Effect of baseline self-efficacy on physical activity and psychological stress after a one-week pedometer intervention

Physical activity and psychological stress were hypothesized to improve more in participants with high self-efficacy than in those with low and medium self-efficacy after a one-week intervention. 39 female university students participated. The intervention had two steps: a lecture on self-monitoring and goal setting (160 min.) and a one-week pedometer intervention. Analyses were conducted on tertile groups according to self-efficacy at baseline. Pedometer step counts were higher in the high self-efficacy group than in the low self-efficacy group after intervention. Helplessness decreased time dependently after intervention only in the high-self-efficacy group. Because physical activity improved more in the high self-efficacy group after a one-week intervention, one hypothesis was supported.     

Examination of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale among Adults Using Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory1, 2

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has impaired every aspect of life, especially causing much psychological damage—for instance, increasing the risk of suicide. Intense fear and anxiety are considered to play a central role in mental health problems. This study examined the psychological properties of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) using classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT). Five hundred fifty participants aged 18–69 years and from across Japan completed questionnaires, including the Japanese FCV-19S, the Japanese Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-15 (DASS-15), and the Japanese version of the Kessler 6 (K6). CTT showed that each item of the Japanese FCV-19S had no ceiling and floor effect and was close to the normal distribution, and IRT revealed that each item had an appropriate parameter of discrimination and difficulty. Finally, the Japanese FCV-19S was shown to have an acceptable reliability and moderate good concurrent validity. Consequently, the Japanese FCV-19S has robust psychometric properties and can be useful for early detection of adults impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Coping orientation and psychological distress in healthcare professionals: The utility of appraising coping acceptability

The purpose of this study was to examine interaction effects of healthcare professionals' coping orientation (i.e., engagement versus disengagement) and appraisal of coping acceptability (ACA) on psychological distress, taking into account the individuals' job specificity and the psychological climate in their work environment. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted, and Japanese healthcare professionals (N = 189; 117 female; mean age: 40.1 ± 11.2 years) reported the coping strategies that they employed for task‐related or interpersonal stressors, their cognitive appraisal of the stressors, their ACA, and the psychological distress evoked by the stressors. The results showed that adding consideration of the ACA to the variable of coping orientation significantly improved predictions of psychological distress for both task and interpersonal stressors. There was no significant interaction between the coping orientation and the use of coping strategies that incorporated the ACA. These results suggest that considering the ACA, in addition to the coping orientation, would be useful for understanding individual differences in the mediators of healthcare professionals' coping in stressful situations.     

Characteristics of Family Interaction of Individuals with Hikikomori (Prolonged Social Withdrawal) From the Viewpoint of Behavior Theory

The cognitive behavioral approach for families of individuals with hikikomori (IWH) places importance on assessing family interaction from a behavior theory. However, there is no gold standard method for the assessment of family interaction of IWH. Additionally, the characteristics of the family interactions of IWH have not been clarified. This study aims to (a) develop the Family Interaction Scale for Hikikomori (FIS‐H) using parent‐reported data, and (b) clarify the characteristics of hikikomori cases. First, the FIS‐H factor structure was examined. Second, to examine the reliability and validity of the FIS‐H and the characteristics of hikikomori cases, parents of IWH (hikikomori‐group) and unaffected parents (without‐group) completed the FIS‐H and the Relationship Happiness Scale. Based on data from 146 parents, the FIS‐H preliminary version consisted of four factors with a total of 12 items (Study 1). The reliability and validity of the FIS‐H were also confirmed to be acceptable using data from 246 hikikomori‐group participants. The hikikomori‐group had higher FIS‐H scores than did the without‐group (Study 2). These results show that it is important to appropriately assess family interactions.     

Development of the Brief Personal Values Inventory for Sense of Values

The Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) is a widely used questionnaire for assessing sense of values; however, it is difficult to apply for children and adolescents. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a questionnaire for sense of values, called the Brief Personal Values Inventory (BPVI), consisting of simple questions and fewer items compared to the PVQ. We first created 12 items for the BPVI and then tested criterion-related validity with values in the PVQ-57 in 167 Japanese general population participants (81 males, mean age [SD], range: 23.4 [8.2], 15–57 years). Each of these items was correlated with one or more of the values in the PVQ-57 and covered all higher-order values in Schwartz's theory (openness to change, self-enhancement, conservation, and self-transcendence). In summary, the BPVI adequately corresponded with Schwartz's value theory, indicating an acceptable criterion-related validity. This questionnaire is applicable to a wide population, including adolescents, and will be a useful tool for researchers to elucidate the developmental pathway of personal sense of values.     

Oblique Rotaton in Canonical Correlation Analysis Reformulated as Maximizing the Generalized Coefficient of Determination

To facilitate the interpretation of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) solutions, procedures have been proposed in which CCA solutions are orthogonally rotated to a simple structure. In this paper, we consider oblique rotation for CCA to provide solutions that are much easier to interpret, though only orthogonal rotation is allowed in the existing formulations of CCA. Our task is thus to reformulate CCA so that its solutions have the freedom of oblique rotation. Such a task can be achieved using Yanai’s (Jpn. J. Behaviormetrics 1:46–54, 1974; J. Jpn. Stat. Soc. 11:43–53, 1981) generalized coefficient of determination for the objective function to be maximized in CCA. The resulting solutions are proved to include the existing orthogonal ones as special cases and to be rotated obliquely without affecting the objective function value, where ten Berge’s (Psychometrika 48:519–523, 1983) theorems on suborthonormal matrices are used. A real data example demonstrates that the proposed oblique rotation can provide simple, easily interpreted CCA solutions.     

Behavioral Repertoire of Families for Coping with Individuals with Hikikomori (Prolonged Social Withdrawal) in Japan1

This study aimed to examine the characteristics of families’ behavioral repertoires in hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) cases. We asked 243 parents of individuals with hikikomori (hikikomori group) to complete the Family Behavioral Repertoire Scale for Coping With Hikikomori (FBS-H), the Negative Evaluation of Hikikomori Scale, and a self-efficacy measure of coping with problem behaviors of hikikomori in order to develop the FBS-H and to examine its reliability and validity. Additionally, we examined the characteristics of hikikomori cases regarding the families’ behavioral repertoires using data from the hikikomori group and from 458 parents of individuals with no experience of hikikomori (control group). The results of the analysis indicated the acceptable reliability and validity of the FBS-H. The hikikomori group did not have lower FBS-H scores than the control group. This result indicates the possibility that a family's behavioral repertoire does not strongly influence the “expression” of hikikomori. Further research is needed to clarify the influence of families’ behavioral repertoires to refine family support.