We investigated the relationship between mental and physiological responses to infant crying and cooing, including babbling, and the influence of individual characteristics, in young men and women with no child-rearing experience. Seventeen adults aged 18 years or older participated in the study. They listened to either the crying or the cooing of a 7-month-old infant for three minutes, during which their physiological responses were measured. Questionnaires were also administered before and after the listening sessions. The results showed that skin blood flow significantly decreased in response to both crying and cooing, whereas heart rate was not significantly affected by either. The reduction in skin blood flow was greater during crying than during cooing, and this response was positively correlated with lower stress tolerance. Furthermore, among women and participants with lower scores in receptive emotional responses to crying, the degree of skin blood flow reduction differed between crying and cooing. These findings suggest that differences in physiological responses to infant crying and cooing are influenced by individual characteristics and emotional responses to infant vocalizations.

The purpose of this study was to obtain new empirical findings that would contribute to the support of family caregivers. A cross-sectional, web-based, multiple-choice survey was conducted in July 2023 among family caregivers who lived with a person certified as needing care and providing daily care. Using the 718 responses obtained, we tested a hypothetical model integrating the associations between normative consciousness of family caregiving and relevant factors using multivariate analysis. These factors included caregiver's age, duration of caregiving, objective caregiving burden, subjective caregiving burden, psychological stress, physical symptoms, and the care level of care recipients. As the result, the validity of the hypothesis model was supported and it was proven that the normative consciousness of family caregiving affected not only subjective caregiving burden but also objective caregiving burden, psychological stress, and the level of awareness of the physical symptom directly or indirectly. It was suggested that it is important for supporters to understand that the family caregiver's situation is under the influence of the normative consciousness behind their lives, and to develop support measures that take a holistic view of each caregiver based on an appropriate assessment of the objective care burden.

Using published studies, this study aimed to examine the validity of a conceptual model that integrates various factors related to help-seeking among contemporary Japanese nationals, which had been individually studied, and develop a hypothetical model that can be empirically verified from the perspective of mind-body correlation. We reviewed 39 articles about help-seeking written in Japanese, and organized the content using the KJ method. The results show seven “problems” (childcare, difficulty in receiving medical care, difficulty in providing nursing care, school non-attendance, school life, employment environment, and isolation of the elderly) that form the basis for help-seeking. People who have “problems” were aware of their physical and mental health problems, and such problems were reduced by seeking help and obtaining appropriate support. In the process of seeking help necessary for solving “problems” and improving physical and mental health, there are the factors to encourage/inhibit help-seeking behavior, comprised of individual characteristics and social support. The findings show the validity of the model that integrates various factors related to help-seeking. Based on this, a new hypothetical model that can be empirically verified using social survey methods in the future is proposed.