This study examines victimization cases where adolescent girls were forced to send sexually explicit photos of themselves to offenders they met online. Adolescent girls who were victimized (n = 138) and police officers who had worked with the victims (n = 136) answered questionnaires. The communications between victims and suspects were classified into four types using multiple correspondence analysis. In the “active children” type, the victims made first contact and were not threatened. In the “tenuous relationship” type, the victims disclosed less information to suspects, who were acquaintances. In the “abusing mutual interests” type, suspects quickly progressed to communicating with victims by audio and video and forced sexual activities. In the “romantic relationship” type, most of the victims and suspects were involved romantically and the victims self-disclosed more information. The characteristics of victims were compared among these groups. The results indicate the need to consider the variation of cases to examine preventive measures against adolescent girls sending sexually explicit photos.

In psychological research, rating scale methods such as the Likert scale are often used to measure specific constructs. However, social desirability is known to influence the reliability and validity of psychometric measures. Hattori (2007) proposed an item response model to correct for the influence of social desirability. This model simultaneously considers social desirability as an item characteristic and social desirability response tendency as an individual characteristic. This study applied Hattori’s model to real data and estimated parameters using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to confirm the model under actual conditions. The model’s validity was demonstrated in terms of both social desirability as an item characteristic and social desirability response tendency as an individual characteristic under actual conditions.

The purpose of this study was to build a foundation for Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM) by evaluating the effects of each educational policy on Global Test of English Communication (GTEC) scores, an English proficiency test, using data from university students. The study introduced two educational measures to improve the English proficiency of university students: implementing an English proficiency test score as a requirement for progression, and introducing an e-learning program, “Microstep Study,” which is based on the findings of implicit memory research that has been shown to enable efficient vocabulary acquisition in a short period of time using educational big data. The relationship between each educational measure and GTEC scores was examined through a multilevel analysis using data from 2,193 first-year university students who took the GTEC in April and December of the 2020 academic year, excluding missing values. The results indicated that establishing GTEC scores as a requirement for progression may have contributed to improvement in students’ English proficiency. Further, the introduction of Microstep Study may improve students’ vocabulary and, ultimately, their English proficiency.

This study aimed to create a Japanese version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS-J). In Study 1, the FTS was translated into Japanese, and then a survey was conducted. In Study 1, data from 414 employees (281 men, 133 women; mean age = 44.89 years, SD = 8.13) were analyzed. Four results were confirmed concerning its validity. First, those with stronger perceptions of financial threat were associated with poor mental health. Second, the stronger the perceived financial threat, the lower the trait of self-efficacy and the stronger the negative reflection and worry. Third, participants with stronger perceptions of financial threat were found to perceive their current economic situation as more difficult. Fourth, the high-income group showed a lower level of perceived financial threat than the low- and medium-income groups. In Study 2, data from 288 individuals (210 men and 78 women; mean age = 47.14 years, SD = 8.12) were analyzed in two surveys conducted three weeks apart, yielding a moderate positive association between the two surveys. Finally, the expansion of the study population was discussed.

One important problem in current cognitive development research is the lack of theory. In this article, therefore, we propose a cognitive development theory based on mathematical structures. Specifically, we first focus on the concept of structure, which is the concept Piaget introduced to cognitive developmental research. Piaget’s theory was mainly inspired by mathematical group and lattice, but many concepts Piaget himself invented (e.g., grouping) were difficult to deal with in a mathematically rigorous manner. Therefore, here, the authors recapture some of the concepts proposed by Piaget in a mathematically understandable form based on the concept of mathematical category, a generalization of the group. Furthermore, we would like to introduce cognitive developmental research on structural concepts since Piaget and suggest directions for future research.

Reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) is a major neuropsychological personality theory. However, a detailed introduction is lacking in Japanese. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of RST and discusses future perspectives. First, this paper introduces the original form of RST, a personality theory that introduced punishment sensitivity and rewards sensitivity. Second, this paper describes RST and Gray and McNaughton’s (2000) revised version of the RST. Third, this paper summarizes the relationship between RST and emotional disorders. Fourth, review of the Japanese literature in this study revealed that a comparison of the changes made by the revised RST with descriptions of the current RST aimed at Japanese speakers tended to show a lack of explanation of the major changes in the revised RST. Based on these findings, the author proposed a Japanese-translation of the key concepts in RST. Finally, future directions for RST research are discussed.