[Purpose]

  The rate of school absenteeism is increasing among junior high school students. They are at a stage in their lives when they are learning to create a place in society, which suggests the importance of “ibasho,” a place where one can be oneself. This study examined five concepts associated with “ibasho,” including the sense of authenticity, acceptance, basic self-esteem, feelings of enjoyment in school life, and stress responses and their overall effects to explore perspectives for promoting students’ psychological adjustment.

[Methods]

  A web-based survey was administered to 1,048 students (908 valid responses) from three public junior high schools. The surveyed included the following scales: the Sense-of-Acceptance Scale, Sense of Authenticity Scale, Basic Self-Esteem Scale, Feelings of Enjoyment of School Life Scale, and Psychological Stress Response Scale.

[Results]

  The results revealed that students’ sense of acceptance influenced their sense of authenticity and both “High Self-Affirmation” and “Low Self-Negativity,” which are subscales of the Basic Self-Esteem Scale. Additionally, “High Self-Affirmation” influenced their sense of authenticity and feelings of enjoyment in school life, while “Low Self-Negativity” influenced their sense of authenticity and stress responses. Moreover, their sense of authenticity influenced their feelings of enjoyment in school life and stress responses.

[Discussion/Conclusion]

  The results showed that students’ sense of authenticity was associated with all the other factors. Additionally, students’ sense of acceptance and basic self-esteem enhanced their sense of authenticity, which together enhanced their feelings of enjoyment in school life and suppressed their stress responses. Therefore, it is necessary to consider educational interventions aimed at fostering a sense of authenticity, acceptance, and basic self-esteem to prevent school absenteeism.

[Purpose]

  Children about to graduate from elementary school have expectations and anxieties about the changes in their environment and the physical and mental changes in adolescence as they move to junior high school. In addition, the number of background factors that lead children to visit the school nurse's office, “mainly psychological problems,” increases as children enter junior high school. For children to better adjust to school life during this period, adequate support for their physical, emotional, and cognitive-behavioral stress reactions exhibited by children is considered necessary. Therefore, we decided to examine the relationship between physical stress reactions. These school stressors influence depression or anxiety, moodiness or anger, helplessness, familial social support, physical complaints commonly seen in the infirmary, and lifestyle habits.

[Methods]

  A self-administered questionnaire was administered to sixth-graders in five elementary schools in February 2020, when they were scheduled to graduate. A total of 216 valid responses were included in the analysis, for which consent was obtained from the students and their parents.

[Results]

  Stressors were found to be friendships and relationships with teachers and academics, which affected stress reactions. Social support has been shown to reduce stress reactions among mothers, homeroom teachers, and friends. Common physical complaints at health centers are associated with stressful reactions. Lifestyle habits such as exercise or outdoor play, bedtime, breakfast intake, and time spent on the Internet were associated with stress reactions.

[Discussion and Conclusion]

  The results suggest that stressors, social support, physical complaints commonly seen at school nurses’ offices, and lifestyle were associated with stress reactions in children before elementary school graduation. However, there was no direct relationship between social support and depression or anxiety regarding stress reactions. This suggests that support is required for depression or anxiety, which is directly related to friendship stressors, breathlessness, abdominal pain or nausea, and exercise or outdoor play. As the physical complaints often seen in school nurses’ offices are related to each stress reaction, physical complaints may be a sign of the early detection of stress reactions. Lifestyle habits include reducing the amount of time spent on the Internet and increasing the amount of physical activity, such as playing outside. Ensure they go to bed, wake up, and eat breakfast. This cycle has the potential to mitigate stress responses. The mean values of stress reaction and stressors were low, and the stress reaction was not affected by recent changes in the living environment. Thus, the study suggests that other groups, analysis methods, and other influencing factors on the stress reaction must be examined.

[Purpose]

  Over-adaptation has been considered a type of school refusal. The author defined a new type of over-adaptation (responsible over-adaptation) that does not include the self-inhibition assumed in conventional over-adaptation. In conventional over-adaptation, internal maladaptation has been considered due to a discrepancy between self-esteem (i.e., contingent self-esteem and the sense of authenticity). This study examined whether a discrepancy between the two types of self-esteem is found in responsible over-adaptation.

[Methods]

  A web-based survey was conducted among men and women in their late teens to twenties. Subsequently, responses from 139 individuals (M=24.96 years, SD=3.16) were analyzed.

[Results]

  The relationships between all factors of responsible over-adaptation and contingent self-esteem were positive. Conversely, there was no correlation between the two aspects of external adaptive behavior of responsible over-adaptation and a sense of authenticity. In contrast, a moderate negative correlation was found between over-adaptation harm and a sense of authenticity. Moreover, the responsible over-adaptation group had a higher contingent self-esteem and a lower sense of authenticity than the other groups.

[Discussion and Conclusion]

  This study suggests that similar to conventional over-adaptation involving aspects of self-inhibition, responsible over-adaptation also results in a discrepancy between the two types of self-esteem. Additionally, the responsible over-adaptation group had a lower sense of authenticity than the adapted group, that high external adaptive behavior but low over-adaptation harm. However, the two groups had the same level of contingent self-esteem. Specifically, external adaptive behavior may not cause a lowered sense of authenticity, but some harm cause a decreased sense of authenticity. Furthermore, feeling the same level of contingent self-esteem as the adapted group in the responsible over-adaptation group may be one of the factors that may conceal the decline in the sense of authenticity.

[Purpose]

  This study analyzed changes in psychological adaptation (including self-esteem, life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety) in first-year university students enrolled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from three surveys conducted every six months. Additionally, we examined changes in the ratio of students at high risk for suicidal ideation and thought disturbance, which are crucial screening factors.

[Methods]

  A longitudinal survey was conducted three times with students enrolled at a single university in 2020. Time 1 was from late March to early April 2020, Time 2 was late September 2020, and Time 3 was April 2021. Data were collected from 351 first-year students. The survey consisted of demographic and psychological adaptation data, encompassing depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. The depression scale comprised two items assessing risk for psychological conditions.

[Results]

  The two-way ANOVA revealed significant main effects of measurement time on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Depression and anxiety scores were lower at Time 1 and Time 3 than at Time 2, whereas self-esteem scores were lower at Time 2 and Time 3 than at Time 1. Critical item analysis revealed that Time 2 had the highest percentage of students at high risk for thought disturbance.

[Discussion/Conclusion]

  Students’ depression and anxiety exhibited an initial increase from admission to six months later, followed by a decrease to Time 1 level six months later. In contrast, self-esteem declined slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not fully recover to its original level. These results indicate distinct trends for negative and positive indicators of psychological adaptation.

[Problem and Purpose]

  In recent years, attempts to cultivate social-emotional competence in children have attracted attention in educational settings. The present study focused on individual differences in the emotional characteristics of educators who nurture children’s social-emotional competence, such as their evaluation of emotions, empathy level, and perceived emotional support and examined the relationship between these differences.

[Methods]

  A questionnaire survey was administered to undergraduate students in teacher training colleges (133 valid responses: 42 males and 91 females) to measure three factors: evaluation of emotions, multidimensional empathy, and perception of emotional support.

[Results]

  An analysis of variance was conducted using cluster analysis, with the evaluation of emotions and empathy as independent variables and the perception of emotional support as the dependent variable. The results revealed that the positive emotional evaluation group placed more importance on supporting the child’s independent resolution than the negative emotional evaluation group. Additionally, the group with high overall empathy placed more importance on supporting the child’s independent resolution than the self-oriented group.

[Discussion]

  These results suggest that evaluating emotions as necessary and meaningful rather than negative and having diverse and rich empathic reactions rather than having only self-protective reactions to others’ emotions can lead to emotional support, which values children’s independent resolution. Therefore, it is crucial to learn to understand and positively evaluate the meaning and function of emotions, view empathy in multiple dimensions, and learn the meaning behind various empathic reactions at the teacher training stage.

[Purpose]

  Considering that the concept of self-advocacy (SA) is not well recognized in Japan, this exploratory study aimed to investigate Japanese university students’ current state of SA awareness in their daily lives, focusing on female university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Methods]

  A focus group interview (FGI) survey was conducted among female university students(N = 15) and the qualitative data collected were classified and examined using the TA method. To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire survey was conducted as a triangulation.

[Results]

  Qualitative data analysis yielded four themes, four sub-themes, and 20 sub-themes, highlighting multiple problems related to SA. The questionnaire-based survey revealed that (i) 90.2% (n = 348) of female university students understood “somewhat” or “not at all” the meaning of SA and (ii) 91.7% (n = 355) “did not know much” or “did not know” about SA at all.

[Discussion/Conclusion]

  Most of the female university students had limited SA awareness in their daily lives, which supports the study hypothesis to some extent. Although some students recognized the importance of SAS components, a significant number of them were yet to acquire a complete understanding of the concept and hence continued to face mental difficulties and other challenges in their university lives.

[Purpose]

  In early childhood care facilities, one reason for the lack of implementation of individualized teaching plans is the high level of knowledge and skills required by caregivers to create appropriate evaluations, set goals, and draft detailed care plans. Additionally, when it comes to the individualized teaching plans that have been created, caregivers tend to understand children from a dichotomous perspective such as ‘can/cannot’ or ‘can adapt/cannot adapt’. This approach has been shown to present challenges in focusing on play and active participation among children who require special consideration. This study structured the overall plans of the facility, annual teaching plans, and methods for recording and evaluating children’s diverse developmental stages. We examined the effects of individualized teaching plans based on these structured records and evaluation methods on the quality of children’s play and their development.

[Methods]

  Six caregivers designed and utilized individualized teaching plans tailored to the early childhood care curriculum for six target children. Through questionnaire surveys in both the pre-test and post-test phases, we measured the children’s levels of comfort and engagement as perceived by the caregivers, as well as developmental scales based on childcare records.

[Results]

  The children’s level of comfort was significantly higher in the post-test than in the pre-test, whereas no significant difference was observed in the level of engagement. In terms of developmental scales, adaptability was significantly higher in the post-test than in the pre-test, whereas no significant differences were found in sociability and curiosity.

[Discussion/Conclusion]

  This study suggests that childcare based on individualized teaching plans tailored to the early childhood care curriculum may enhance children’s sense of security and contribute to improved adaptability. Longitudinal studies over extended periods and controlled experiments are required to investigate this efficacy in detail.

[Purpose]

  This study aimed to elucidate the role of school counselors (SCs).

[Method]

  The participants were SCs from 142 elementary, junior high, and high schools across a Japanese prefecture. A questionnaire was designed, comprising a list of ten SC roles. Participants rated each role on three measures (“I need it,” “It is useful,” and “I am satisfied”), generating a function score for the roles of an SC, weighted by their years of experience. Furthermore, a set of 30 items was employed to construct an index reflecting SC sentiments toward the 10 roles.

[Result]

  The results indicated that the following roles received the highest scores: “counseling, consultation, response to developmental disabilities,” and “cooperation with teachers.” Functional scores varied based on SCs’ experience levels; SCs with mid-level experience scored higher than veterans and novices. Factor analysis identified four areas contributing to the SC’s sense of difficulty: lack of confidence, dissatisfaction with the school’s educational consultation system, lack of competence, and sense of failure. The results of the analysis of variance showed that novice SCs reported the highest scores in both “SC’s lack of confidence” and “SC’s lack of competence.”

[Discussion/Conclusion]

  The findings underscore the importance of SC’s collaborative role in counseling and supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. In addition, the functional scores of SCs with mid-level experience were higher than those of the novices and veterans. These results have implications for employment and evaluation of SCs.