The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between eating habits and lifestyle-related factors according to dieting experiences. University students (348 females) completed questionnaires regarding morningness-eveningness, stress responses, newly developed abnormal eating habits, lifestyle-related aspects, dieting methods, and body size. Factor analysis of abnormal eating habits produced three factors: simple and easy meals, irregular meal times, and frequent skipping of meals. Participants were then classified into four groups based on dieting dependency level, and multiple regression analyses were conducted with each sub-scale of abnormal eating habits as the dependent variable by group. The results were as follows. In those individuals who tended to stay up late at night, their states of eating habits were disturbed, regardless of their level of dieting. In contrast, both stress responses and lifestyle-related variables, such as commuting time and return time to home, had different effects on eating habits, depending on the level of dieting. Additionally, highly addictive dieters with abnormal eating habits were more likely to adhere to dieting.

View full abstract

This investigation examined attentional biases toward illness-related information in persons with hypochondriacal tendency. Consistent with cognitive behavioural conceptualizations, it was hypothesized that individuals with high hypochondriacal tendency as well as individuals with high somatosensory amplification would be more likely than those with lower levels to exhibit attentional biases to illness-related information when assessed using a modified Stroop task. Forty-two undergraduate and graduate students in Japan were assessed using the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) and the Illness Attitude Scales (IAS), and participated in the experiment using the modified Stroop task. Results showed that participants with high SSAS showed a significantly larger Stroop effect compared to those with low SSAS. However, Stroop effect differences among participants with respect to the IAS were not significant. These findings suggest that individuals with high somatosensory amplification have attentional bias toward illness-related words automatically, and it is important to take account of information processing in the research of hypochondriacal tendency.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine, based on the theories of self-discrepancy and uncertainty orientation, the influence of cognitive characteristics and state anxiety when subjects about to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were informed of the items related to contraindications for and prohibition of the procedure. High levels of certainty orientation and self-discrepancy corresponded to level 4 (“High Anxiety”) of the Japanese version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-JYZ) upon evaluation of state anxiety among subjects about to undergo MRI. Those subjects who showed a high level of the certainty orientation and the self-discrepancy when receiving the information and who had no prior experience of MRI demonstrated empirically more readily aroused state anxiety.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the building of future self-body image (possible body self) at each stage by stroke survivors. In semi-structured interviews, 15 stroke survivors looked back on their experiences from disease development to the present. Data analysis employing a modified grounded theory approach revealed that, at each, stage stroke survivors simultaneously held in mind several possible body selves, such as hoped for body selves, feared body selves and probable body selves. The study also showed that stroke survivors imagined various possible body selves even at the so-called chronic stage, more than 2.5 years after disease development. Stroke survivors live in an ambivalent, changeable state colored by expectation and resignation.

View full abstract

It has been noted that aggression is one of the risk factors of physical and mental health. However, aggression is sometime considered to have desirable aspects, such as being an effective source for solving complicated situations between individuals or for promoting self-development through frustration. The purpose of this study was to investigate such diverse relationships between aggression and health. Undergraduate and graduate student participants (N=286) completed questionnaires regarding aggression and Quality of Life (QOL) as an indicator of subjective health. The results showed that: 1) hostility, which is a cognitive aspect of aggression, was related to deterioration of QOL; 2) verbal aggression, which is a behavioral aspect of aggression, was related to maintenance or improvement of QOL. These findings suggest that longitudinal investigation to determine the details of the causal relationships between aggression and QOL is warranted.

View full abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program developed by Kabat-Zinn. The meaning of mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn's view of mediation, and six techniques of MBSR—eating meditation, breathing, body scan, yoga, walking meditation and sitting meditation—are explained. The effectiveness of MBSR on increased stress tolerance, cognitive change, improved self-management, relaxation, increased ability for acceptance, and awareness of body sensation are introduced, and the literature reporting the applications of MBSR on patients with various conditions, including pain, anxiety, depression, eating disorder, skin disease, cancer and organ transplant, as well as its application to lifestyle modification are reviewed. Finally, potential applications of MBSR in health psychology with a particular focus in the area of health education are discussed.

View full abstract

It is well known that regular physical activity is of great benefit to children's health. Over the past 20 years in Japan, increasing attention has been focused on children's physical activity, and some studies have indicated that such activity has dramatically decreased. It is therefore necessary to identify the determinants of physical activity and to conduct interventions in order to promote children's physical activity. The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) has been applied in a number of studies promoting various health behavior changes among adults and the elderly; however, there have been few instances of its application in studies involving children and adolescents. The aims of this study were to review the findings of studies that had applied TTM to children and adolescents' physical activity. The review found positive results of the application of TTM to promoting children's and adolescences' physical activity.

View full abstract