The present study investigated the process of students’ seeking help from a student counseling service for depression and suicidal ideation, and related factors.  Japanese university and college students (N=758) completed a self-report questionnaire that included measures of help-seeking behavior for hypothetical problems (depression and suicidal ideation), the seriousness of the problem, attitudes toward seeking counseling, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, social support, and demographic variables.  The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that gender (female), social support, and the seriousness of the problem were positively correlated with willingness to seek help.  Seeking help from a student counseling service for suicidal ideation was positively correlated with gender (male), the seriousness of the problem, and attitudes toward seeking counseling.  Implications of these findings for intervention strategies that focus on the process of help-seeking behavior were discussed.

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  In the present study, a scale was developed to measure interpersonal gratitude, and its reliability and validity were confirmed.  Fourth- to sixth-grade pupils (N=1068) completed a questionnaire that assessed interpersonal gratitude, positive and negative mood, empathy, self-worth, cognitions about friendship, and aggression.  Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the interpersonal gratitude scale was composed of 8 items with a 1-factor model.  Further, the internal consistency of the scale was shown by calculating Cronbach’s α, and its concurrent validity was demonstrated by evidence that interpersonal gratitude was correlated positively with positive affect, empathy, and favorable friendship, and negatively with aggression.  The girls scored higher than the boys on interpersonal gratitude.  The availability of the scale and prospects for future research on gratitude in elementary school pupils were discussed.

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  The present study examined effects of teachers’ teaching strategies on students’ learning strategies during preparation at home and lectures at school. In a pilot study, a questionnaire about teachers’ teaching strategies in English reading classes was constructed.  Participants in the main study were seventh and eighth grade students (n=985) and their English teachers (n=15).  The questionnaire for students consisted of items relating to learning motives and strategy use during preparation and lectures.  The questionnaire for teachers included items about teaching strategies in their lectures and direct instruction on learning methods.  Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis revealed that the more the teachers focused on the meaning of words (e.g., explaining the origin of words) and had their students answer questions, the more the students used look-up and help-seeking strategies during preparation, as well as a note-taking strategy during lectures.  The results also showed a significant moderating effect of teaching strategies on the relation between students’ conjecturing strategies (conjecturing the meaning of unknown words) during preparation and monitoring strategies during lectures.

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  Item characteristic charts are important for analyzing test items.  These charts reveal characteristics of the items, including item difficulty and whether the items reflect an essential concept of the test.  To make an item characteristic chart, examinees must be divided equally into an arbitrary number of groups.  Because there is no established criterion for choosing the number of groups, the number has to be selected arbitrarily, or else decided on empirically.  Therefore, when an item characteristic chart is to be prepared, it would be useful if the number of groups could be determined on the basis of a statistical criterion.  In the present article, a method for choosing the number of groups for item characteristic charts is proposed, using an information criterion, and the applicability and advantages of this method are suggested through a simulation and examples of application to factual test data.

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  The present study examined high school students’ perspectives on the competition on university entrance examinations, and investigated relations between the students’ views of this competition and their motivation for learning, anxiety, and learning dispositions.  In a pilot study, a questionnaire about students’ views of the competition on entrance examinations was developed.  Explanatory factor analysis identified 2 factors: “views of exhaustion” and “views of self-development”.  In the main study, Japanese high school students (N=576) completed the questionnaire.  The results suggested that high school students consider competition on university entrance examinations to be an opportunity for personal development, rather than an occasion for becoming exhausted.  In addition, the results of a multilevel analysis showed that the students’ views of exhaustion were positively correlated with extrinsic motivation and anxiety, and that their views of self-development were a positive predictor of identified motivation and intrinsic motivation, and a negative predictor of impromptu use of strategies.  These results suggest that effects of competition on university entrance examinations may vary according to students’ views of competition.

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  Previous studies have shown that in addition to perceived emotional support reducing recipients’ distress and maintaining their health, it also promotes recipients’ achieving personal goals.  The present authors developed and tested the construct validity of a Japanese version of the Perceived Goal Support Scale (Molden, Lucas, Finkel, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2009).  Participants completed a questionnaire about their relationships with close friends of the opposite gender (n=173) or same gender (n=211).  As expected, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the Japanese version of the Perceived Goal Support Scale measured support for promotion-focused and prevention-focused goals in both types of relationships.  Each of these subscales showed sufficient internal consistency.  Relationship type and gender differences were found in the subscale scores.  These 2 subscales systematically corresponded to external criterion variables such as emotional support, instrumental support, diversity of interaction, intimacy, interpersonal stressors, and subjective well-being.  The longitudinal stability and correlation with external criteria of these subscales were also confirmed over a 2-week period. Implications for psychological research and applicability to the topic of perceived goal support are discussed.

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