The processes of mourning in chronic illnesses from early adolescence through early adulthood were examined in comparison with a previous study that covered a shorter time span (Imao, 2004). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine adult patients with chronic kidney disease (two males and seven females) who had presented symptoms when they were adolescents. The overall analysis of their life stories supported a stage model as more applicable than a chronic sorrow model. Further analysis revealed that their mourning processes were classified into four categories, according to contents and timing of appearance of symptoms. The results suggested first that the experience and timing of relapse and deterioration were key concepts for differentiation of the mourning process. Specifically, when deterioration in adolescence affected one's career choice, the process of mourning seemed to play a more important role in identity development. In addition, the establishment of intimacy as a psychosocial task of adult development appeared to have a complex connection to the mourning process. Follow-up research will focus on the psychosocial development in different developmental stages and on mourning over longer time spans.

View full abstract

This study examined whether adolescents' transition to society is promoted by social trust, i.e., their perception of society as trustworthy. Social trust has been emphasized in terms of citizenship, and based on the assumption that membership in voluntary associations is a central element in the building of society. College and junior college graduates (N=8,336) ages 23-39 completed an on-line questionnaire in which social trust was measured by a sentence completion test. The findings first showed that social trust was not only the result of a transition to life in society, but also a cause of the transition. In addition, marriage, income, participants' college rankings according to the difficulty of entrance examinations, and social capital formed during college, were all positively related to social trust. It appears that the mechanism of social trust as it promotes transition to life in society should be clarified in further research.

View full abstract

This study surveyed individuals with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) about the meaning of self and others, under the influence of visible differences due to CLP. Exploratory life story interviews were conducted with 14 participants with CLP, at an outpatient clinic at a university's Department of Dentistry. The results revealed the characteristics of the meaning of self and others with CLP, across developmental stages. It appeared that the meaning of self with CLP changed from "awareness of visible difference and functional disorder" in early childhood, to "awareness of difference from others" in later childhood, to "low self-evaluation" in adolescence, and to "understanding of self with CLP" in early adulthood. Further research should be conducted on variations in individual development, and specifically on building developmental support for people with CLP.

View full abstract

Previous research has shown that the performance of children on arithmetic tests was predictable based on their performance on neuro-psychological tests. In this study an experiment was conducted on 5-6 year old children (N=48) to clarify the relationship between finger dexterity and numerical abilities. The results showed a significant correlations between finger dexterity and numerical abilities. In addition, the findings remained significant after partialing out the effects of age and performance test scores, or age and short-term memory capacity scores. Moreover, the correlation coefficient between finger dexterity and numerical abilities was greater than the correlation coefficient between short-term memory capacity and numerical abilities. These finding suggested that the relationship between finger dexterity and numerical abilities among preschool children were stronger than was indicated by previous findings.

View full abstract

The present study revealed developmental processes in the operations used by students to quantify probability. Junior high school students (n=32) and university students (n=54) answered questions about the probability of getting particular numbers under various dice-rolling conditions. Developmental stages were identified as follows: Stage I A: Basic first-order quantification of probability Stage I B: First-order quantification of probability with additive composition Stage II A: Basic second-order quantification of probability Stage II B: Second-order quantification of probability with additive composition Stage III A: Quantification of basic conditional probability Stage III B: Quantification of Bayesian conditional probability According to the results, many junior high school students remained at stage I A, whereas many university students reached stage II A. It seemed difficult for university students to deal with any possible cases needed to reach stage II B. Stage III required further competence, reversibility of thought, although some students reached stage II B.

View full abstract

This study investigated family communication in the context of dinner time discourse between a 5-year old boy, his mother, and his two school-age siblings. The focus was on the child's participation in mother-sibling conversational interactions. The results showed that the child's verbalizations and mother-child-sibling interactions increased in frequency during the child's transition to school. From the perspective of pragmatics, "instruction" increased during the preschool period and the expression of "reflective commentary" increased extending over time. This suggested that not only the period of child's entry into school but also the preschool period was a time for important family communication. In such communication, the transmission of information about elementary school facilitated the child's adjustment to school. The child was not effective at first in participating in mother-sibling conversations, but became more capable during the transitional period at conversational interactions and continuing interactions on a theme. In general, sensitivity to the child's growing ability to engage in discourse was more apparent in the mother's interactions than in the siblings' interactions with the child.

View full abstract

This study examined interactions between 20 mothers and their low birthweight infants, as observed in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and focused on how mothers held their babies and the infants' actions. The mothers and babies had experienced separation by the use of incubators. Holding was a very important modality of interaction between mothers and infants who had experienced separation. The rate of holding was compared between the time immediately after reintegration and immediately before leaving the hospital. During the former period, the rate of horizontal holding was highest, but at the latter point in time the rate of face-to-face holding was highest. This trend suggested a process by which types of holding continued to increase. In addition, frequencies of infant actions increased between the former and latter periods. This indicated a close connection between the process in which mothers add horizontal holding to face-to-face holding, and increased in frequency of infant activities. In consideration of this association, events which occurred before and after holding were used to infer meaning from context. Horizontal holding and face-to-face holding therefore appeared to have different functions.

View full abstract

In Study 1, 32 Japanese and 33 Chinese preschoolers performed phonological awareness tasks on which they were required to recognize onset sounds of one-syllable English words. The words had four different types of phonological structures: CVC, CCVC, CVCC, and VCC (Vowels or Consonants). In Study 2, 15 Japanese preschoolers and 33 Chinese preschoolers repeated aloud same one-syllable English words that were used in Study 1. The following were the main results. Japanese children were better at recognizing onset sounds of one-syllable English words than ware Chinese children, especially when the words had a CCVC or VCC structure. In addition, Chinese children were better at repeating one-syllable English words, whereas Japanese children more often failed to orally repeat one-syllable English words for which they successfully recognized onset sounds, especially when the words had a CCVC or CVCC structure. The results had implications for young children's learning of English sounds.

View full abstract

This research examined coping processes used in unresolved and recurring marital conflicts. It focused on the process of making sense of conflict. Recently married women (N=30) participated in a longitudinal e-mail survey and interview about their experiences with marital conflict. Descriptions and narratives were classified according to women's reported needs for problem resolution, as either "no need to solve," "need to solve if possible," and "need to solve." Qualitative analysis showed that each classification group had a characteristic pattern of meaning-making. The patterns were related to reinterpretations of the conflict events, and to women's increased feelings of reliability and familiarity regarding their spouses. The results showed that it is important to consider the process of meaning-making of conflict events, in the study of long-term marital relationships.

View full abstract

This study compared how children in England and Japan judged the legitimacy of applying majority decisions in various situations. Third, 6th and 8th graders, and undergraduates (N=240) participated in the study. They were presented with 13 hypothetical situations in which members of a group were having a discussion and were going to make a group decision. Participants judged whether it was appropriate to apply a majority decision in each situation, and were also asked to explain their judgments. Overall, children in both countries understood the limitations of applying majority decisions according to the situation. However, there were some cultural group differences in judgments. In general, English participants approved more of majority decision than did Japanese participants. In addition, Japanese more often gave emotional explanations than did English participants. The results were discussed from the cross-cultural perspective.

View full abstract