Effects of child abuse history on borderline personality traits, negative life events, and depression: a study among a university student population in Japan.

To simultaneously examine the impact of childhood abuse history on borderline personality traits, negative life events, and depression, undergraduate students (N=243) were studied by questionnaire surveys with one week intervals. Neglect and emotional abuse as well as sexual maltreatment predicted borderline personality traits and baseline depression. Baseline depression as well as the impact of negative life events occurring the week prior predicted depression a week later.

The Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 in Japanese university students.

The psychometric properties of the Japanese Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3), a self-report measure of self-conscious emotions, were examined in Japanese university students. Confirmatory factor analyses showed good fits of the theory-driven model for 6 emotions to the data. The subscales of the TOSCA-3 showed moderate correlations and internal consistency.

The Inventory of Personality Organisation: its psychometric properties among student and clinical populations in Japan.

Background: The Inventory of Personality Organisation (IPO) is a self-report measure that reflects personality traits, as theorized by Kernberg.

Methods: In study 1, the Japanese version of the IPO was distributed to a population of Japanese university students (N = 701). The students were randomly divided into two groups.

Guilt and its multidimensionality: empirical approaches using Klein's view.

After examining the definitions of persecutory and penitential types of guilt, based on Melanie Klein's view, we developed a single-item measure of these types and examined reliability and validity of the measure in three studies. Concurrent validity of the measure was shown among a university student population using the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 as an external validator. The questionnaire was not influenced by a socially desirable response style.

Correlates of the categories of adolescent attachment styles: Perceived rearing, family function, early life events, and personality.

Aims: To identify the psychosocial correlates of adolescents.

Methods: Unmarried university students (n = 4226) aged 18-23 years were examined in a questionnaire survey.

Results: Four clusters of people (indifferent, secure, fearful, and preoccupied) identified by cluster analysis were plotted in 2-D using discriminant function analysis with the first function (father's and mother's Care, Cooperativeness, and family Cohesion on the positive end and Harm Avoidance and father's and mother's Overprotection on the negative end) representing the Self-model and the second function (Reward Dependence and experience of Peer Victimization on the positive end and Self-directedness on the negative end) representing the Other model.

Anger feelings and anger expression as a mediator of the effects of witnessing family violence on anxiety and depression in Japanese adolescents.

The effects of anger feelings (rated by the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory) and witnessing family violence on anxiety and depression (rated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were examined in 457 junior high school students. Anxiety and depression scores were correlated with frequencies of witnessing family violence. In a regression analysis, however, after controlling for the demographic variables and depression score, the anxiety score was predicted by State Anger, Anger-Out, and Anger-Control; the depression score was predicted, after controlling for the demographic and anxiety score, by State Anger, Anger-In positively, and by Anger-Out and Anger-Control negatively.

Factor structure of the FACES-III in Japanese university students.

We performed a confirmatory factor analysis for the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-III) using 3865 university students in Japan. We confirmed two factors as in the original version, but there were slight differences with the original one. Some items were deleted in order to obtain sufficient goodness-of-fit indexes in a series of confirmatory factor analyses.

Aggression and guilt during mourning by parents who lost an infant.

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 38 mothers and fathers who had lost an infant. The focus of the interview was aggression and guilt during mourning work. The participants felt strong shame after separation.

The link between response styles and major depression and anxiety disorders after child-loss.

Although several studies have indicated that persons with a high ruminative coping style experience higher depression after the loss of a loved one, the relationship between ruminative coping and the occurrence of clinical depression and anxiety disorders after a loss has not been thoroughly investigated. This study investigated the relationship between response styles (ruminative coping v distractive coping) and the onset of major depression and anxiety disorders in a sample of parents who had experienced sudden child-loss (N = 106). The incidence of major depression after the loss of a child was very high (69%).

Burden on family members of the mentally ill: a naturalistic study in Japan.

People with mental disorders often cause distress among their family members. We examined a total of 25 pairs of newly referred psychiatric patients and their family members to investigate the correlations between family burden and patient diagnosis (using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R [SCID] axis I disorders), symptomatic severity (Positive and Negative Symptoms Scales [PANSS]), global function (Global Assessment of Functioning [GAF]), and the general level of family function (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale [FACES]). The subjective and objective burdens on the family were assessed by self-report.