The purposes of study were to develop and validate the Japanese version of Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20 (PASS-20). A set of questionnaires including PASS-20, scale of pain severity, the interference sub-scale of Brief Pain Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and the item of fear of pain was administered to 449 undergraduates. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that PASS-20 has four component comprising cognitive anxiety, escape/avoidance, fear, and physiological anxiety. Results of correlation analysis showed that PASS-20 has significant correlations with pain severity and interference. Also, the score of PASS-20 were highly correlated with ASI score, but less so with STAI score. These results indicated that PASS-20 has discriminant validity. It was suggested that PASS-20 has clinical validity because the score of PASS-20 predicted actual fear intensity towards pain. The results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that total score of PASS-20 was the predictor of pain severity and interference even though STAI and SDS scores were controlled.

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The present study was intended to develop the Exercise Behavioral Skills (EBS) questionnaire and to determine the relationship between exercise behavioral skills and the stages of change for exercise behavior. An initial pool of items was generated based on the behavioral processes of change and several behavioral techniques for exercise behavior change. In all, 647 community residents of 20-years-old or older answered a questionnaire. Explanatory factor analysis results yielded a questionnaire comprising one factor with five items. Psychometric analyses showed that the questionnaire has high consistency and validity. The relationship between the EBS score and the stages of change for exercise behavior was also investigated. Analysis of variance showed that the score was significantly associated with the stages of change. Especially, scores were lower for subjects in precontemplation compared to other stages and were higher for subjects in action and maintenance compared to those of subjects in contemplation and preparation. Results indicate that the use of the behavioral skills depends on an individual's stage of change for exercise behavior. Exercise behavioral skills are available as information for enhancing exercise adoption and maintenance.

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The Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (PVAQ; McCracken, 1997) is a detailed self-reported inventory of selective attention to pain, and it is widely used for both patients with chronic pain and the non-clinical population. In this study, a Japanese version of the PVAQ was developed, and its reliability and validity were examined with 722 college students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the current Japanese version of the PVAQ had a 2-factor structure composed of ‘attention to pain’ and ‘attention to changes in pain’ dimensions, as previously reported for questionnaires designed in Western countries (Roelofs et al., 2002). The Japanese version of the PVAQ exhibited adequate internal consistency and concurrent validity. These results indicate that the Japanese version of the PVAQ is satisfactorily reliable and valid to apply to Japanese population.

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Generalization of self-efficacy is conceptually well-known, but few empirical studies examine it. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether enhancement of get-up self-efficacy by the intervention on sleep habits affects self-efficacy in other health behaviors. Twenty college students were randomly assigned to either intervention group or control group. Participants kept sleep-diaries and wore the Life Corder EX during 3 weeks in both groups. In 3 weeks, 1 week was baseline and next 2 weeks were intervention period. Based on the sources of self-efficacy, intervention included goal-setting, profession of goal, reward of ¥200 per one accomplishment, positive evaluation, and recognition of mood. Repeated ANOVA showed that get-up self-regulation self-efficacy was significantly increased in both two groups (F(2,36)=19.95, p<.01). However, enhancements of other self-efficacy were not revealed. Therefore, generalization of self-efficacy was not observed in the present study.

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Currently, the measurement of psychoneuroimmunology in exercise psychology is receiving considerable attention. This study aimed to preliminarily examine the influence of acute aerobic exercise on salivary cortisol secretion. In this study, ten participants (mean age=24.50 ± 2.68 years; M=5/F=5) were recruited to participate in an experiment carried out under two separate conditions of counter-balanced design: (1) a cycling condition of moderate intensity using a cycle ergometer for twenty minutes and (2) a control condition, which consisted of book reading for twenty minutes. Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants. Salivary cortisol was measured before and after each experimental condition and its density was analyzed by radioimmunoassay (RIA). This study involved 2 (condition: exercise/control) × 2 (time: pre/post) repeated measure designs. Repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) did not show that main effect for condition, main effect for time, and condition × time interaction. In conclusion, this study might establish that acute aerobic exercise did not change salivary cortisol density.

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