Process of inner changes in full-time working mothers at a company was investigated. The developmental and interactional processes within the “self” as a worker and a mother were qualitatively analyzed. Participants were mothers (N=21) working full-time or had retired from a private financial company in Tokyo. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. The results were recorded and qualitatively analyzed by using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA). It was indicated that the mothers needed support from others, including the company in order to balance work and childcare. Moreover, it was necessary for them to be consistently self-motivated to realize their intentions and to make clear decisions about their actions. They also experienced inner changes and became highly conscious of time, health, and interpersonal relationships. In addition, they came to acquire competencies common to both work and childcare, such as planning and simultaneously attending to multiple matters. On the other hand, they experienced difficulties in working while caring for children. For example, they realized that a perfect balance between work and childcare was impossible, and they wished for the reform of the conservative work environment. It was suggested that these mothers wanted to develop themselves professionally, while being highly conscious about their role as mothers.

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In this study, we developed practical types of psychological support, taking into account the characteristics and needs of patients with vocal dysfunction caused by laryngectomy for pharyngeal/laryngeal cancer. In this approach, we focused on independent/dependent tendencies in postoperative readaptation behaviors, which were considered to largely affect the impact of the support, and emotional stability/instability during hospitalization. We thus proposed four types of hypothetical support models, Type I (independent and stable), Type II (independent and unstable), Type III (dependent and stable), and Type IV (dependent and unstable), and attempted to show the overall picture of the four types and the validity of their dimensions and items based on clinical cases of individual types. In the future, it will be necessary to use these types in clinical practice, discuss the effects, and evaluate the value of the typology as a foundation of support.

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This study examined how career decision making in November is affected by short-term and vertical factors (i.e. perceived social support, career exploration behavior, and career selection) in the case of third-year high school students seeking employment before and after they look at advertisements for help. The results of a multiple linear regression analysis showed that before viewing advertisements for help, “parents' support,” “teachers' support,” “friends' support,” and “tendency toward self-actualization” positively influenced students' career decision making in November. After students viewed the advertisements, “parents' support,” “teachers'support,” “friends' support,” “tendency toward stability,” “self-exploration behavior,” and “environmental exploration behavior” also positively influenced their career decision making, while “intentions for salary” negatively influenced their career decision making. Differences were found in “parents' support” and “friends' support” before viewing advertisements for help in May, and in “parents' support,” “friends' support,” “self-exploration behavior,” and “environmental exploration behavior” after viewing them in September according to the student's major course of study. Overall, the study revealed the effects of timing for viewing such advertisements and the importance of course of study on students' intentions.

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This study investigated the effect of a developmental support based on the solution-focused approach (SFA) for adolescents by conducting actual sessions. Forty six university students participated in a ‘special lecture series’, which consisted of three sessions based on SFA and group work (GW). Qualitative analyses with the “KJ” (invented by Kawakita Jiro) method on free descriptions revealed four categories, such as “Attention to the Method”, “Changed”, “Grasping the Situation”, and “Not Changed”. These results showed that the support method conducted in this study had some effect unique to SFA, even when adapted to a mass of students. The results also showed that GW, through discussions with students of the same generation, played an important role for the students to activate and change their behaviors. This led students to think more about their concrete goals. Therefore, this method was considered to enable the students to participate actively in their own development, and it could be conceptualized as development support.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between listening skills and externalizing problem (aggressive behavior), and internalizing problem (anxiety/depression) in Japanese high school students. Cluster analyses were conducted on subscale scores of each problem on aggressive behavior and anxiety/depression. In the externalizing problems, five subtypes of aggression emerged. In the internalizing problems, four subtypes of anxiety and/or depression emerged. Each participant was classified into one of these groups. MANOVA showed following results. (a) Those who were not engaged in aggressive behavior got a higher score on the listening skill of not interrupting other's talk. (b) Those who had high scores on both anxiety and depression scales in particular had lower listening skills. (c) Listening skills had more differences between subtypes of internalizing problems than subtypes of externalizing ones. It is suggested that the relationship between social skills and psychosocial adjustment should be examined as a series of process.

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