The goals of this study were to (1) develop a subjective adjustment scale for elementary school children from the viewpoint of person-environment fit, (2) examine the reliability and validity of the scale, and (3) use the scale to investigate the relationship between school life and subjective adjustment. In Study 1, factor analysis of the data from the initial set of 18 items in the subjective adjustment scale produced 3 main factors: "sense of comfort,""feelings of acceptance and trust," and "sense of fulfillment." The reliability and validity of the feelings of class adaptation scale were confirmed. In Study 2, to examine the relationship between school life and subjective adjustment, multiple regression analysis was performed with school life as the independent variable, and subjective adjustment as the dependent variable. The result of the study showed that the relationship between feelings of class adaptation and the factor of school life differed by classroom.

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This study investigated the practical knowledge used by teachers during clean-up time. The results suggested the following. (1) Teachers worked together when using certain strategies, respecting children's play, planning how to speak to children, and providing information about the next activity, in both outdoor and indoor situations. (2) Teachers were concerned about their distance from children in outdoor situations, because distances were greater than in indoor situations and thus sometimes required changes in location. (3) In outdoor situations, teachers communicated their respect for children's play by initiating clean-up activities after ascertaining that the children were satisfied with their playtime. (4) The structural characteristics of preschools affected the balance between how teachers communicated their respect for children's play and how teachers conducted clean-up activities in outdoor situations. (5) Teachers combined play and clean-up activities in indoor situations because it was not necessary to change locations in these circumstances. (6) During indoor situations, teachers participated in clean-up activities with children and considered and devised ways to speak to children.

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This study compared the style of parents with developmentally disabled children, and patents of children with typical developmental. We focused on children's problem behavior (i.e., ADHD tendencies, and difficulty of adaptive behavior) in relation to parents' mental health (i.e., depressive mood and sleep disorders). Participants were 139 parents of children with developmental disorders. The SDQ, ADHD-RS, BDI-II, and PSQI-J were adopted as questionnaire measures. The results indicated that parents of children with a developmental disorder exhibited less positive involvement, less consultation-accompany style, and more rebukes, and felt more difficulty with handling their children. The strength of ADHD tendency and problem behavior of children may have contributed to such a negative parenting style. As to the mental health scores of mothers, scores for depressive mood and sleep disorder were negatively correlated with positive involvement and consultation-accompany style. They were also positively correlated to reports of rebukes and difficulty in handling children. The discussion emphasized that clinical interventions concerned with parenting styles must consider children's developmental features.

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This study examined the relationship between the personality trait of openness and subsequent intellectual change in Japanese middle age and later adulthood. Subjects (N=1,591) comprised the second and fifth wave participants of the National Institute for Longevity Sciences-Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS-LSA). Openness was assessed using the NEO Five Factor Inventory, and intelligence was assessed with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Short Forms. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance revealed that elderly people who are more open at the time of the baseline measurement maintained their level of 'Information' test score for six years, whereas elderly who were less open showed a decline in their scores. The longitudinal association between openness and the 'Information' score was not found among middle-aged adults. On the other hand, in both age groups openness was cross-sectionally associated with 'Similarities,''Picture Completion,' and 'Digit Symbol' tests scores, but not subsequently with intellectual change. These results suggest that openness may explain individual differences in adult intelligence, and that especially among the elderly higher levels of openness may be helpful for maintaining higher levels of general factual knowledge.

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Based on their balance of energy investment among work, family, and personal activities, 332 married men with 3-4 year old children were categorized into 4 lifestyle types: "job plus personal activity,""job-only,""double-standard," and "egalitarian." The relationship between men's life satisfaction and their commitment to the family was examined using hierarchical multiple regression analysis on each type. The main findings were the differences between "double-standard" and "egalitarian" which were found to be highly family-oriented. Sharing household chores with one's wife had a positive effect on a man's life satisfaction in the "egalitarian" type, while all variables about commitment to family were not significant in the "double-standard" group. Furthermore, a wife's preference for traditional gender roles increased one's life satisfaction in the "double-standard" but not in the "egalitarian" type. These findings suggest that men's high commitment to family does not always imply that they are free from the traditional gender bias.

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This study revealed similarities and differences between early adult romantic couples and middle-age couples in terms of the effects of mutual support on relationship satisfaction and mental health. Pairs of participants were 104 early adult romantic couples and 156 middle-aged couples. The results showed that variables related to support, i.e., "support expectations (evaluated by self),""partner's support (evaluated by partner)," and "perceptions of partner's support (evaluated by self)," and relationship satisfaction in early adult romantic couples were higher than those among middle-age couples. Mental health in middle-age couples was better than that in early adult romantic couples. The results of a multiple-group analysis revealed that "support expectations" elicited "partner's support," and that "partner's support" affected "perceptions of partner's support" in middle-age couples. However those tendencies were not found in early adult romantic couples. In addition, "perceptions of a partner's support" predicted relationship satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction affected mental health, in both early adult romantic couples and middle-age couples. These results were discussed in terms of adult attachment relationships.

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Two studies were conducted to examine children's development of notational and procedural knowledge, by using a shared picture-book reading task in connection with the ability to read Japanese hiragana letters. Forty children ages 2.5-4 years and 66 children ages 4-6 years participated in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. The results revealed three different developmental stages in the acquisition of notational and procedural knowledge: (a) 2.5-year-olds already possessed knowledge for using picture books, could distinguish letters from non-letters or pictures, and understood the directionality of following the text between pages, and the content and meaning of the text; (b) procedural knowledge for reading text and reading of specific letters developed gradually with age; and (c) once children could understand written text (i.e., between ages 4 and 6), their ability to understand the starting point for reading text on the first page improved gradually with age. The results also indicate that the ability to read letters is related to the development of procedural knowledge for reading text and letters.

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This study investigated the factors that enhanced motivation through praise in natural settings. In Study 1, first, second, and third graders were interviewed regarding episodes in which they were motivated by being praised. The contents of these episodes were divided into seven categories: times when children were praised, the person who praised them, the activity, background of the activity, evaluation of the activity, mode of praise, and the child's emotional experience. The more frequently reported factors in these episodes were activity, mode of praise, and the person who praised them. In Study 2, students reported the activity, mode of praise, and the person who praised them in their experiences of motivation through praise. In addition, students ranked the three factors on the basis of their importance, and explained their reasons for these rankings. Their reasons indicated that the high value of the activity, the emergence of positive emotions, the interpersonal need (i.e., need for approval or affiliation) in relation to the person who praised them, and the wording and tone of the praise, enhanced their motivation.

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Previously research has shown that high quality teachers are well aware of their use of emotional competence in teaching. The present study identified student teachers' emotional experiences and expressive patterns while they interacted with children, and investigated the characteristics of their emotional competence in teaching. Comparing student teachers' emotional experience, expression, and regulation with that of high quality teachers, this report also discusses implications for teacher education. Qualitative analysis of interview data demonstrated that student teachers had various emotional experiences including self-elicited negative emotions. The major expressive patterns were natural expressions, staging of emotions, and suppression of emotions. Self-elicited fear was a characteristic emotional experience of student interns, and students also reported that the fear sometimes went beyond their control. Moreover, many student teachers found it difficult to directly stage the expression of anger. It was suggested that student teachers are less aware of using their skills in expression of emotions when teaching, and that their emotional competence for teaching had not developed adequately. Teacher educators may need to facilitate student teachers' awareness of their emotional competence when interacting with children.

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This paper reports the characteristics of a grammar-discourse test which was developed as a subscale of the ATLAN (Adaptive Tests for Language Abilities). ATLAN, which can be used via the Internet, is a collection of sub-scales used to assess different language abilities, mainly in middle childhood. In Study 1, we prepared 67 items from 8 grammar categories for elementary school children and 67 items from 12 grammar categories for preschool children. Participants were 309 children from the first to third grades and 258 preschoolers from 3-6 years of age. One hundred and twenty eight items were chosen based on the results of study 1, as an item pool for a grammar-discourse subscale of the ATLAN. In Study 2, 59 preschool children responded to the two subscales of the ATLAN, grammar-discourse and vocabulary, in addition to the LC Scale (Language Communication Developmental Scale; Otomo et al., 2008). The results of multiple regression analysis, in which the child's score of LC Scale was a dependent variable and the two ATLAN scores were independent variables, showed that 48% of the variance on the LC Scale was explained by the two ATLAN subscales. A discussion focused on the possibility of expanding the ATLAN tests.

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