[in Japanese]

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This study explored how the characteristics of friendship related to self-esteem in adolescents. Surveys measuring friendship, sense of acceptance, sense of rejection, and self-esteem were administered to 246 senior high school students and 236 college students. Cluster analysis yielded three friendship patterns: (1) adolescents who avoided an emotionally close friendship; (2) adolescents who participated in an emotionally close friendship; and (3) adolescents who were careful not to hurt or be hurt by their friends and who tried just to be together with their friends. The results of structural equation modeling analysis suggested that the tendency of “being careful not to be hurt by their friends” inhibited the “sense of rejection” through “being careful not to hurt their friends,” and ultimately improved their self-esteem.

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This study examined the relationship of borderline personality traits with life events and unpleasant/pleasant emotions in university students. Study 1 developed the borderline personality traits scale, which consisted of six factors with sufficient internal consistency and validity. In Study 2, 378 university students completed a questionnaire assessing the borderline personality traits, and the frequency of negative and positive events and unpleasant/pleasant emotions in interpersonal and achievement domains. Analysis of the data yielded the following results. University students with high scores on the borderline personality traits scale reported more negative events in interpersonal and achievement domains, and they felt unpleasant about them. These students did not feel pleasant in spite of having positive events in achievement domains. The present results suggest that university students with borderline personality traits had difficulty to acknowledge positive life events as positive.

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This study examined the relationship among self-preoccupation or external-preoccupation (indicated by excessive and enduring attention focused on the self or the external world), anxiety and depression. We used anxiety and depression scales which differentiate between the comorbidity their symptoms. Participants were Japanese university students (N=271) who completed a questionnaire study. Partial correlation and regression analyses revealed that self-preoccupation was moderately related to anxiety after controlling for depression, and that external-preoccupation was related neither to anxiety nor to depression. Based on these results, the relationships between self-preoccupation and duration of anxiety, and the intention when we shift attention to external subject and anxiety were discussed.

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The relation between teachers' help-seeking preferences and burnout was examined in 151 Japanese elementary school teachers, who filled out the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a questionnaire about help-seeking preferences. The results suggested that young teachers need easy, acceptable support from other teachers. To reduce burnout symptoms, the elementary school administration should encourage and facilitate teachers to accept help from others without reluctance.

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This study developed and validated a scale that assessed the memory representation of everyday life types of trauma (ELTT). University students (N=275) participated in the survey study. Factor analysis of the data yielded the following three factors: Situationally Accessible Memories, Degree of Verbalization, and Nega-tivity of Verbally Accessible Memories. The internal consistencies of each factor were high. The ELTT scale showed most of the predicted correlation patterns with the Impact of Event Scale and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, which supported its validity.

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This study examined the validity of the Bidimensional Resilience Scale (BRS) using the twin method. In Study 1, the BRS was administered to 662 junior high and high school students, and the bidimensional structure (innate/acquired resilience factors) was extracted. In Study 2, the BRS was administered to 41 monozygotic (MZ) and 15 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the innate resilience factor was significant for MZ but not DZ twins, thus making the BRS scored attributable to independent genetic factors. Finally, the validity of the BRS subscales were examined.

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Individuals with high trait anxiety show a tendency toward spontaneous generation of negative events. This study evaluated the relationship between guessing bias and trait anxiety in a word-fragment completion task without a study phase. College students (N=96) were asked to complete the word fragments in the absence of the study phase. Their guessing bias was calculated by subtracting the proportion of completion of neutral words from the proportion of completion of negative words. The results showed that the guessing bias was affected by trait anxiety, but not by dysphoria. Students who were higher in trait anxiety completed more negative words than neutral words.

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The present study examined the predictive validity of the Implicit Association Test-Anxiety (IAT-Anxiety). The participants were 44 university students who completed the IAT-Anxiety. Their 129 friends rated the participats' usual behavior. The relations between the participants' explicit/implicit anxiety (self rating) and state/trait anxiety (others' rating) were examined. The results supported the predictive validity of the IAT-Anxiety.

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