Previous research has found that a combination of high levels of behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and low levels of behavioral activation system (BAS-Drive) predicts suicidal thinking (Rasmussen, Elliott, & O’Connor, 2012). In this study, we examined whether the effects of a suicide prevention education program for junior highschool students were moderated by the risk level of students, regarding a combination of high BIS and low BASDrive as a high risk for suicide. A total of 28 high-risk students and 167 low-risk students participated in the program. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires during the intervention. As a result of the analysis, it was suggested that through the program, not only low-risk students but also potential high-risk students could gain the ability to seek assistance.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of overt and covert narcissism, isolated from self-esteem, on forgiveness, as mediated by cumulative humiliation. To test the validity of the model used in this study, structural equation modeling was performed on data collected from 388 undergraduate students. The results indicated that both overt and covert narcissism had direct, positive effects on revenge, and only covert narcissism, mediated by cumulative humiliation, had positive effects on revenge and avoidance and negative effects on benevolence. These findings suggest that overt and covert narcissism moderate revenge in order to recover self-evaluation. The results also suggest that covert narcissism had more negative effects on forgiveness.

When reading narrative stories, readers monitor discontinuity of characters, space, time, goals, and causality of events and update their situation models. This study examined how illustrations of narratives influence readers’ ability to monitor story events using a verb-clustering task in which readers were asked to group verbs from a narrative into related pairings. Results showed that readers who read a text-only narrative paired verbs that were continuous in both the character and time dimensions. In contrast, readers who read a narrative with illustrations paired verbs that were continuous not only in the character and time dimensions but also in the causality dimension. These findings suggest that illustrations of narratives function to enrich the contents of situation models. Furthermore, an additional experiment showed that positioning of illustrations within the text impacted the situation model construction. Therefore, the utility of illustrations for promoting the construction of situation models and efficient comprehension of a narrative story are discussed.

This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess sleep habits between students with/without a discrepancy of ≥2 hrs in wake-up time (WUT) on school days and free days, and to determine whether the discrepancy is associated with daytime sleepiness, lowered mental/physical health and poor academic performance. A total of 4,392 students in 13 junior high schools completed a self-administered questionnaire including demographic information, sleep-wake patterns, daytime sleepiness, irritability and academic performance. We classified the students into two groups: those with/without a discrepancy between school day and free day WUT. The discrepancy prevalence was 38.4%. More students with the discrepancy skipped breakfast and did not attend a school club activity compared to those without the discrepancy. They also went to bed 22 min later and slept 21 min less on school days than those without the discrepancy. In a generalized linear mixed model, the discrepancy was associated with daytime sleepiness, irritability and poor academic performance. The WUT discrepancy of ≥2 hrs with a delayed circadian rhythm can be associated with lower mental/physical health and poor academic performance among adolescents.

Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for a one’s past. It is an emotion that is known to contribute to multiple adaptabilities. We conducted three studies to develop the Japanese version of the Southampton Nostalgia Scale (SNS), which assesses how often people experience nostalgia on a daily basis. Study 1 indicated that the factor structure of the Japanese version and the original version of the SNS are similar and that the Japanese version of the SNS has acceptable test-retest reliability. Study 2 revealed that the factor structure of the Japanese version of the SNS is stable regardless of age. Finally, Study 3 showed that the pattern of correlational relationships of the Japanese version with explicit variables is similar to the original version of the SNS. These results indicate that the Japanese version of the SNS has acceptable validity and reliability.

University students in Japan tend to listen to music frequently, perhaps to regulate their current mood. In the present study, we aimed to develop the Japanese version of the “Brief Music in Mood Regulation” scale (B-MMR) and examined its reliability and validity. Based on 307 Japanese undergraduates’ responses, we constructed the Japanese version of the B-MMR, which is comparable with the original B-MMR. Moreover, we confirmed that several aspects of the Japanese version of the B-MMR are positively correlated with general emotional regulation and stress coping strategies. Our Japanese version of the B-MMR can be used in future studies to explore the effects of listening to music on people’s quality of life and well-being.

This study aimed to vertically scale the mathematics and Japanese academic ability tests of the Japan Child Panel Survey (JCPS) for elementary school first year students through junior high school third year students (grades 1-9 in the U.S.). We used an anchoring test design based on the item response theory. Two test samples were used: JCPS test participants (n = 3,916) and anchoring test participants (n = 7,210). After estimating the item parameters with a two-parameter logistic item response model, the equating coefficients were estimated with the Haebara method. The tests were scaled for elementary school fifth year (grade 5) in the end. The number of items included in the final analyses was 94 for mathematics and 108 for Japanese language studies. The mean level of estimated individual latent academic ability progressed according to grade level. Therefore, the JCPS tests appear to be able to capture the developmental changes of students from elementary school to junior high school. Future research should examine the relationship between children’s academic development and various factors, such as psychological traits or family environment, using the JCPS research data.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between parents’ involvement in adolescents’ career decision making and its effect on the independence and adaptability of university students. Questionnaires were completed by 180 university students. The results revealed that parents’ involvement was positively related to the dependency and obedience of adolescents, and that decision-making ability was negatively related to obedience. Parents’involvement also decreased decision-responsibility, although it increased decision-making ability. In addition, parents’ involvement was related to students’ satisfaction with university life. First, decision-making ability was positively related to satisfaction with university life. Second, when decision-making ability was high, parents’involvement was not related to satisfaction, while the contrary was also true. When career decision making was difficult, parents’ involvement may have supported better career decision making. In conclusion, it is better that parents are not too involved and encourage decision-making; however, if this is difficult, giving support is better than leaving them alone.

Few studies have examined serial physiological variations during the concealed information test (CIT). This study analyzed both pre- and post-stimulus physiological measures from a CIT experiment under knowledgeable and unknowledgeable conditions. The physiological measures assessed in both the pre- and post- stimulus phases included skin conductance level (SCL), normalized pulse volume (NPV), and heart rate (HR). Moreover, skin conductance response (SCR) was assessed in the post-stimulus phase. The results showed that the post-stimulus SCL and SCR and post-stimulus NPV in the knowledgeable condition differed not only between the relevant and irrelevant CIT items but also between the irrelevant items that were presented before and after the relevant items. In both knowledgeable and unknowledgeable conditions, physiological activities and reactivity were higher at early positions than at late ones. However, in the knowledgeable conditions, serial positions of the relevant items modulated this tendency, such that physiological activities were maintained until the relevant item was presented and then declined afterwards. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.