The symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are often observed in young adults. They have difficulty in adaptation. Therefore, it is important to assess the extent of their BPD symptoms to ascertain intervention. However, there is no scale to assess BPD symptoms and their changes in young adults in Japan. Therefore, we developed a Japanese version of the Quick Evaluation of Severity over Time (QuEST-J) to assess these symptoms and investigated the reliability and validity of this scale in a sample of Japanese undergraduates (N＝733). QuEST-J comprises three sub-scales: “Thoughts and Feelings,” “Behaviors-Negative,” and “Behaviors-Positive.” A confirmatory factor analysis corroborates the factorial validity. Moreover, the results indicate enough internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion-related validity. Therefore, QuEST-J is a reliable and valid scale to assess BPD symptoms in young adults.

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Here we investigated the affect of 150 visitors before and after the following three types of interaction with dolphins: observing dolphins, touching dolphins for 1 min under the guidance of an instructor, and swimming with two dolphins and one instructor for 10 min. Negative affects, positive engagement (high arousal and positive affect), and tranquility (low arousal and positive affect) before and after each interaction were measured. Negative affect and tranquility levels significantly decreased and increased, respectively, independent of the type of interaction. On the other hand, positive engagement levels increased after all types of interaction; however, the magnitude of this increase was significantly greater in visitors who touched the dolphins than in those who merely observed them. These variations in positive engagement across different interactions enhanced our understanding of the effects of different interactions with dolphins on people’s affects.

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Possible effects of two forms of self-focus driven by different motives, self-rumination and self-reflection, on symptoms of social anxiety, were investigated. Undergraduates (N＝200) completed the Rumination–Reflection Questionnaire, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Short Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (SFNE), and Interpersonal Stress Event Scale on two occasions with an interval of four weeks. Results indicated that self-rumination in the first session significantly predicted the subsequent increase in fear of negative evaluation assessed with the SFNE, even after controlling for the intensity of initial symptoms. This finding is consistent with previous studies showing that self-focus is a major factor in maintaining social anxiety. On the other hand, self-reflection in the first session predicted a decrease in subsequent avoidance behaviors from social situations assessed with the LSAS. These findings indicate that self-focus motivated by curiosity or an epistemic interest in the self might enable people to reconsider tendencies of avoiding social situations, which may prevent behavioral tendencies of avoidance. These findings suggested that motivations driving self-focus could determine its effects on the symptoms of social anxiety.

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