This study defines grief stress as stress that accompanies grief experienced in the nursing profession. We sought to test the hypothesis that nurses on the job experience stress-related growth after experiencing grief stress by assigning meaning to the stress. We also sought to elucidate factors affecting this process. A self-administered questionnaire on grief stress, assignment of meaning to the stress, stress-related growth, compassion fatigue, and background factors was given to 665 nurses with two or more years of clinical experience. After receiving 567 valid responses, covariance structure analysis was conducted to test the hypothetical model. The hypothetical model of experiencing stress-related growth after experiencing grief stress by assigning meaning to the stress was supported. A meaningful path was formed between assignment of meaning to grief stress (.58, p<.001) and stress-related growth (.90，p<.001). Grief stress experienced in the nursing profession had a directly impact on compassion fatigue. Assigning meaning to the stress had the indirect effect of reducing compassion fatigue. "Position at work" and "opportunities to have discussions" are background factors that significantly affect assigning meaning to stress.

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In our previous study (Sato et al., 2015), we calculated the storage capacity of subcutaneous fat area (SFA) accumulation from the cross-sectional approach. The present study aimed to determine the relationships between this storage capacity of SFA, the existing metabolic syndrome (MS) criteria, and cell biological scientific findings obtained from Sugihara’s study. Participants were 1354 Japanese adults. The relationships between the existing MS criteria [visceral fat area (VFA) cut-off point of 100 cm2] and our predicted storage capacity of SFA and VFA (SFAcap and VFAcal) were investigated by cross-tabulation. The percentage of participants with SFA > SFAcap and VFA > 100 cm2 was higher in males, whereas that of participants with SFA > SFAcap and VFA <100 cm2 was higher in females. To determine the cell biological characteristics of the SFAcap, mean values of SFA, VFA, and waist circumference (WC) were calculated for several BMI levels; these BMI levels provide an estimation of hypertrophy and hyperplasia of fat cells (Sugihara et al., 2006). The predicted SFAcap and VFAcal values were almost equal to their corresponding SFA and VFA values in the group wherein BMI ranged from 25 to 27. This BMI level corresponds to a stage in the"hypertrophy predominant"obesity type; in this stage, the cell shape of fat cells transitions from round to squamous. This result suggests that storage capacity of subcutaneous fat accumulation appears with a limitation of hypertrophy of fat cells.

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In the later years, a polarized tendency is observed in motor ability of preschool children, in particular, in a standing broad jump. This study determines the difference in standing broad jump between current preschool children and those 30 years before and their relations with activities in daily life, including cognitive functioning. The participants included 2,329 healthy children aged 3 to 6 years in Ishikawa Prefecture. They performed standing broad jump test. In addition, the assessment of the state of each child’s activity in the nursery school was performed by the caregivers. The representative values (mean and standard deviation) of data on 32,538 children studied in the same manner in 1985 were utilized for comparison. A two-way analysis of variance was performed to reveal the mean differences between children from both the periods (1985 and 2013) and of each age (age 3, 4, 5, and 6) on standing broad jump test. The results revealed that the current children had lower scores than those of 1985, and the overall ratios of children having lower scores had increased. From the comparison of the standing broad jump index (standing broad jump/height), it was suggested that the number of children who could not jump well using their own body had increased in comparison with those of 1985. In addition, it was suggested that the standing broad jump was related with the cognitive function such as “understanding” “concentration,” and “judgement.” The caregivers at the nursery will have to assess the standing broad jump based on the above results in the future.

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This study focused on whether female senior high school students take responsible actions for the self and others regarding sexual behavior to discern the current status of sexual awareness and behaviors in this demographic. In Kitakyushu City in the Fukuoka Prefecture, 209 students enrolled in an all-girl high school were selected to participate in a survey that included questions about experiences with sexual intercourse, sexual morality, views on premarital sex, sources of information about sex, actions when facing sexual temptation, taking responsible actions, and sexual knowledge. Of the respondents, 36.4% reported that they “have had experience with sexual intercourse” and 63.6% responded that they “had no experience [of sexual intercourse].” The most commonly reported motivation for having sex was emotional reasons such as “because I liked him” (72.4%) or “because I was in love” (42.1%).The majority of the students responded that “friends” were the most common sources of information about sex, which had the greatest influence on their behaviors and awareness of sex. Other identified sources were “comics, television, videos, the Internet, and school lessons and teachers.” The students were asked to rate their attitudes of right and wrong regarding certain sexual activities. For “sex without love,” 7% of the sexually experienced students and 3.3% of the non-sexually experienced students approved of this activity; whereas 93% of the sexually experienced students and 96.7% of the non-sexually experienced students did not. For the question regarding “having sex with persons other than a boyfriend,” 95.7% of the sexually experienced students and 97.5% of the sexually inexperienced students disapproved of the activity. ”Having sex for money or objects” was disapproved by 95.9% of the sexually experienced students and 96% of the sexually inexperienced students. A thorough review of sex education curricula is required to address not only the physiological knowledge that is presented but also the psychological aspects such as proper sexual behaviors and the normative consciousness regarding sexuality in the future. Furthermore, new supportive educational policies are needed to encourage using time allocated for integrated studies to incorporate aspects of sex education into learning activities in a variety of other subjects.

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