The puroposes of the present study were to develop the Multidimensional Ego Identity Scale (MEIS) and to examine the structure of the sense of identity in adolescents. 4 components of ego identity derived from Erikson's descriptions were hypothesized: (1) Self-Sameness, Continuity; (2) Self Identity; (3) Interpersonal Identity; and (4) Psychosocial Identity. The 20-item MEIS was completed by 390 university students (153 men, and 237 women) 18-22 years old, mean age 19.6, from two universities. Factor analysis yielded 4 factors which corresponded with the hypothesized 4 components. High reliability of the MEIS was confirmed by results of measures of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and stability of factor structure. Concurrent validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the MEIS were assessed by correlational analysis and factor analysis. In addition, construct validity was examined from a developmental perspective. The results showed that the MEIS had high reliability and validity, and that adolescents' sense of identity consists of the hypothesized 4-component structure.

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The purpose of the present research was to examine the effectiveness of teaching strategies for inducing conceptual change in students' preconceptions about height. The experimental strategy used, derived from Hashweh's (1986) model of conceptual change, was applied to the concept of height taught in elementary school mathematics classes. 54 fifth graders whose preconceptions about height were either the connotation type or the perpendicular type were divided into 2 groups. Instruction 1 Group was presented with a preconception of height at the schematic representation level, and Instruction 2 Group, at the everyday representation level; both groups were taught to relate the preconception to the mathematical conception of height. Posttest results showed that some students in Instruction 1 Group could not relate the mathematical conception of height that they were taught to the preconception; other students assimilated the mathematical conception of height into the preconception. In Instruction 2 Group, conceptual change of the preconception of height was induced. These results suggest that teaching strategies that do not limit denotation to mathematical examples, but rather expand it to include commonplace examples as well, should effectively induce conceptual change, because they work on the root from which the preconception develops.

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The present study examined preschool children's strategies of initiating interactions with peers in relation to features of play scenes. Preschoolers' (3 years old at the start of the study) free play was observed using a videotape recorder, over a 3-year period. In “separated corner play”, pretend play often took place in which ongoing play themes were not easily grasped, and children had to adopt play roles in order to enter. 4-year-olds used few play-implicit strategies appropriate for such play, although they employed many explicit play entries. In “constructive play”, play members entered and left the play scene by carrying and constructing materials. Pretend play was going on simultaneously. 4-year-olds engaged others' attention, or attempted explicit entry. In “sand play”, which took place in an open space, 3-year-olds tended to use many implicit strategies of calling to peers, presenting their own activities, and providing the necessities for the play. In “bounding motoric play”, 3- and 4-year-olds mixed with each other through engaging in similar body movements.“Rule play” had fixed rules or sequences; 4-and 5-year-olds often attempted explicit entry.

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The present article reports a study verifying the validity of an Interpersonal Stress Model based on Lazarus's stress theory. The proposed model assumes that the effects of personality on mental health are fully mediated by cognitive appraisals and the behavior of coping with interpersonal stressful events, and that the effects of appraisals on mental health are fully mediated by coping behavior. The results of a longitudinal study of 227 college students, using path analyses, supported the Interpersonal Stress Model. The relationship between personality and coping behavior was fully mediated by cognitive appraisals. In part, a significant direct relationship was observed between personality and coping behavior. Coping that was oriented more toward positive relationships and postponed-solution coping were predictive of a report of a higher feeling of satisfaction with interpersonal relationships whereas coping that was oriented more toward negative relationships was predictive of a report of a lower feeling of satisfaction with interpersonal relationships. Greater postponed-solution coping was associated with reports of reduced distress, and coping that was oriented more toward negative relationships, with increased distress.

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The purpose of the present research was to examine the features of apathy in relation to how adolescents feel about their lives during 3 levels of schooling: junior high school, high school, and college. A questionnaire covering apathy and such topics as school adaptation and social support was given to 275 junior high school students (142 boys and 133 girls), 337 high school students (169 boys and 168 girls), and 337 college students (164 men, 159 women, and 14 unidentified), for a total of 949 students. The main results were as follows: (1) Factor analysis revealed 3 factors in the apathy scale: self-unknowing, personal distrust and dissatisfaction, and feeling of fatigue.(2) The results of ANOVA showed that the factors of self-unknowing and feeling of fatigue fell in the college student level, and that the developmental aspects of personal distrust and dissatisfaction varied, depending on the student's gender.(3) In the junior high school and high school students, feelings of school adaptation about wanting to study and relations with friends were connected with apathy. For the male college students, but not the females, friends' support was strongly connected with the factor of personal distrust and dissatisfaction.

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The purpose of the present study was to explore how first-grade children abjust to classroom discourse. Interactions observed in one first-grade homeroom in April (the first month of the school year in Japan) and in the subsequent July were compared by coding and interpretive analysis. The class had 40 children, half boys and half-girls; the teacher was a 40-year-old man with more than 20 years' teaching experience. The results showed that soon after the start of the school year, the first-grade teacher used different types of expressions, depending on what he was asking the children to do. Instructions regarding what the children should say in the classroom were give with polite explanations and directions, and the children repeated exactly what he told them to say. On the other hand, when he wanted the children to explain their own thoughts to their classmates, he modeled the form of reply, and the children imitated what he had said. In early July, after nearly 3 months in elementary school, children became able to initiate child-led activities that were rich in content and active. Additional data, including peer relations research, a questionnaire survey of parents, and interviews with the teacher indicated that the children's abjustment process was supported by formation of a relationship with their teacher and their peers, an increase in the children's interest in homeroom activities, and the teacher's appropriate recognition of the children.

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the process of career development in university students, based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994). People who possess high self-efficacy and expect career activity to have a favorable outcome will take an interest in and fulfill career activities. In the present study, hierarchical regression strategies were employed to examine the process through which career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE) and outcome expectations influence career exploratory intentions and career explorations through the intervention of vocational motives. In addition, gender differences among these processes were examined. The results showed that self-efficacy and outcome expectations had an effect on exploratory intentions through the intervention of vocational motives. The self-improvement motive, which is an intrinsic motivation relating to the nature of the work, played an especially important role among these processes. Career decision-making self-efficacy had a direct influence on career explorations, but no such effect was seen for outcome expectations or vocational motive. Gender differences were seen in outcome expectations, with male students having more favorable outcome expectations than female students.

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The present study investigated developmental changes in young children's intellectual realism. 100 children (26 3-year-olds, 36 4-year-olds, and 38 5-year-olds) were asked to arrange 2 cups after the arrangement had been shown to them (reconstruction task), and to draw the cups as they had been shown to them (drawing task). The results showed that in the reconstruction task, 5-year-olds had more correct answers than either the 3- or 4-year-olds, and the 4-year-olds did better than the 3-year-olds. A significant difference was found between the 3- and 5-year-olds on the drawing task. In all age groups, more correct answers were found on the reconstruction task than on the drawing task. Analysis of errors in the drawings indicated that the 3-year-olds drew the objects as a symbolic form (a single circle), and 4-year-olds as a canonical form (stereotype of cup); whereas 5-year-olds drew an informative form with which to communicate array-specific information. The findings suggested that although the younger children performed the tasks stereotypically, the older children did them by considering the array structure of the objects.

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The present research examined the relation between self-disgust and self-affirmation in university students, in order to study the relation between the state of self-affirmation and the level of self-disgust. University students (N =535, between 18 and 24 years old) were asked to answer a questionnaire composed of 49 items concering self-disgust, 48 items concerning self-esteem, and 56 items concerning self-love. The results were as follows: (1) self-disgust correlated significantly with feelings of acceptable self-affirmation.(2) College students with low self-affirmation, which includes both low self-esteem and low self-acceptance, tended to report strong self-disgust.(3) However, students with the strongest self-disgust reported both high self-esteem and low self-acceptance. In other words, although these university students set a high valuation on themselves, they also have high aspirations and, dissatisfied with themselves, report strong self-disgust.

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The puropose of the present study was to investigate effects of self-monitoring of emotions on learning. Emotional regulation processes involve 2 aspects: smoothness of emotional regulation and repertoires of emotional regulation. Intervention was conducted with a 6th grader who did not focus her learning. The results were as follows: (1) self-monitoring changed both the smoothness of emotional regulation and the child's repertoires of emotional regulation; (2) self-monitoring improved the accuracy of self-evaluation.

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The present study examined the effects of classwide social skills training (CSST) on children's social skills. In an experimental class and a control class, 75 fourth-grade children answered a self-report social skills scale and a self-report checklist on 5 target social skills. Their teachers rated the children on the same scales. The social skills scales consisted of 3 behavioral dimensions: aggression, prosocial skills, and withdrawal. In each class, 10 children who were defined as not having enough social skills compared to the others in their class were the focus of classwide social skills training. These children's scores on a re-test on the self-report scale did not show any change. On the other hand, in the experimental class, the teacher rated those 10 children as having improved on all 3 behavioral dimensions. Both the skill of how to ask questions and the skill of refusing showed a significant change. In short, the effects of the classwide social skills training were found only in the teacher's ratings. Practical implications of the findings were discussed.

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