This study examined the relationship among generative behavior, generative concern, and subjective well-being in middle-aged non-parents. In study 1, an online survey was conducted of parents and non-parents aged 45 to 60 years (N = 558). Parents showed significantly higher levels of generative concern and generative behavior than non-parents. Structural equation modeling indicated that generative behavior predicted higher levels of generative concern and, in turn, generative concern predicted higher levels of subjective well-being. Differences in this association were neither evident for parents and non-parents nor for men and women. In study 2, a longitudinal survey was conducted of the non-parents from study 1 at two time points, 24 months apart (N = 187). The chronological association inferred from the structural model in study 1 among generative behavior, generative concern, and subjective well-being was confirmed by this short-term longitudinal data. Mediation analysis indicated that levels of generative concern were higher through the past two years of generative behavior. These results suggest the possibility of developing generative behavior and concern in non-parents through behaviors such as volunteer and civic activities.

The present study focused changes in social skills and weather affiliation motives moderate the effect of perspective taking on the changes in social skills. A total of 468 junior high school students participated in the survey with a half-year interval. The results of regression analysis showed a significant moderation role of affiliation motives for the effect of perspective taking on changes in social skills. The results of simple slope analysis indicated that perspective taking promoted social skills when affiliation motives were relatively high. Meanwhile, the results also showed that perspective taking did not facilitate social skills when affiliation motives were relatively low. Discussion describes how to encourage social skills in junior high school students through considering the viewpoint of perspective taking and affiliation motives.

Grapheme-color synesthesia is a condition in which visual letters or characters induce a specific color sensation. It has been suggested that a range of linguistic properties influence synesthetic grapheme-color correspondence, but the influence of graphemic (orthographic) information is not well understood. In this experiment, synesthetes chose up to two synesthetic colors for each Japanese Kanji character. The results showed that characters that could be divided into right and left subcomponents (radicals) were associated with a higher number of synesthetic colors than characters that could not be divided. This tendency was stronger for projectors, who perceive colors visually in external space, than for associators, who perceive colors in their ‘minds eye’. The results of this study suggest that the graphemic information of Kanji characters affects the number of synesthetic colors, especially for projectors.

Grit refers to a non-cognitive trait that is characterized by perseverance and passion for long-term goals. In this study, we developed a Japanese version of the Grit Scale and examined its reliability and validity. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the Japanese version of the Grit Scale had two factors corresponding to the original version (study 1, 2, and 3). The results indicated that the scale has high reliability (study 1 and 3). Grit was positively correlated with conscientiousness (study 2 and 3) and self-control (study 3). Nonetheless, grit demonstrated predictive validity of longitudinal persistence and success measures over conscientiousness, self-control, and intellectual ability (study 3). These results are consistent with previous studies and support the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Grit Scale.

A work-family balance scale was developed for middle-aged and elderly individuals. Employed people (N =1,351, 788 men and 563 women; age range, 40 to 85 years; mean age, M = 54.82, SD = 9.86 years) in the seventh study-wave of the National Institute for Longevity Sciences-Longitudinal Study of Aging participated in the study. We hypothesized a four-factor structure consisting of “work-to-family conflict,” “family-to-work conflict,” “work-to-family facilitation,” and “family-to-work facilitation.” An item pool based on previous studies was developed and administered to the participants, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on their responses. The results identified 16 items related to work-family balance with a four-factor structure, which supported the hypothesis (GFI = .924, RMSEA = .073). Multiple-group analysis of populations based on age group (middle-aged, elderly) and gender established the configural and measurement invariance of the scale. Moreover, reliability (α = .69―.85) and criterion-related validity were confirmed based on mental health. Furthermore, age (the 40s, 50s, 60s, over 70) and gender differences were partially identified in the four subscales that were developed.

The Global Assessment of Internet Trolling- Revised (GAIT-R) has been developed to assess internet trolling. We developed the Japanese version of GAIT-R (J-GAIT-R). First, the eight items of GAIT-R were translated into Japanese. Then, we conducted an online survey of Japanese people (N = 535). In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that J-GAIT-R had a unidimensional structure. The internal consistency of J-GAIT-R was adequate. Moreover, partial correlation coefficients indicated adequate concurrent validity of the scale. In Study 2, we confirmed a good test-retest reliability for J-GAIT-R. It was concluded that J-GAIT-R was suitable for assessing internet trolling in Japan.

This study examined how the lifestyle of fathers of infants and their awareness of expectations from their wives are related to their life satisfaction and co-parenting behavior. Participants were 233 fathers whose youngest child was younger than five years. Based on their balance of energy investment among work, family, and personal activities, they were categorized into four lifestyle types. Based on their average scores of scales of awareness of expectations from their wives for working and co-parenting, they were also categorized into four groups. It was found that the fathers’ life satisfaction and co-parenting behavior were not different among the four lifestyles. Being aware of expectations from their wives for working and co-parenting, however, did influence their division of co-parenting behavior and their life satisfaction. These results were discussed on marital relation and traditional gender bias.

When reading orally, we produce the auditory information of the text through articulatory movements. We investigated the roles of articulatory movements and speech feedback in Japanese text comprehension. Previous studies of Japanese sentence comprehension showed that articulatory movements provide a function to retain word order information and that speech feedback facilitates complementary information processing. We predicted an effect of articulatory movements on verbatim memory and a limited influence of speech feedback on passage comprehension. Twenty-four undergraduates were asked to read 12 Japanese passages with or without articulatory movements and speech feedback. They then performed two types of tasks: verbatim memory and passage comprehension. The results showed that verbatim memory task performance improved with articulatory movements, whereas speech feedback had little effect on either task performance. We concluded that articulatory movements support the memory process and that speech feedback has little contribution to text memory and comprehension among adult readers.

This study investigated university teachers’ engagement in students’ problems by conducting a free description survey. The relationship between the teachers’ personal attributes and their style of involvement with the students were analyzed. Of the 607 teachers surveyed, 207 responded (response rate: 34.1%). Of those, the responses given in the free description column by 78 teachers (12.9%) were coded into eight categories and analyzed, using quantification theory type 3. A scatter plot was formed, based on two axes, “Approach Management” and “Strict Protective.” Cluster analysis identified the following clusters: strict relationship, proactive commitment, and situational plasticity. The mean sample scores of each attribute showed gender differences in teachers’ engagement only in the “Strict Protective” axes, while other attributes, such as position and length of service, had no significant effect on the style of teachers’ engagement with the students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the similarity in chronic regulatory focus (promotion/prevention) among elderly parents, middle-aged children, and their spouses. We made the 10-item short version of the Japanese Promotion/Prevention Focus Scale. The participants were 78 sets of middle-aged children (49.04 ± 4.06 years), their elderly parents (75.89 ± 2.74 years), and their spouses (49.38 ± 4.44 years). The results showed that the strength of children’s prevention focus was similar to that of parents’ prevention focus. On the other hand, the strengths of the promotion focus were similar between couples. We discuss the background of our findings wherein two aspects of regulatory focus have a different tendency in terms of similarity among parents, children, and their spouses in later life.

This study examined how the attitude of an interviewer affected the perceived deceptiveness of interviewees. Forty-four university students (20 males and 24 females) were interviewed, and either told the truth or lied about their experience. They were randomly assigned to the conversation condition or the accusation condition. The interviewer in the conversation condition nodded and made eye contact with the interviewees, whereas the interviewer in the accusation condition did not look at the interviewees and suspected what the interviewees said. Neutral observers watched the videotaped interviews and rated their perceived deceptiveness of the interviewees. The results indicated that accusations by the interviewer increased non-verbal behaviors (e.g., eye blinking) of the interviewees, and the increased eye blinking amplified the perceived deceptiveness of the interviewees.