The effect of primary school pupils’ help-seeking toward teachers and friends on their perception of being victim to bullying was examined. Fourth to sixth-grade pupils were asked to complete a set of questionnaires consisting of the Perceived Bullying Victimization Scale, School Morale Scale, Social Skills Scale, and Help-Seeking Preferences Scale Toward Teachers and Friends. Responses were collected from 716 students. Structural equation modeling suggested that: (1) social skills positively affected school morale regarding peer relationship, academic work, and classroom participation; (2) school morale was positively related to help-seeking preferences towards friends and teachers; (3) help-seeking preference toward friends was negatively related to perceived bullying victimization in both boys and girls; (4) boys’ help-seeking from teachers was not significantly related to perceived bullying victimization, whereas girls’ help-seeking from teachers had a weak, but significant relationship with perceived bullying victimization. These results suggest that efforts toward changing pupils’ attitudes about asking friends for help might be effective in reducing perceived bullying victimization of primary school pupils.

View full abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the bystander’s own help-seeking preferences tendencies, and his/her perception of bullying and class norms regarding bullying. A survey was conducted on a pool of 182 high school students. Regression analyses indicated the following: (a) “thoughts of resistance toward receiving help” was negatively related to class norms regarding bullying (β =－.27, p < .01), while (b) “positive expectations for receiving help” was positively related (β = .17, p < .05). From these results, the implications of “thoughts of resistance toward receiving help” were discussed.

View full abstract

This study aimed to examine how high school students seek help from peers or teachers, and how these differences autonomously and dependently influence the evaluation of help. Four hundred and fifty-three 15-18 year-old high school students completed a questionnaire consisting of help-seeking styles and evaluations of help received, along with scales measuring their adjustment. Factor analysis showed that there were four factors for evaluations of help, demonstrating adequate reliability (α =.73~.87). Correlation analysis indicated that autonomous help-seeking style was positively associated with improvement of perceived problem situation in evaluations of help. In self/social relationship domains, dependent help-seeking styles were positively associated with recognition of support from others in evaluating help.

View full abstract

This exploratory study investigated factors related to attitudes toward referring others to psychological services. In the preliminary investigation, participants were presented a hypothetical situation of a friend who has psychological problems, and were asked whether they would refer the friend to a psychological service, elaborating on the reason for their choice. These descriptions were categorized using the KJ-method independently for three groups: referring group, ambivalent group, and non-referring group. Content analysis categories of, “image of utilizing psychological services”, “perception about seriousness of psychological problem”, and “mental burden of a friend referred to a psychological service” arose as key factors worthy of investigation further in the main research, which quantitatively investigated the relation between these main factors and attitudes toward referring others to a psychological services. Results indicated that “indifference to psychological help” which was a subscale of “image of utilizing psychological services” scale had a negative relationship, and “perception of seriousness of psychological problem” had a positive relationship with attitudes toward referring to psychological services. The implications of these findings for effective intervention to foster behavior of referring to psychological service were discussed.

View full abstract

This study investigated help-seeking of college students, focusing on the differences and relationships between help sources, including college counseling centers, friends, family, college faculty and staff, and Internet services. One hundred and sixty-eight college students responded to the questionnaire survey. The results revealed the following: (a) for all problems, college students sought help from friends and family more often than college counseling centers, and college faculty and staff; (b) those who sought help from friends also sought help from family or Internet services; (c) those who sought help from friends and Internet services had the highest “anxiety about being thought different from others”; and (d) those who infrequently sought help from others had the lowest “anxiety about being thought different from others.”

View full abstract

The present study investigated how adolescents develop empathy in school environments. Empathy was defined as the psychological capacity to: (a) share the emotional state of another (emotional sharing; ES); and (b) identify with the other by adopting his/her perspective (perspective taking; PT). We predicted that adolescents’ PT would be affected by peer influence and teacher encouragement, while ES would not. Moreover, peer influence toward adolescents’ PT would be compensated for by teacher encouragement. We conducted a two-wave longitudinal survey (total N = 237). The results showed that: (a) adolescents’ ES was promoted by rigorous teacher encouragement; and (b) the effect of peer relationships on adolescents’ PT was complemented by teacher mentoring on daily life and learning. This study suggests other environmental factors (i.e., teacher encouragement) complemented peer influence.

View full abstract

We developed an educational program to mitigate the psychological impact of natural disasters for children. This program was conducted on 321 elementary school students (5th- and 6th-grade). Children experienced para-situations of an earthquake with pictures, and were informed about the physical and psychological damages caused by their being subjected to a disaster. Following this, they performed a 10-second breathing technique to facilitate their remaining calm. They completed questionnaires across three time frames: pre- and post-tests, and a three-month follow-up. The results showed that, in the long term, children’s evacuation behavior efficacy, general self-efficacy, selfesteem, and self-efficacy improved. Those who performed the 10-second breathing technique showed greater effects. Future studies should promote continued usage of the 10-second breathing technique.

View full abstract

Previous studies have found contrastive relationships between individual status and gratitude. While some suggest a positive relationship, others claim it to be negative. The current study examined two types of individual status, dominance and prestige, and investigated their relationships with trait gratitude. A total of 502 crowdsourcing workers responded to the questionnaire. As a result, prestige status had a positive relation with trait gratitude, while dominant status correlated negatively when the effect of prestige status was controlled, supporting our hypothesis. Finally, these relations were significant even after controlling for other personality traits (Big-five). Interpretation of the contrastive relationships of the two status and gratitude were discussed.

View full abstract