Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Self-Esteem in the Teaching Profession

Schoolteachers in Japan frequently suffer from mental health problems, resulting in a high rate of leaves of absence from work. Considering the poor condition of Japanese teachers, this study aimed to develop a questionnaire to assess self-esteem in the teaching profession for students in teacher training courses at university. As self-esteem is generally associated with health and adaptation, improving teachers’ working conditions and enhancing their self-esteem are expected. First, we created an original version of the questionnaire taking into consideration the content validity. Thereafter, a web-based survey was conducted among registered participants of a survey company in Japan. The final sample for analysis consisted of 422 participants (176 males and 246 females). The results showed factorial validity through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, along with internal consistency and an undistorted distribution of scores for the normal distribution. Thus, the “Self-Esteem Questionnaire in the Teaching Profession (SEQ-TP)” that includes twelve items with the score range of 12 to 84 was completed for future study. Finally, the limitations of this study are discussed, along with possibilities for future research

Relationships between Affect and Short-Term Life Satisfaction: Considering the Activation Dimension and Balance of Affect

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between affect and short-term life satisfaction (LS) taking into account the dimensions of activation and balance of PA and NA. The study included 398 students (184 men and 214 women) who completed six questionnaires, three of which were used for another study. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule was utilized for assessing activated PA and NA. Two subscales (deactivated pleasure and boredom) of the Multiple Mood Scale were used for measuring deactivated PA and NA, and the Short-term Life Satisfaction Scale was used for gauging short-term LS. Correlation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the relationships between affect balance (PA-NA and PA/NA) and LS. The results of correlation and scattergram analyses showed that LS displayed positive linear associations with affect balance in both activated and deactivated dimensions. Additionally, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between activated PA and NA in women, and indicated that the positive relationship between activated PA and LS in women was strengthened when levels of activated NA were lower. We discuss the importance of considering subtypes within and relationships between PA and NA and overall implications for health/adjustment

A History of Recurrent Episodes of Prolonged Cough as a Predictive Value for Determining Cough Variant Asthma in a Primary Care Setting

Background: Many patients visit primary care clinics with a complaint of cough. General practitioners (GPs) developed a list of the causative diseases of cough that can produce a patient’s symptoms and signs. Then, the patients’ medical histories were evaluated to determine whether the diagnosis of cough variant asthma (CVA) or post-infectious cough (PIC) could have been predicted. Methods: We retrospectively investigated 195 outpatients with a complaint of cough. Medical histories of “recurrent episodes of prolonged cough” and “upper respiratory infection” were obtained during the initial visit. The accuracy of medical histories in predicting CVA and PIC was calculated on the area under the curve (AUC). Results: Among eligible patients with cough, PIC was diagnosed in 99 patients (50.8%), CVA in 40 patients (20.5%), upper airway cough syndrome in 28 patients (14.4%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 11 patients (5.6%). Among the patients with CVA and those with PIC, 93% and 12%, respectively, had a history of recurrent episodes of prolonged cough. For the diagnosis of CVA, having a history of recurrent episodes of prolonged cough showed a moderately accurate AUC (0.76, 95% CI: 0.71–0.82). On the other hand, for the diagnosis of PIC, having no history of recurrent episodes of prolonged cough also showed a moderately accurate AUC (0.87, 95% CI: 0.82–0.92). Conclusion: The medical history of recurrent episodes of prolonged cough is useful for the prediction of CVA as well as PIC

Efficacy of a School-Based Universal Program for Bullying Prevention: Considering the Extended Effects Associated with Achievement of the Direct Purposes of the Program

We have developed a group of universal prevention programs for children’s health and adjustment. The programs are characterized by new theories such as the somatic-marker hypothesis and enjoyable methods that utilize animated stories and games. This study adopted one of the programs, a universal program for bullying prevention in third-grade students, and evaluated its efficacy. Participants were third-grade students in two public elementary schools in Japan. Homeroom classes in the schools were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The final intervention group included 99 children (58 boys, 41 girls) and the final control group included 96 children (45 boys, 51 girls). The program was implemented weekly in one regular 45-minute class over eight weeks for all homeroom class members. Participants completed two questionnaires both before and after the program. Similar assessment periods were used for the control group. The questionnaires assessed the main purposes of the program (to enhance the understanding of bullying, to cultivate empathetic feelings for bullying victims, and to cultivate behavioral capabilities that stop bullying), and measured the adaptive status of children in homeroom class and at school. Results indicated that all of the main program purposes were achieved in the intervention group compared to the control group. Moreover, the level of the children’s adjustment in homeroom class and at school significantly increased with the program, except for motivation for learning, which did not change. The necessity of future research that examines the sustainability of the efficacy of the program with randomized controlled trials is discussed, along with the study limitations

愛着と虐待

Bowlbyがアタッチメント理論を公表してから半世紀が経つが，その重要性は色褪せていない。子どもの養育者への健全なアタッチメントは，その後の健康と適応を保証するほどの要因となる。逆に言えば，その歪みはその後の人生において多様で深刻な問題をもたらすことになる。本論文においては最初にこのアタッチメントについて概説し，そこからアタッチメントの無秩序・無方向型（D型）の特徴と問題性の大きさを強調した。その後，近年発生数が急増している養育者から子どもへの虐待の問題について，被虐待児の多くがD型のアタッチメントを持つことに注目した。そして，この虐待とアタッチメントの関係を考慮し，虐待問題への解決にアタッチメントの歪みからアプローチすることを本論文の主題として浮かび上がらせた。そこで，D型のアタッチメントを変容させることを念頭に，まず虐待の現象を概説した。その後，親から子どもへの虐待に至り，被虐待児がアタッチメントの歪みからトラウマなど重篤な問題，さらには外在化ならびに内在化の問題を示すに至る過程を明らかにし，その間に複数の介入ポイントを明示した。そして，その介入ポイントに従い，被虐待児を救い，虐待に至る親の態度を変容させる方途や，トラウマや内外在化の問題を解決する方法のあり方にふれた。虐待は世代間連鎖を生む確率が高く，その点でも虐待を受けた子どものパーソナリティの歪みを虐待につながらない特性にまで変容させることが急務になっていることが強調された。Although half a century has past since Bowlby introduced the theory of attachment, its signifi cance has never been fading. Non-distorted attachment is a crucial factor that guarantees healthy and adaptive life of children thereafter. To speak reversely, distorted attachment brings about various problems in later stages of life. First, the current paper roughly explained about attachment, underscoring the characteristics and importance of disorganized/disoriented attachment type (Type D). Afterward, Type D attachment was focused as an attachment type as which abused children are often classifi ed, and then the relationships between this type and child abuse that is rapidly increasing in recent years were emphasized as the main theme in this paper. So, next, the phenomena of child abuse were depicted, clarifying multiple intervention points on the process from abusing to various psychological problems such as trauma and external/internal problems through falling in D-type attachment. And according to the intervention points, methods to modify parental child-rearing attitudes and childrenʼs distorted attachment and to address psychological problems of abused children were introduced. Considering that child abuse produces intergeneration chains, it is an urgent task to modify abused childrenʼs distorted personality into the one that does not lead to abuse of their own children

「不登校」の問題とその解決

School refusal (non-attendance at school) has recently been prevalent in Japan. The number of children refusing to go to school decreased until the mid 1970 s, but has been reversely increasing from then to the present. Regarding school refusal, various causes are indicated, among which changes in the industrial structure and rising education continuance rates to senior high schools are underscored. Thereby, schools are getting less fascinating to children. Although the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has attempted to deal with this problem, it has resulted in failure. So, the MEXT has come to regard school refusal as a common phenomenon ordinary children often show, and admitted various types of unofficial private schools receiving children with school refusal. Additionally, the MEXT started the examination of the certificate for students achieving the proficiency level of upper secondary school graduates by which children can select various future routes including to enter universities without going to senior high schools. From various causes leading to school refusal, the current paper mainly picked up the causes of children\u27s psychological characteristics leading to school refusal. Then, first, it was depicted how such characteristics develop and result in school refusal. Thereafter, based on the development, various solutions for school refusal were suggested for surrounding people such as parents and teachers. Second, the concrete solutions were explained depending on the stages of school refusal. Finally, as one of the fundamental solutions, the possibilities of prevention education at school were introduced, along with the current world trend of this problem

「いじめ」問題とその解決

Bullying is still prevalent in Japan, leading to serious problems such as suicides of victims. Although the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has thus far attempted to address this problem, it has resulted in failure. Even the Act for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying that was enacted in 2013 cannot stop this problem. In this paper, first, the real figures regarding bullying were clarified using various statistical materials, and then the definition of bulling was discussed referring to previous definitions within and outside Japan. Thereafter, various facilitating factors to bullying were introduced, elucidating many detrimental influences on victims, bullies, and bystanders. Regarding the causes that make bullies conduct bullying, they were discussed in terms of both developmental and information-processing factors, and the approaches to address bullying problems were revealed in each of both factors. Other than bullies’ characteristics, the influence from bystanders was underscored clarifying why they stand by while noticing bullying. Additionally, it was suggested that if school as a system can effectively function against bulling, bullying will be stopped before getting serious, discussing how such a school system should be established. However, the school system at present cannot cultivate characteristics by which students do not conduct bullying in any place and in any time, which is a fundamental purpose school education aims to achieve. So, finally, the possibilities and necessities of prevention for bullying that cultivates antibullying characteristics were suggested with an introduction of an effective prevention program

セイカンジョウ コーピング ソシテ ケンコウ ノ カンケイ ニオケル コレマデ ノ ケンキュウ チケン ト ソノ コウサツ セイカンジョウ ト コーピング オ ソウサ カイニュウ インシ トシタ ケンコウ ゾウシン カイニュウ ノ カノウセイ

Yamasaki and colleagues have investigated the relationships between positive affect (PA), coping by "finding positive meaning," and health status using self-report questionnaires in undergraduate and graduate students. Although an increasing number of studies have been conducted on these relationships in western countries, few other studies than Yamasaki et al.\u27s ones are found in Japan. Their studies consist of one cross-sectional, two prospective, and three intervention studies. These studies showed a few of inconsistent results because of their methodological differences. Taking into consideration that the intervention is the most powerful among the research methods they utilized for finding the causalities between the variables, the following findings were extracted from their studies as a conclusion: (1) the enhancement of coping by "finding positive meaning" increases PA; (2) the enhancement of PA does not increase this coping ; and (3) both PA and this coping lead to mental health promotion. Based on these findings, a self-control type of intervention method was developed in this article for future primary, secondary, and tertiary preventions. A number of limitations concerning Yamasaki et al.\u27s studies are discussed with future promising topics

大学ならびに大学院における「公認心理師養成」のグランドデザイン

Licensed psychologists were born in early 2019. Because this license is officially given by the government, the power of the license is getting stronger. Licensed psychologists are expected to work in broader working places such as hospitals, schools, companies, etc. From this recent trend, a host of universities and graduate schools have built up their training courses for licensed psychologists. Basically, those who would like to take the national examination for the license need to take training in both universities and graduate schools. Or, they can take the exam by working in determined facilities for two years after completing the course in universities without entering into graduate schools. In this paper, it was discussed how the courses in universities and graduate schools should be in terms of lectures, practical training, and preparation for the exam and job hunting. Even at present, the number of universities and graduate schools to train for licensed psychologists are many. So, unless each university or graduate school plans effective and fascinating training courses for students, they will be naturally selected to disappear. Considering this possibility, the current paper suggested various outstanding characteristics that each training course can include. They are simultaneous underscoring of basic and applied psychology, based on the scientist-practitioner model, cultivation of abilities for efficient human relationships, and building systems for preparing for the exam and job hunting. Certified clinical psychologists have thus far been almost occupying works in medical, educational, and welfare domains. However, from now on, licensed psychologists are predicted to play active parts instead of certified clinical psychologists and other psychologists in all the domains. Finally, it was underscored that psychology is not limited to clinical psychology. Many other domains of psychology are also crucial. In the education of psychology, universities and graduate schools need to be careful of balancing educations in various types of psychology

Effect of a Nitric Oxide Donor on Intracellular Cytokine Production in Normal Human Peripheral Lymphocytes

It has been recently suggested that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in modulating immune responses including helper T (Th) cell differentiation. To investigate the effect of NO on cytokine production in T cells, we examined in vitro the percentage of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-4 producing cells by the intracellular cytokine staining method with flow cytometry. The percentage of IFN-γ and IL-4 producing cells reached maximal value 8 h after stimulation by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin. When an NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), was co-incubated with PMA and ionomycin for 8 h, nitrite levels increased in a dose dependent manner for SNP (P = 0.007; Friedman test). The percentage of IFN-γ producing cells was diminished in consequence of the increasing doses of SNP (P = 0.002; Friedman test). While the percentage of IL-4 producing cells tended to be diminished by SNP, this difference, however, was statistically not significant (P = 0.062; Friedman test). Therefore, we have suggested that NO might affect Th cell differentiation through inhibition of Th1-cytokine production and might cause a Th2 cell predominant state