Metacognitive therapy is recognized as an effective therapeutic approach for reducing internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression. This study focused on the responsibility to continue thinking, which has strong predictive power for internalizing problems and examined the effects of metacognitive therapy targeting its reduction. We assigned 34 university students to control and intervention groups. We then assessed the change in index scores from pre to follow-up. Paired-sample t-tests showed significant differences between all index scores except for eating symptoms in the intervention group. Additionally, the effect size was larger for the intervention than for the control group. These results suggest that metacognitive therapy targeting the reduction of the responsibility to continue thinking could be effective.

Although the popularity of Videoconferencing Psychotherapy (VCP) is rapidly growing as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, research findings on the actual status of VCP use in Japan and on the factors predicting dropout from VCP are insufficient. Specifically, no research has been conducted on the early stages of VCP. In this study, we used VCP data (4,921 to 3,470 participants) from a private company to assess the actual status of VCP use. We then conducted a hierarchical logistic regression analysis to explore explanatory variables that predict dropout and continuation between the first and second sessions. The results indicated that therapists with longer clinical experience were more likely to continue the counseling sessions and clients were less likely to continue when they felt the effects of psychotherapy in the first evaluation session, and more likely to continue when they had expectations of psychotherapy being effective.

This study examined the effects of period, cohort, and age on the desirability of personality trait words. Two studies were conducted on 145 personality trait words in seven groups from Aoki’s (1971) lexical classification. Study 1 compared scores obtained from Aoki’s (1971) report with those obtained from 140 men (Mage=70.2) from the same cohort as Aoki’s (1971) sample. When mean rank differences were tested, the desirability of trait words for hard work decreased. Study 2 analyzed scores obtained from 973 participants in a cross-sectional survey (Mage=52.5). Regression analysis with category scores as the dependent variable showed that the desirability of trait words expressing hard work increased with age. Considering Hashimoto and Oshio’s findings (2022), the effect of period was found to lower the desirability scores of personality trait words for hard work; moreover, its effect was larger than the effects of cohort and age.

This study explored narcissistic tendencies and parenting. Clinical psychology theories suggest cold parenting fosters narcissistic personalities. Contrastingly, social and personality psychology studies suggest that overvaluation and controlling parenting styles also foster narcissistic personalities. Hence, there are differences in how parenting influences narcissism. In the present study, 500 university students answered a survey on parenting, object relationship, and pathological narcissism. Using mediation analysis, we examined how parenting influences narcissistic tendencies through object relations. The results showed that the caring parent style negatively influences a vulnerable narcissistic tendency through egoistic manipulation and abandonment anxiety. The overprotective parenting style positively influences a vulnerable narcissistic tendency through egoistic manipulation, excessive need for identification, and abandonment anxiety.

This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Multidimensional Future Time Perspective (MFTP) scale (Brothers, Chui, & Diehl, 2014). A survey was conducted among men and women over 20 years old, and 501 valid responses were received. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the same three-factor structure as the original scale. Multigroup structural equation modeling across three age groups (young, middle-aged, and older adults) provided a significantly good fit to the data. These findings indicated that the Japanese version of the MFTP has the same reliability and validity as the original scale.

This study investigated the relationship between problem gambling levels and mindfulness among Japanese adults. A web-based questionnaire was administered to 1505 Japanese adults to measure their problem gambling and mindfulness levels. The results indicated a negative relationship between problem gambling and mindfulness levels. Further, the possibility of using mindfulness for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling is discussed.

“Interpersonal sensitivity” and “privileged self” are personality traits related to modern-type depression. Individuals with these traits tend to have difficulty establishing positive relationships with others. Perspective-taking has a positive effect on interpersonal relationships, and we predict that privileged self suppresses it. We examined the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity, privileged self, and perspective-taking tendency through a questionnaire survey of 102 university students. Our results indicate a significant partial correlation between perspective-taking tendency and privileged self, controlled by interpersonal sensitivity, and that privileged self interferes with self-perspective.

Empathic perspective-taking, usually measured with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, refers to the tendency to adopt the psychological viewpoint of others; whereas spatial perspective-taking, measured with a cognitive task, is the ability to mentally rotate oneself into another’s spatial perspective. Erle and Topolinski (2015, study4) found these two ways of perspective-taking to be correlated, suggesting a shared mechanism between them. However, this finding was not supported by a replication study. We conducted an additional replication study by adding improvements to the replication study (e.g., a-priori power analysis), which again did not find a correlation between the two types of perspective-taking.

This study examined the relationship between unmitigated communion and friendship satisfaction, with gender as a moderator. The participants were 232 females and 132 males (mean age=19.6). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted with friendship satisfaction as the dependent variable. Gender and unmitigated communion were independent variables. Results showed that the interaction term between gender and unmitigated communion was significant. A simple main effect test indicated a negative association between unmitigated communion and friendship satisfaction only for females. Gender was shown to be a moderator, which was discussed in terms of self-disclosure.