This study aimed to examine the developments of a “successful” residents’ meeting for municipal disability policy based on three community activity goals: task, process, and relationship. A follow-up study of a municipal government meeting was conducted, continuing from 2002, organized by residents with disabilities, local officials, and the researcher. The members actively organized the meeting, negotiating with a public transportation company and a local disaster prevention agency, collaborating with various resident organizations pertaining to the issue of accessibility and mobility of the disabled. Through the meeting, the parties agreed that apart from being “people with disabilities,” they are also people with mobility difficulties and in need of aid during disasters, just as the elderly or expecting women are. However, they feared that this collaboration and recognition might lead to a decrease in members’ attention to disability-specific issues or in the significance of the meeting. They emphasized members’ active involvement in the meeting and disability-related activities. In summary, the achievement of the process goal led to the fulfillment of the other two goals, and of the process goal again, and thus the process and relationship goals were inter-related.

It is widely assumed that men are more oriented toward short-term mating than women. However, this may not be the case because short-term mating may imply a variety of costs for men (e.g., being thought of as a “womanizer” could impair their chances of finding a desirable long-term mate). We hypothesized that men suppress their sexual desires when they are sensitive toward their reputation. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment. Results showed that men exhibited greater desire for short-term sexual relationship than women when they did not care about their reputation, but when they did, they were observed not to exhibit any greater desire than women. It should be noted that these tendencies were observed only for participants with a girlfriend/boyfriend. We discussed the effect of sensitivity to social reputation on men’s short-term mating orientation.

Following the East Japan Great Disaster and Tsunami in 2011, research have focused on the recovery of tsunami-damaged family photos by volunteers organizing “Photo Restoration Gatherings”. This research have by and large focused on the photos themselves, or the volunteers engaged in the recovery, but not the survivors. Few studies on disaster recovery have tended on how the narrative and the remembrance of pre-disasters may affect the survivors. This study examined how the survivors react to viewing family photos that had been recovered from the tsunami by volunteers of the photo restoration gatherings. This study was carried out over a year through fieldwork in gatherings in Noda village, a tsunami stricken area. Four ethnographies were conducted, demonstrating that during the recovery phase, the survivors suffered not only from “the first loss” consisting of physical loss of losing loved ones and possessions, but also from “the second loss” which was anxiety of losing the memories pertaining to the subjects of “the first loss”. This study reveals how the photo restoration gathering can counter “the second loss” through encouraging “collective memory” and “unintentional remembering”.

This article proposes solutions to certain problems that are encountered when conducting multilevel analysis with dyadic data. First, problems encountered in Hierarchical Liner Modeling (HLM) that result from inputting mean scores of dyadic data as independent variables are discussed. Simulations have indicated that serious biases are encountered in Level 2 HLM estimations, when using mean scores of dyadic data, whereas estimates of Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (ML-SEM) do not show these biases. Second, we focused on the problem of ML-SEM conducted with dyadic data often resulting in incomplete solutions. It has been indicated through examples that Bayesian estimations are more accurate and valid than maximum likelihood estimations. Finally, difficulties regarding the interpretation of individual level correlations are addressed.


Associations between behavioral patterns including conflict resolution strategies, amount of communication, and amount of co-action of married couples in midlife (N=223) and their marital satisfaction, stability of family system, and subjective well-being were investigated. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) indicated that communication between married couples was positively associated with marital satisfaction at the dyadic level, whereas co-action with the spouse was positively associated with marital satisfaction at the individual level. Moreover, marital satisfaction was positively associated with subjective well-being at individual levels. Furthermore, positive conflict resolution out of the marital relationship was positively associated with subjective well-being at the individual level. Also, positive conflict resolution out of the marital relationship was negatively associated with the stability of the family system at the dyadic level and positively associated with the stability of the family system at the individual level. The significance of multilevel ML-SEM in research on marital relationships was discussed.

In dyadic relationships, individuals with approach motivation seek to achieve positive outcomes from interactions with partners, whereas individuals with avoidance motivation seek to prevent negative outcomes. Yet, it remains unclear whether a partner’s social motivation affects that of the other. Previous studies have nevertheless suggested that interactions prompted by individuals with approach motivation attune to that of their partners’. We thus predicted that if individuals with strong approach motivation behaved according to that approach’s goals (i.e., intrapersonal process), then their partners would perceive themselves to also have stronger approach motivation (i.e., interpersonal process) as well, relative to a partner with weaker approach motivation. We therefore conducted a panel survey of 55 Japanese student dyads over two times, in April and May. Longitudinal actor–partner interdependence model analyses revealed the convergence process of both parties’ level of approach motivation. Accordingly, interdependence processes in close dyadic relationships may not only transform motivation but enhance it as well.

This study examined the effects over time of freshmen’s self-enhancing self-presentation toward their friends on evaluation from friends, and their mutual relational satisfaction and self-esteem. A total of 232 freshmen (116 pairs, 134 males and 98 females) participated in a longitudinal study in which they completed a questionnaire four times (April, May, June, and July, given that the new school year begins in April). Participants were required to pair up with a same-sex friend, and respond to the questionnaire about themselves and their friend. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, results revealed that the more “competent” and “likeable” participants presented themselves toward their friends in May, the higher their relational satisfaction with their friends and self-esteem in July. Perceived evaluation from friends in June positively mediated the influence of self-presentation in May on relational satisfaction, and self-esteem in July. In addition, when they engaged in self-presentation as a likeable person in May, their friends actually evaluated them as likeable in June, which led to higher perception of the friends’ relational satisfaction in July. The results were discussed in terms of the beneficial consequences of freshmen’s self-enhancing self-presentation toward friends.

Satisfying romantic relationships have been found to influence one’s well-being as well as mental and physical health. Previous research has examined what factors increase relationship satisfaction. One such factor is self-esteem, or the level of one’s social values. Individuals with high self-esteem and those having a partner with high self-esteem tend to feel more satisfied with their relationships. However, most of the previous research was conducted in individualistic cultures (e.g., North America), and it is not apparent whether the same pattern would be confirmed in collectivistic cultures (e.g., Japan). In the current study, we distributed questionnaires to married couples, and examined the effect of self-esteem on one’s own and his/her spouse’s marital satisfaction, using APIM. The results from 107 couples indicated that one’s high self-esteem predicted the greater level of own marital satisfaction as well as spouse’s marital satisfaction. This relation did not significantly differ based on participants’ gender or age. Thus, the current study showed that, consistent with the research in North America, one’s self-esteem influences not only one’s own but also spouse’s marital satisfaction in Japan.

This study examined the influence of approach-avoidance commitment on emotional experience in romantic relationships. Ninety-one heterosexual couples participated in a questionnaire survey. Actor-partner interdependence moderation model (APIMoM) was used for analyzing intrapersonal process, interpersonal process, and partner moderation effect. Results indicated that for the intrapersonal process, when approach commitment was weak, avoidance commitment was negatively associated with it. For the interpersonal process, men’s approach commitment was positively associated with women’s emotion. In the partner moderation effect, interaction between men’s approach commitment and women’s avoidance commitment was associated with men’s emotion; and interaction between women’s approach commitment and men’s avoidance commitment was associated with women’s emotion. These results were discussed from the perspective of behavior and interaction caused by approach-avoidance commitment.