why future society will need integrated study were discussed from the viewpoint of the domain specificity of knowledge, the gap between students' achievements in subjects and their attitudes toward those subjects, the creativity of students in Japan, and a highly informed and internationalized society. Following a review of educational practices in many schools and of educational research related to integrated study, the author identifies the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes involved in integrated study, the author identifies the knowledge, abilities, abilities, and attitudes involved in integrated study. In order to attain a high quality of learning through integrated study, curricula must be refined and new teaching methods developed. If we want to conquer the so-called “fruitlessness” of educational psychology, we will have to improve masters and doctoral programs, and also give teachers increased opportunity to participate in continuing education.

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This paper reports on the first examination of the factor structure and construct validity of the Adolescent Invulnerability Scale in a sample of young adolescents. Previous research (Duggan, Lapsley & Norman, 2000) using samples of older adolescents showed that the AIS consisted of two factors, “danger invulnerability” and “psychological invulnerability.” These factors also demonstrated adequate internal consistency and construct validity. In the present study we administered the AIS, along with indices of risk behaviors, use of substances, depressive symptomatology and positive adjustment, to 238 young adolescents (Mage=13.19years). Principal components factor analysis revealed three factors: general invulnerability, danger invulnerability, and interpersonal invulnerability. Each factor, and the total AIS, demonstrated strong internal consistency. The total AIS score, and each subscale, was positively correlated with delinquent risk behaviors. However, general and interpersonal invulnerability also counterindicated depressive symptoms, and each dimension of felt invulnerability was positively correlated with mastery and coping. Hence invulnerability plays a dual role in adolescent development. The appearance of third “interpersonal” factor in early adolescence is attributed to the relatively greater peer focus evident among younger than older adolescents.

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Domestic research in intercultural communication has a history of less than three decades, yet a wide variety of studies have been conducted. This overview of current trends of the research in this field presents a review of studies conducted within the last decade in the areas of Japanese communication patterns, cross-cultural communication, intercultural interaction, intercultural adjustment, and intercultural communication training. Discussion of the current state of these areas are conducted from theoretical and methodological perspectives, and future directives are outlined.

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