Victim-Blaming and Society-Blaming Scales for Social Problems

Until now, no general scales have been available for measuring victim or society blaming. This constraint has been an impediment to policymaking with regard to those who are affected by social problems. Four scales were constructed: stable victim-blaming scale, unstable victim-blaming scale, stable society-blaming scale, and unstable society-blaming scale. Based on the results of the preliminary exploratory factor analysis and the reliability coefficients, the unstable society-blaming scale was deleted from further analysis. Then, a confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL 7 program was conducted to evaluate the parameter estimates of the scale items and examine the construct validity of the 3 scales. The scales were judged to have construct validity with satisfactory reliability.     

Infant Mental Health Intervention for Preterm Infants in Japan: Promotions of Maternal Mental Health,Mother–Infant Interactions,and Social Support by Providing Continuous Home Visits until the Corrected Infant Age of 12 Months

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Japanese Infant Mental Health Program (JIMHP) for preterm mother–infant dyads until the infants reached 12 months of corrected age. Mothers in the JIMHP group (n = 26) received one hospital visit in addition to standard care in the Growing Care Unit (GCU) and five home visits based on the principles of infant mental health (IMH) after discharge from the hospital, until the infant reached 12 months of corrected age. In contrast, mothers in the control program group (n = 40) received standard care in the GCU and three conventional home visits during the same period. The dyads were then compared across groups, revealing that the JIMHP dyads showed less maternal depressive symptoms, better maternal interaction, increased social support by medical workers and healthcare professionals, a high persistence rate for attending the program, and a more positive perception toward the program (p < .05). However, there were no significant differences in the impact of parenting stress or in child development. These results are discussed in terms of their significance and the practical/clinical availability of IMH principles and the JIMHP as a new support model for preterm infants in Japan.     

Effects of generalized self-efficacy and negative social comparison feedback on specific self-efficacy and performance

The effects of social comparison feedback on specific self-efficacy and performance of high generalized self-efficacy participants and low generalized self-efficacy participants were examined with the help of 20 participants with high generalized self-efficacy and 20 participants with low generalized self-efficacy. Half of the participants in each generalized self-efficacy group received negative social comparison feedback after each of four trials of an experimental task while the other half received no feedback. Two kinds of specific self-efficacy-performance-based and normative-based--were measured once before the task and four times after the trials of the task. After the task, the High generalized self-efficacy/Feedback group rated performance-based specific self-efficacy higher and performed better than the Low generalized self-efficacy/Feedback group. No significant difference was observed between the High generalized self-efficacy/No feedback group and Low generalized self-efficacy/No feedback group. There were no significant effects with regard to normative-based specific self-efficacy.     

Counseling Japanese Men on Fathering

The authors review an article (J. Yamamoto & F. Tagami, 2004) published in the Japanese Journal of Counseling Science that described changes in contemporary Japanese family structures and illustrated a therapy process with a father to enhance the father‐son relationship. Implications for the counseling profession in working with men on fathering, including single fatherhood, are shared based on the literature from both the United States and Japan.     

Terror management in Japan

Do terror management effects generalize to non‐Western cultures? This question is significant because terror management theory offers an explanation of the origin of self‐esteem, whereas other research finds divergent self‐esteem motivations across cultures. The effects of mortality salience (MS) on the dual‐component anxiety buffer were investigated in Japan. A control group and a MS group were given an opportunity: (i) to defend their cultural worldview by derogating an anti‐Japan essay writer; and (ii) to boost their value within their cultures by indicating a greater desire for high‐status over low‐status products. Replicating past research with Western samples, Japanese in a MS condition were more critical of the anti‐Japan essay writer and they indicated a marginal tendency to prefer high‐ over low‐status products, compared with a control group. The theoretical implications are discussed.     

Manda suppresses emotional stress-induced stomach ulcers in rats

Manda, a natural product made by yeast fermentation of many fruits and black sugar, has antioxidant activity. In the present study, manda prevented stomach ulcers caused by immobilization-induced emotional stress. Manda [5% manda solution (w/v)] and saline as control, were administered by a canula into the stomach of each experimental animal subsequently after 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 hours from the start of the emotional stress. We classified the severity of gastric lesion formation induced by immobilization with each rat lying on its back for 6 hours at room temperature on a five-grade scale. The control rats all showed congestion and some degree of bleeding in the mucosa of the stomach. However, of the experimental rats, one showed no hemorrhagic lesions only congestion in four cases, and slight or moderate bleeding in eight cases with no massive bleeding cases. The distribution of these data significantly differ from that of the control rats, which suffered the greater damage (X²=10.589,p<0.05). In light microscopic examinations, the control rats showed necrosis in the gastric mucous membranes, desquamation, and bleeding of gastric mucosa. However, the rats treated with manda showed only congestion and did not show erosion or hemorrhage. These results suggest that manda or manda metabolite(s) was absorbed from the stomach and may have produced these action. In the meantime, we are analyzing manda components to try to isolate the active ingredient(s)     

Trust, Gullibility, and Social Intelligence

A series of experiments conducted in Japan by Yamagishi and his associates are presented, all consistently showing that high trusters (as measured with a general trust scale) are more sensitive than low trusters to information potentially revealing lack of trustworthiness in others and judge other people's choice in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma more accurately. Based on these findings, a new theoretical twist is introduced to the "emancipation theory of trust" originally proposed by Yamagishi & Yamagishi (1994), that emphasizes the relation-expansion role of trust in addition to the traditionally noticed relation-fortification role of trust. When opportunity cost for staying in a commitment relation is generally high, it is more advantageous not to stay in secure and stable commitment relations but to explore opportunities that lie outside, and yet such social exploration involves the risk of being exploited by untrustworthy people. It is thus a more gainful strategy to invest "cognitive resources" in the nurturing of "social intelligence" needed to detect signals of untrustworthiness. General trust may be conceived as a by-product of the development of such social intelligence. Those who have invested in the development of social intelligence can afford to maintain a high level of general trust, whereas those who have not are encouraged to assume that "everyone is a thief" and to refrain from pursuing potentially lucrative but risky outside opportunities.     

Relationship closeness and control as determinants of pleasant amae

Japanese often find it pleasant when someone engages in amae, defined as an inappropriate request with the expectation of acceptance. Using a random sampling survey, we examined why Japanese adults feel good when a friend or an acquaintance engages in amae and when they, themselves, engage in amae. In both situations, positive attitude toward amae predicted more positive emotions. Relationship closeness and feeling of control mediated this association, and perceiving enough resources to grant the request did so only in the friend/acquaintance amae situation. Despite its inappropriateness, amae could be an effective way to seek help and express closeness with others.     

Induction of arginine vasopressin-enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in the locus coeruleus following kainic acid-induced seizures in rats

Seizure causes autonomic, neuroendocrine and stress responses. We examined the effects of kainic acid (KA)-induced seizures on the expression of the arginine vasopressin (AVP)-enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in the locus coeruleus (LC), an area known to contain noradrenergic cells, in AVP-eGFP transgenic male and female rats, with the rationale to identify stressors which induce AVP synthesis in the LC. Subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of KA caused a progressive development of seizure behavior within 24 h. AVP-eGFP fluorescence in the LC was detected 6, 24, and 48 h and 1 week after administration of KA (12 mg/kg). From a nearly undetectable level, it reached a maximum at 48 h after s.c. administration of KA and returned to the basal levels after 2 weeks. AVP-eGFP fluorescence in the LC after s.c. administration of KA was significantly reduced by the pretreatment with MK-801 (nonselective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist). In the KA-administered rats, immunohistochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) revealed that the eGFP fluorescence was co-localized with TH-immuno-reactivity in the LC. These results suggest that the synthesis of AVP-eGFP is potentially up-regulated in noradrenergic neurons in the LC after KA-induced seizures through the activation of NMDA receptors.     

Job satisfaction of Japanese career women and its influence on turnover intention

To understand the relationship between current Japanese career women's job satisfaction and turnover, we analyzed 177 currently full-time employed individuals from our survey data. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 60, and were graduates of two four-year women's universities. We divided the participants into two groups based on whether or not they had changed jobs. As a result of factor analysis, we summarized job satisfaction into five factors: job interest, expectations of women, volume of work, health and welfare benefits, and career development. The scores of the 'health and welfare benefits' factor differed significantly between the two groups. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis found that low satisfaction with 'health and welfare benefits' tended to affect turnover intention. In addition, satisfaction with 'job interest' and 'volume of the job' tended to influence turnover intention, and at the same time these effects depended on the past turnover experience. From these study results, we suggest that current Japanese career women's turnover is mainly affected by the responsibilities of women in the face of the work–family conflict.