In a counseling session with multiple family members, the way in which the therapist communicates during the formation of relationships with family members has a bearing on subsequent therapeutic actions. In this context, many experimental studies have focused on the implications of nonverbal communication in a therapeutic system. Among the different modalities of nonverbal communication, the importance of gaze, namely, the extent to which it affects conversation, has been demonstrated in various contexts. In this study, we examined the video recordings of actual counseling sessions using an approach derived from the technique of conversation analysis. We also investigated the question of how therapists might support therapeutic interactions by controlling their visual attention in particular ways.

　　By analyzing the ways in which therapists controlled their visual attention, we identified the following three patterns: (1) the therapist begins to ask the mother questions while looking at her, he/she then momentarily looks at the identified patient (IP), and his/her gaze again returns to the mother; (2) the therapist, with his/her visual attention, attends to the mother at the beginning of the session but attends to the IP when the session approaches the end; and (3) the therapist exchanges glances with other family members while listening to a family member. We surmised that therapists, by controlling their visual attention in such ways, would direct the mother's attention to the IP, support mother-child interactions, or emphasize the neutrality of the therapist's role.

　　In this study, we simply attempted to formulate a hypothesis by analyzing the actual therapeutic scenes. However, in light of the present findings, we find it imperative to study more cases in the future. In addition, we will continue our attempts to prove the hypothesis through further experiments.

　　The present study aims at exploring how adolescents' cognition of the relationships with their parents influences their media literacy, in particular, positive attitudes toward collection of novel information and critical examination of information.

　　The survey was administered for 364 students aged from 17 to 22, via the Internet. The survey adopted two psychological scales, “Parents-Adolescents Relationships Scale” (46 items for both parents) and a part of “The Scale for the Skills of Practical Use of Information” (26 items) for measuring respondents’ cognition of the relationships with their parents and media literacy, respectively. A factor analysis and item analyses extracted four subscales measuring attitudes toward collection of novel information, self-confidence of integrating information, and skeptical attitudes toward information from others and mass-media. The results of ANOVAs suggested weak gender differences on one of these literacy measures and several subscales of cognition of the relationships with parents, showing that female respondents were more aware of the relationships with their parents than male respondents. Moreover, the results of regression analyses suggested that adolescents’ cognition of independence on their fathers positively contributes to their capacities of media literacy, although their cognition of the relationships with their mothers ambivalently affects their media literacy, in particular, in case of female adolescents. The results were consistent with the existing studies arguing the complexity of mother-daughter relationships.

　　The purpose of this study was to survey the relative factor of the positive feeling to the school. Subjects were 164 parent-child who lived in big cities. A mean age of 74 pupils and 90 junior high school students is 12.3 year. A mean age of father is 45.0 year, and that of mother is 42.0 year.

　　Children answered questions about positive feeling to their school, trust to their parents and school adjustment (relationship with friends and teachers, academic activities). Their parents answered questions about parental role behavior and trust to their child.

　　The main results were as followed;

(1) Mother's role behavior, children's trust their mothers, good relationship with their friends and academic activities are related with positive feeling to the school.

(2) Pass analysis indicates that parent's acceptance without parental control, children's trust to their mothers, academic activities and good relationship with friends affected positive feeling to the school.

(3) The relative factor of positive feeling to the school was especially children's trust to their mothers.

　　The feelings of middle-aged fathers about their experience of childcare was investigated. Research has shown that a fathers' involvement affects numerous aspects of a child's development. However, it is still unclear how fathers are involved in raising their children and how they perceive their experience of childcare. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 middle-aged fathers who have young adult children. The results showed how the fathers become more emotionally mature through their experience. The fathers “have role models of a father” before becoming fathers themselves. However, they “have little time” to spend with their children because of their job. They tried to get involved in parenting by “balancing with their wives” for a short time. When they gradually “get around” to “interacting with their children,” they “take action for their children” and “learn many things from their children.” They gradually perceive “their children as companions” as they get older. They “develop a close partnership with their wives” at the same time. Finally, they expressed that they matured through “the interaction with their wives and children.”

　　Previous study found that the Japanese had rapidly changed their gender role attitudes from traditional to egalitarian. In contrast, other studies found that the Japanese couple took the traditional gender role attitudes in their house. Therefore, Japanese gender role attitudes inside the house are still unclear. Study 1 aims to show the Japanese couples' gender role attitudes inside their house through couple communication. Study two aims to examine indexes that could facilitate couple communication.

　　Participants of the study one were married 76 women and 55 men, and their average ages were 53.6, and 54.0, respectively. They responded to questionnaires including the wife demand/husband withdraw (WD/HD) and husband demand/wife withdraw (HD/WW) patterns in the Communication Patterns Questionnaire. They also answered the Couple Satisfaction Scale and wrote down their attitudes toward divorce. The results suggested that WD/HW increased couple dissatisfaction and risk of divorce, whereas HD/WW did not explain these variables. These results implied that Japanese participants were similar to American ones who did not take traditional gender role attitudes for granted in their house.

　　Participants of the study two were the same as those of the study one. They wrote down the most-used nicknames between husbands and wives. Wives who used first name as the nickname for their husbands were categorized into the first-name group and those who did not were into the non-first-name group. We found that the first-name group among wives had significantly lower WD/HW than the non first-name group. On the other hand, we did not obtain the same results among husbands. Speakers' attitudes might have more impact on couple communication than listeners' ones. These results implied that wives who call their partner first name could perceive lower WD/HW.

　　Findings of study one and two suggested that the Japanese couples were not restricted by the traditional gender attitudes in the house. The findings also implied that wives who call their husbands first name could facilitate couple communication.

　　Given the increasing complexity and diversity of children's social environments in Japan, the number of children unable to be raised in their birth family and who need to receive social care has increased in recent years. Social care includes familial, institutional, and group-home care. According to a survey administered by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2008, about 38,000 children were not being cared for by their birth parents. Rather, they were being cared for in foster families, residential childcare institutions, or infant homes. Focusing on the typical familial care environment of foster families, this study aimed to investigate (1) how foster parents' positive attitudes about fostering affect foster children's sense of fulfillment in life, selfacceptance, and frustration, (2) whether these feelings vary depending on when the placement started, and (3) whether foster parents' attitudes toward fostering change depending on the placement length. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 175 foster parents. Results demonstrated that (1) foster parents' attitudes toward fostering affected children's feelings such as sense of fulfillment in life, self-acceptance, and frustration, (2) early-stage placement and foster environments with continuity are important for foster children to gain a strong sense of fulfillment and self-acceptance, and (3) more than 1 year of placement is needed for foster children to feel a sense of fulfillment.