【Objectives】Most Japanese and Korean young women desire to be slender. They start to dislike their body type during adolescence and begin to desire a slender body type similar to that of a professional fashion model. The aim of this study was to clarify similarities and differences between Japanese and Korean female university students in relation to height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and ideal BMI (IBMI), and age at menarche.

【Methods】A questionnaire survey was conducted on 909 female university students (Japanese:448, Korean:461). The questionnaires were composed of the following items: age in years; height (H); weight (W); ideal weight (IW); and age at menarche (AM). BMI and IBMI were also calculated. The t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to compare means between Japanese and Korean students.

【Results】Results of the t-test showed significant differences between Japanese and Korean female university students in H, W, IW, BMI and IBMI. However, results of ANCOVA using AM as a covariable revealed differences only in W, IW and BMI. In formulas based on ANCOVA, IW was associated with BMI among Japanese students; however, the weak association was found among Korean students. Among both Japanese and Korean students, earlier AM was associated with higher W and BMI. No relationship was found between IBMI and AM among Korean students; however, relationships between earlier AM and higher IBMI and between later AM and lower IBMI were found among Japanese students.

【Conclusion】Although Korean female students had lower BMI than Japanese students, Koreans had higher height and weight than Japanese. Furthermore, although BMI among both Japanese and Korean students were within a normal range, a desire for slenderness was still apparent, particularly among Koreans. The later AM was relating to low BMI in both countries. The desire for slenderness seen among younger generations will lead to delays in sexual maturity. Therefore, the importance of proper body image among females must be recognized from young age.

【Objective】 Correlations between student-life related stress and coping behaviors in mental health of high school students were investigated to obtain data for preventive interventions designed to improve students’ mental health.

【Methods】 An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was conducted senior high school students (N＝847). The questionnaire included items on participants’ attributes including sex, age, school year, student-life related stress, anger coping behaviors, and mental health. Among the data, those without missing values were used for statistical analysis (n＝787). The mediation model below was assumed: student-life related stress that is directly and indirectly mediated by coping behaviors affects mental health. Furthermore, correlations between goodness of fit and each variable were examined using Structural Equation Modeling.

【Results】 Results indicated that the assumed causal model was statistically significant (CFI＝0.969, RMSEA＝0.042). Moreover, a statistically significant positive correlation was shown between student-life related stress and mental health, between student-life related stress and coping behaviors. In this model, the ratio of contribution to mental health was 51.0%.

【Conclusions】 The results of this study suggest that cognition of student-life related stress and appropriate anger coping behaviors are effective as preventive interventions aiming to improve high school students’ mental health. In the future, it would be important to develop an educational program for emotional control, improve skills as a peer supporter, and utilize support resources when necessary.

【Objective】 To prevent youth risk behaviors is one of the important issues in school health education. Previous studies reported some factors are related to such risk behaviors. In this study we surveyed Small Screen Time (SST) which is the amount of hours spent watching television, videos, DVDs, using the internet, PCs, or playing portable games, etc., as a relevant factor. The purposes of this study were to clarify the situation of SST and examine relationships between the prevalence of risk behaviors and SST among Japanese high school students.

【Methods】 Data of a national survey, the Japan Youth Risk Behavior Survey (JYRBS) 2011 was used for this analysis. The subjects were 9, 778 students: 5, 027 males, 4, 751 females, in the 10th to 12th grade of 102 schools randomly selected among high schools throughout Japan. In the current study, we focused on the ten items of risk behavior in JYRBS 2011: “lack of vigorous physical activity”, “skipping breakfast”, “short sleep duration”, “current cigarette use”, “current alcohol use”, “lifetime thinner use”, “ever had sexual intercourse”, “rarely or never wore seatbelts”, “in a physical fight”, and “seriously considered attempting suicide”. Length of SST was the number of hours spent on SST activities on the school day before the survey.

【Results】 Regarding the length of SST, 30.9% of males and 27.0% of females answered “less than 2 hours”, 39.4% of males and 39.6% of females answered “2 hours or more and less than 4 hours”, 17.2% of males and 20.6% of females answered “4 hours or more and less than 6 hours”, and 12.0% of males and 12.6% of females answered “6 hours or more”. Prevalence rates of many risk behaviors among students whose SST was four hours or more are significantly higher than those of students whose SST was less than four hours. In particular, for the group of “6 hours or more”, the prevalence rates of most risk behaviors are significantly high. Furthermore, the group of longer SST tended to engage in more Multiple Risk Behaviors (MRB).

【Conclusion】 It was shown that the situation of SST among Japanese high school students is concerning and long SST is related to the prevalence of risk behaviors. Especially, it was found that spending more than four hours of SST a day might lead to these behaviors. This suggests that restraining SST among adolescents is important for preventing risk behaviors.

【Background】 Yogo teachers (school nurse/health teacher in the Japanese school system) are required to promptly evaluate and respond to the physical symptom of the school children that visit the school health room. Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent complaints, but few tools to assess this pain have been developed, which consider both psychological and physical factors.

【Purpose】 In this study, we developed an assessment sheet for abdominal pain (ASAP) and evaluated its usefulness so Yogo teachers can concisely and promptly assess the abdominal pain in school children.

【Method】 First, a nine-member study group developed a Fishbone Diagram (FD) using Quality Control (QC) method. The diagram was then analyzed, taking into account both physical and psycho-social/lifestyle factors in the children, and used to create the ASAP. Usefulness of the sheet was tested with the cooperation of 167 Yogo teachers, who participated in a workshop for ASAP, after approval for use in their school health rooms. After testing, usefulness of the sheet was evaluated using a questionnaire. The test was conducted from August 23, 2014 to December 6, 2014. The assessment examination was used to evaluate students on a scoring system. Comparison and analysis of results were compiled averaging scores for type of school (elementary vs. junior and senior high schools), teacher's judgment and difference in response to student's pain, using multiple comparisons by Bonferonni method.

【Results】 Forty-seven items were abstracted from three FD, made using QC method, to create the ASAP in school children. The score of the ASAP was significantly different between primary school and junior/senior high school (p＜0.05). Yogo teachers' decision whether they should make school children rest in the health room (or let them go home) or not was significantly correlated with the score (p＜0.01).

【Conclusion】 We developed an assessment sheet to evaluate complaints of abdominal pain in school children. The developed sheet will be a useful tool to help Yogo teachers appropriately deal with the complaints.