The Relationship Among Major Depression, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Preoccupation

The present study investigates whether highly self-preoccupied people (exhibiting a tendency to focus primarily on the self and to maintain self-focused attention) were more likely to experience major depressive episodes (MDEs) than those without such tendencies. One hundred nineteen young community residents, aged 18 to 21, took part in semistructured interviews, during which we investigated their past and present history of mental illness, including MDEs, as delineated by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. rev.; DSM-III-R). Self-preoccupation was measured by the Self-Preoccupation Scale (SPS). Of the 119 participants interviewed, the lowest and highest quarters in the SPS scores formed the low- and high-self-preoccupation (SP) groups. The lifetime prevalence of the DSM-III-R MDE was significantly greater among those high in SP than in the low SP group. Moreover, the high-SP group had significantly more depressive symptoms than the low-SP group. The contributory role of self-preoccupation to suicide ideation and the interpersonal aspects of self-preoccupation were discussed.     

Effect of cooling rate on size-dependent atomic ordering of CoPt nanoparticles

We report on the effect of cooling rate on the size-dependent atomic ordering of CoPt nanoparticles using aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was found that cooling rate plays a crucial role in promoting atomic ordering during the cooling process after annealing. Nanoparticles of ≈3?nm in diameter show the A1-disordered phase after annealing at 873?K for 1?h followed by rapid cooling (110?K/min), while the L1₀-ordered phase is obtained when the cooling rate is slow (1.5?K/min). The disordered phase is also obtained by rapid cooling after annealing at 973?K for 1?h. These results unambiguously indicate that the order–disorder transformation temperature is reduced to a temperature at least lower than 873?K for CoPt nanoparticles smaller than 3?nm in diameter. The slow cooling process promotes the atomic ordering, which resulted in an enhancement of magnetic coercivity as high as 2200?Oe. This study demonstrates that hard magnetic properties of the CoPt nanoparticles can be improved by controlling the cooling rate after heat treatments.     

Control of lateral weight-transfer initiation during sitting

Whereas many researchers have examined the transition from quiet posture to dynamic state, study of the initiation of lateral weight-transfer during sitting has only begun recently. This action is included in many tasks performed in our daily living, i.e., reaching, dressing, looking backwards, lying down, and shuffling the buttocks. The present study was designed to describe lateral weight-transfer movements of healthy adults, kinematically and kinetically, and to clarify the strategies and speed dependency of lateral weight-transfer initiation during sitting. Seven healthy Japanese male students without orthopaedic or neurological disorders participated. Their lateral weight-transfer movements were measured during sitting, using two force platforms and a 3-dimensional analysis system. Analysis showed that there appear to be two strategies for the initiation of the task: one is the lateral bending of trunk toward the weight-transfer side, and the other is a coordinated reciprocal leg action of both legs. A combination of these strategies is used in a trade-off fashion during natural motions. These results are clinically important for the assessment and therapy of patients with sitting problems.     

The lateral effects of Dohsa-method relaxation on visual and auditory responses

The effects of relaxation training, using the Dohsa method, on visual and auditory responses were examined. Twelve college students underwent relaxation training either to the left shoulder, left side of the waist, and the left foot, or to the right side. The measures used in this study were weight-bearing, body perception and external perception, visual field, and visual and hearing acuity. Weight-bearing significantly increased for the foot undergoing relaxation training, compared with the untreated foot, indicating that the subjects stood more firmly on the ground on the relaxed foot. Subjects could also perceive positive changes in their "sense of standing firmly on the ground,""sense of activity in the body,""sense of muscular relaxation," and "sense of fullness in the abdomen" on the side of the body receiving relaxation training. There were positive changes in external perception such as "vividness of the external world,""breadth of the visual field," and "active impression of the external world" for subjects' vision on the side receiving relaxation training. Furthermore, visual and hearing acuity on the side on which relaxation training was administered improved significantly.     

Structure of the Modern Japanese Family: Evidence From the Results of a Doll Location Test by Adolescents

To test Herzberg's (1966, 1987; Herzberg, Mausner, &; Snyderman, 1959) motivator-hygiene theory, I examined the relationship between work values and job satisfaction. Educators (N # 386) from 18 Canadian secondary schools were asked to report the degree to which they experienced 16 work values and five dimensions of job satisfaction. Factor analysis suggested five sets of work values: intrinsic work-related, intrinsic work-outcome, extrinsic job-related, extrinsic job-outcome, and extrinsic people-related. Regression analyses identified the best predictors for each of the five dimensions of job satisfaction. The results support and extend Herzberg's theory. In addition to those identified by Herzberg, other factors contributed portions of variance to the five dimensions of job satisfaction.     

Effects of self-relevant cues and cue valence on autobiographical memory specificity in dysphoria

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (rAMS) is a characteristic memory bias observed in depression. To corroborate the capture hypothesis in the CaRFAX (capture and rumination, functional avoidance, executive capacity and control) model, we investigated the effects of self-relevant cues and cue valence on rAMS using an adapted Autobiographical Memory Test conducted with a nonclinical population. Hierarchical linear modelling indicated that the main effects of depression and self-relevant cues elicited rAMS. Moreover, the three-way interaction among valence, self-relevance, and depression scores was significant. A simple slope test revealed that dysphoric participants experienced rAMS in response to highly self-relevant positive cues and low self-relevant negative cues. These results partially supported the capture hypothesis in nonclinical dysphoria. It is important to consider cue valence in future studies examining the capture hypothesis.     

Retrieval process of overgeneral memory and the capture and executive control hypothesis: using Autobiographical Memory Test with thought sampling

ABSTRACT

The retrieval process for underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory remains unclear. In this study, we identified what leads to self-referential and categoric thoughts and examined the influence error-monitoring ability has on the reporting of categoric memories. We also examined whether cue self-relevance and/or executive control task performance are related to the number of specific memories reported. Using thought sampling, 94 college students completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, as well as a verbal fluency task and a depression scale. The results indicated that depressive symptoms and negative highly self-relevant cues were associated with self-referential/categoric thoughts during memory retrieval. Further, preceding self-referential/categoric thoughts and low error-monitoring ability predicted immediate after-reporting of categoric memories. Simultaneously, highly self-relevant cues and executive control task performance predicted the reporting of many specific memories. Subdividing the retrieval process and examining the process involved in depression are essential.     

Correlates of retrospective early life experience with personality in young Japanese women

To examine the influence of early experiences on the development of personality. We used the Temperament and Character Inventory to assess 98 young women who had first entered a company. Different early experiences were linked, albeit weakly, to test scores. Both partial correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated that Self-directedness was higher if women reported more care of parents. Partial correlation, but not multiple regression analyses, showed that Cooperativeness was greater if women reported more care of parents and less frequent abuse. Reports of early parental loss or negative or positive early life events showed no correlation with scores on any of the Temperament and Character Inventory subscales.     

Is retrieving positive self-concordant specific memory beneficial to mood repair? The moderation effect of depressive symptoms

The present study examined whether positive specific memory recall improves mood more than overgeneral memory recall. Moreover, this study examined the mood contrast effect in subclinically depressed participants. The mood contrast effect refers to when people ruminate on discrepancies between the current self and a past ideal self by recall of positive self-discrepant (low self-concordant) memories and thereby, fall into a negative mood. Undergraduate students (N?=?161) underwent a negative mood induction, and then concentrated on positive specific memory recall, positive overgeneral memory recall, or distraction. Results showed that there were no group differences in mood repair. Nevertheless, recalled memory self-concordance was associated with sad mood repair in the specific memory group, and moreover, this effect was not significant in people high in depressive symptoms. We discussed the results of mood repair effect from the perspective of baseline negative mood in subclinical depression.