This study aimed to develop and test the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the Stress Survey Schedule (SSS), a scale that measures stress in stressful situations and environments for people with autism spectrum disorder. Data from 103 research collaborators who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by a medical institution were analyzed. A confirmatory factor analysis conducted to confirm the eight-factor structure of the original version indicated that the model of the original version was not suitable. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor structure of the Japanese version. The results showed that the Japanese version of the SSS has a four-factor structure. Retest reliability was examined and was found to be good. Based on these results, a Japanese version of the SSS was developed, and its reliability and validity were confirmed.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between irrational career beliefs and career indecision. A questionnaire was administered to 185 third-year university students who had participated in employment seeking activities. The results suggested that having irrational career beliefs, such as lack of self-confidence, a pessimistic view of one's career path, and fixed ideas about one's own or others' evaluation of one's career, increases one's state of career indecision. Moreover, the findings indicated three types of irrational career beliefs, namely, realistic, optimistic, and pessimistic, as defined by beliefs of unrealistic optimism, lack of confidence, and self-underestimation. These findings suggest that appropriate support is necessary, particularly for those with pessimistic career beliefs that may result in greater career indecision.

Previous studies on implicit theories have suggested that holding incremental beliefs about the growth potential of a trait can improve mental health, particularly for beliefs about anxiety and emotion. However, these studies did not control for the effects of stressors, which are major antecedents of mental health. They also did not sufficiently examine the relationship between implicit theories and coping strategies. Furthermore, most participants in previous studies were Western and university students. This study examined the effects of implicit theories on mental health and coping strategies in Japan, controlling for amount of stressors. In survey 1 (218 university students) and survey 2 (319 employees), we measured the four types of implicit theories, amount of stressor, trait anxiety, stress response, and coping strategies. We found that 1) the implicit theories of anxiety and emotion were the main predictors of mental health, and 2) the relationship between implicit theories and coping strategies was weak. Finally, the discussion considers the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

This study examined the relationship between posting behavior on Instagram and user attributes, motivation, and narcissism in Japan. An online survey was conducted with Instagram users aged between 13 and 49 years (n = 600). Factor analysis of the Motives for Posting to Instagram scale showed four factors: "self-promotion, " "recording and self-reflection, " "mood regulation, " and "information provision. " The effects of age and gender on posting behavior and motives on Instagram were analyzed, but few significant differences were found. However, young women were more likely to edit photos. Significant correlations were found between posting to Instagram and motives such as recording and self-reflection, information provision, and narcissism. These results suggest that posting to Instagram is driven not only by self-promotion factors, such as self-presentation and narcissism, but also by other purposes such as recording and self-reflection.

To ensure mental health support facilities at the workplace, it is important to focus on organizational productivity and the mental health of workers. However, the group analysis in Japanese stress check system does not fully assess the issues among individuals and organizations. To counter this problem, a survey was administered to employees (n = 391) working for a food processing company (Company A). Based on the "organizational health model" for balancing workers' organizational productivity and promotion of their mental health, we examined the relationships among "respect for lifestyle, " "shared goals, " and "organizational future, " as organizational factors, "psychological safety, " as a team factor, and "stress response" and "job satisfaction" as individual factors by employing Structural Equation Modeling. The results of this examination show that the three organizational factors reduce a sense of fatigue and increase job satisfaction through psychological safety. This suggests that the group analysis based on the organizational health model may increase organizational productivity and reduce a sense of fatigue at the workplace. Further, we discuss the significance of this group analysis and the limitations of this study.

In this study, we analyzed how the focus of research has changed in dementia caregiving research in Japan, targeting academic information titles with the keywords "dementia and caregiving" in the database CiNii. Text Mining Studio 6.3.0 was used for the analysis. The amount of academic information in the database gradually increased from the 1980s, reaching a peak in 2004. Before the name change, until 2003, the focus was on the medical view and the disease, not the patients themselves; after 2004, the focus was on the intentions and inner life of the dementia patients themselves, and the patients have been taking part in the care team.

We investigated the time perspective and mental health of students without school attendance difficulties in junior high school immediately after they entered senior high school in order to identify the factors those contribute to high school adjustment. The results showed that lower emotional distress and higher positive present perspective were positively correlated with lower feelings of school avoidance. Furthermore, a positive past perspective enhanced self-esteem, which in turn reduced distress and led a positive present perspective. It is, therefore, suggested that improving a negative past perspective and enhancing self-esteem are crucial for students of newly entering senior high school.