The response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) suggests that people who ruminate on their symptoms in response to depressive mood, suffer longer periods of depression than those who act to distract themselves from their symptoms. Previous studies have reported that self-focused rumination maintains or exacerbates depressive mood by increasing pessimism. This study examined the relationship between rumination and pessimism, cognitive styles and mental adjustment in Japanese students. Subjects with negative ruminations were more likely to have a pessimistic outlook, negative cognitive styles and worse mental adjustment after 6 months. These results suggest that negative ruminations can predict the degree of adjustment in the future, after controlling for initial adjustment level.

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A common feature of eating disorders is the tendency to overestimate body size, i.e., body-image disturbance. This research, based on the theory of Transactional Analysis, was conducted to determine how basic positions, that is positive and negative attitudes regarding self and others, are related to eating disorders and body-image disturbances. Study 1, investigated the relationship between basic positions and eating disorders, TAOK which measures basic positions, and the Revised Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were administercd to 361 college students. The results indicated that subjects with low scores on basic positions regarding self, had higher EAT-26 scores. In study 2, the body images of 80 female college students were assessed to determine the relationship between body-image and basic positions regarding self and others. The results indicated that subjects with low scores on basic positions regarding self, overestimated their body-image. These results suggest that attention to basic positions should be an important aspect of interventions with people suffering from eating disorders.

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The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between the quality of interpersonal relationships and mental health of adults in the workplace and in private life. Questionnaires were distributed to 465 adults(204 male, 218 female and 3 unknown). Results indicated that the size of support networks in private life decreased in males and increased in females as a function of age. The mental health of males was related to the type of employment, while this was not the case in females. In workplace groups, adolescents reported higher interpersonal stress than adults. In the workplace, interpersonal stress was strongly associated and social support was weakly associated with mental health. Conversely, in private life groups, social support was moderately associated with mental health while interpersonal stress was not.

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Depressogenic Schemata Scale (DSS) was developed, and its validity and reliability was assessed in this study.Twenty-four items designed to assess individual difference in depressogenic schemata were constructed. The factor analysis of the items identified 3 factors (“Intention of High Achievement”, “Dependence of Evaluation on Others”, “Fear of Failure”). There was a significant correlation between the DSS and Self-rating Depression Scale (p<.01). The three weeks test-retest reliability coefficient interval was .82. The concurrent validity with the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire and the Japanese Irrational Belief Test were both significant (p<.01).Furthermore, there is evidence that DSS is clinically valid.

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