In this study, Sociotropy-Autonomy (SA), first conceptualized by A. T. Beck (1983) as a diathesis (personality style) factor of depression, was examined. With 101 college students, Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (SAS; Beck, Epstein, Harrison, & Emery, 1983) was shown to have sufficient reliability and validity. Two weeks later, the students filled out questionnaires of life events, their evaluative reactions to them, and depression. Seventy-nine students without missing data were included in subsequent data analyses. Results concerning SA and negative autonomous life events supported the personality style-stress interaction hypothesis. However, a more specific hypothesis of personality style-life event congruence was not supported for any conceivable combination of SA types and negative life events. A possible moderating role of distorted cognition, likely correlates of personality styles, was discussed, and necessity was stressed for a standardized assessment instrument for negative life events, corresponding to each of personality styles.

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Although a large number of studies have examined development of children's perception of others' personality, relatively few have studied development of dimensions in the perception. We therefore examined developmental changes in the dimensions: what kind and how many of them were used. We first had 932 female subjects, students from elementary school to college, write down four traits to describe each of three people: someone they like, another they dislike, and themselves. Three coders then classified the answers into the four dimensions that have been considered to underlie person perception: social evaluation, intellectual evaluation, potency, and activity. Results showed that subjects used the dimensions of intellectual evaluation and potency more frequently, and the dimension of social evaluation less frequently, as they got older. It was also shown that the number of dimensions was larger for older subjects.

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The purpose of this study was to construct a Big-Five personality inventory. As a pretest, 95 items were administered to 236 students, along with Goldberg's bipolar Big-Five marker inventory and the MINI Personality Inventory. The markers proved to be a good criterion for the five factor model (FFM), and 69 items were selected. In the main study, 496 students responded to 300 items, including the 69 pretest and the 43 MINI items that correlated highly with the markers, together with the Big-Five marker and the MINI inventories. Using MINI scores as criteria, those with poor insight were dropped, keeping 443 for further analyses. First, with the Big-Five markers as criteria, 150 items were chosen. Then, with group principal component analysis, 60 items were selected, and principal factor analysis with orthomax and factor parsimony criteria was applied, yielding a simple five-factor structure. Finally, Correct Attitudes items of the MINI Inventory were added to make 70 items, which were reordered for a final version. The correlations between the new scales and the Big-Five markers were between .510 and .774, and one-week test-retest reliability with 227 students ranged between .853 and .953, showing high reliability and validity.

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In this study, the associations were examined among mothers' self-image, acceptance of pregnancy, attitude to infant care, and interactive behavior to the infants. During pregnancy, mothers rated images of themselves and their mothers, as well as their acceptance of pregnancy. They then rated twice, at one month and eight months postpartum, items related to their attitudes toward infant care. Also at three months, mother-infant interactions were observed at home. Results indicated that mothers' self-image and acceptance of pregnancy correlated with their attitude to infant care at one month, but not at eight months. Interactive behavior of infants and contingent responses of mothers moderately correlated with mothers' attitude at eight months. Thus, development of motherhood is associated not only with mothers' own factors such as self-image and acceptance of pregnancy, but with behavior of mothers and infants in their interactions.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fathers' sex-role attitude, social support mothers received from their spouse, and their sense of motherhood on the development of self (self-control, self-assertion, and self realization) among kindergarten children. Three hundred and four parents in Tokyo completed a questionnaire, and at the same time, various aspects of their children's self were assessed by kindergarten teachers. For families of girls, with most mothers holding no jobs and staying home, reflecting changes in sex roles and fathers who have began to participate in household management, practical supports received by mothers enhanced their sense of motherhood. However, no apparent relationship was found between the sense of motherhood and the development of self. This might suggest an elaboration of our model to include variables of mother-child interaction. For families of boys, father participation in household management tended to reduce the sense of motherhood. Different models therefore should be necessary for families of boys and girls.

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