The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning and functions of compromise in marital relationships, focusing on the process of making sense of conflict events and conflict management. Recently married women (N=21) were interviewed about their experiences with marital conflict since they were married. Narratives were analyzed by classifying the causes of conflict events and participants' conflict management strategies. Compromise was compared with other management strategies and examined for its meaning in daily life. Newlywed women reported positive meanings of compromise. In addition, by compromising they reinterpreted their relationships and the conflict events, and changed their conflict management strategies. These findings showed that it is important to consider the process of meaning-making of conflict management, in the study of marital relationships.

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This study investigated the relation between changes in identity in a work context and the structuring of learning resources in the work community. Based on interviews with new employees, the research was conducted within the framework of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP). New employees (n=23) took part in interviews just after they started work and again 5 months later. The results indicated that many new employees who had a "conflict-positive" pattern of identity were classified into "practical-basic type" job assignments and had stable teaching-learning work relationships. Newcomers displaying a "positive-positive" pattern were classified as a "newcomer-skilled type" in their job assignments. In contrast, among new employees who stopped work there was a case of a worker who became alienated from practical participation. Based on the comparison of these three types of cases, it was apparent that various structural learning resources for practical work have a close connection to the process of identity change in new employees. Further, the existence of a guide that gives meaning to existing practices and practical participation is important in constructing a learning curriculum.

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This experimental intervention assessed the level of understanding of the other's mind, in a 6 year old child with a pervasive developmental disorder. It showed that the principle of "seeing-leads-to-knowing" needed to be taught using a joint action routine called a "treasure hunt." The results were as follows. First, the child gradually became able to conceal information as to the whereabouts of a toy he had hidden. Second, the child became able to deceive his peers by such acts as emphasizing the wrong cup. Third, the child became able to use the principle of "seeing-leads-to-knowing" interacting with other children and adults. Fourth, the number of the utterances referring to others' mental states increased. However, the child could not pass the false belief task. The preceding results were discussed in terms of the efficacy of the intervention using a joint action routine.

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This study was concerned with both positive and negative elements of Japanese mothers' sense of separation from their children. Four elements relevant to the separation were identified: anxiety about the child, acknowledgment of mother's importance, loneliness, and acceptance of separation. Influences on these elements included the traditional concepts of child-rearing, the father's awareness of mother-child separation, and the child's shyness. A traditional concept of child rearing proved to be more influential than the child's shyness, suggesting that social factors can have a greater impact than the individual characteristics of a child. The association between the mother's sense of separation and stress about child rearing was also discussed. Anxiety about the child had strong and positive effects on child rearing stress, whereas acknowledgment of the mother's importance has an inverse relationship to stress, which suggests that acknowledgment of the mother's importance is a positive aspect of maternal sense of separation. These results also indicate that there are essential factors for the independent development of mothers if they are not to be overwhelmed by the role of caregiver.

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The present study investigated young Japanese children's mathematical development in relation to Japanese preschool teachers' support. In Study 1, types and frequency of mathematical activities, and the details of teachers' support of such activities, were examined by observing 14 preschool classrooms over a one year period. It was found that there were very few activities with the objective of teaching mathematics to the children. However, teachers' encouragement of mathematical development, especially with regard to numbers, was observed frequently in a variety of activities where the explicit goal was other than teaching mathematics (e.g., singing or taking attendance). In Study 2, the effect of the teachers' support was examined by comparing the mathematical competence of children in terms of the levels of mathematical support provided by teachers. The teachers' support was found to have an effect on children's competence with numbers. These findings suggest that Japanese preschool teachers facilitate young children's number development without relying on systematic teaching.

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This study concerned on the influence of occupational life on marital satisfaction and psychological well-being of middle-aged couples. It examined spillover influences and crossover influences within couples, in relation to women's employment types. Commitment to work, degree of marital satisfaction, and subjective well-being were the focus of a questionnaire survey of 110 couples where women worked full-time, 170 couples where women worked part-time, and 106 couples where women were not employed. It was found that a woman's commitment to her work (but not the man's commitment to work) influenced the degree of woman's marital satisfaction. In addition, a man's commitment to work influenced a woman's marital satisfaction and subjective well-being in a crossover manner. Specifically, a man's devotion to work reduced the woman's subjective well-being, and an increase in his work satisfaction increased the woman's degree of marital satisfaction. The woman's commitment to her work influenced the man's subjective well-being in this crossover manner only when the woman was working part-time. Both spillover and/or crossover influences of occupational life on marital relationship and psychological well-being apparently differed according to variations in women's work and men's gender role attitudes.

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This paper reported on an experiment about the comprehension of Japanese directional demonstratives, "kocchi" "socchi" and "acchi" among 14 autistic children (CA: 5-7) and 33 typically developing children (CA: 5-12). Comprehension of this type is one characteristic of pragmatic language. The results revealed that when a subject (listener) stood facing opposite of an experimenter (speaker), children with autism performed significantly less well with general use of demonstratives than did typically developing children. In the case of typically developing children, there was no difference according to position (opposite vs. along side). In contrast, autistic children had particular difficulty with directional demonstratives when they stood opposite the experimenter. Overall, children with autism showed persistent responses and lacked in the ability to use nonverbal clues during this experiment.

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This research examined the subjective experiences of 4 domains of aging, which consisted of physical and socio-psychological decline, "conversion of orientedness", and "leeway and maturation," with 2026 adults aged 30-75. Categorical canonical analysis revealed three interrelated dismensions: 1) aging and "leeway and maturation," 2) physical and socio-psychological decline along with negative psychological and economic states, and 3) "conversion of orientedness" and psychological factors. It was notable that Conversion of orientedness was related to an increase in emotional instability in men and an increase of self-esteem in women. The results of a MANOVA showed that aging as a developmental experience becomes recognizable from one's 40's. In addition, the four domains of aging were found to have independent psychological structures and processes. Relations between the four domains in the latter part of middle adulthood also differed from that found at other life stages in terms of correlations between Conversion of orientedness and other domains. Therefore, later-middle age appeared to have a developmental characteristic whereby Conversion of orientedness was significantly correlated with positive aspects of aging.

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