ABSTRACT
THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (2002,Vol.13)

Shimura, Yoko (Saitama University, Faculty of Education), Imaizumi, Satoshi (Faculty of Health Sciences, Hiroshima Prefectural College of Health Sciences) & Yamamuro, Chiaki (Caritas Kinder Garten). Young Children 's Recognition of Emotional Aspects of 2 month-olds ' Vocalizations. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 1-11.
Perception of emotional aspects of infants' vocalizations, i. e., "comfort vs. discomfort" and "calm vs. surprised," were studied in a sample of young children in Japan (N = 64). Based on perceptual experiments on adults, 10 typical voice samples were selected to represent each of 4 emotional categories. A typical picture of an infant face was prepared corresponding to each emotional category. Testing for vocal perception of "comfort vs. discomfort," for instance, only the "comfort" and "discomfort" pictures were presented After listening to ten voice stimuli for "comfort" or "discomfort," children were asked to point to the face they thought mached the stimuli. The same procedure was followed for "calm" vs. "surprised" stimuli. Even 2-year-olds could consistently make the "comfort vs. discomfort" contrast in the same way as adults and the proportion of matches increased with age. For the "calm vs. surprised" contrast, however, only 2-year-old children could consistently make judgments in the same way as adults, while 3-and 4 year-olds could not. These findings suggest that perception of "comfort vs. discomfort" in infants' vocalizations are easy even for 2- years-old children, while perception of the "calm vs. surprised" contrast is not fully developed in early childhood.
[ Key Words ] Infants vocalization, Early childhood, Infant emotion, Affective development, Emotional recognition



Ishikawa, Takayukil (Graduate School of Psychology, Doshisha University) & Uchiyama, Ichiro (Department of Psychology, Doshisha University). The Relations of Empathy and Role- Taking A bility to Guilt Feelings in Adolescence. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 12-19.
The present study related empathy and role-taking ability to guilt, by inducing guilt feelings in interpersonal and rule-breaking situations. Junior and senior high school and college students (N=444) completed questionnaires to assess their guilt, empathy, and role-taking ability (social perspective-taking). The results showed that guilt feelings were the most intense in the interpersonal situation among college students, and in the rule-breaking situation among junior high school students. Correlations between empathy, role-taking ability and guilt feelings were next calculated for each gender group. For males, empathy was positively correlated with guilt feelings in the interpersonal situation, as was role-taking ability in the rule-breaking situation. For female students, empathy was positively correlated with guilt feelings in both the interpersonal and rule-breaking situations, as was role-taking ability in the rule-breaking situation. In sum, the data showed an important link between empathy and role-taking ability to guilt feelings. There was no gender difference for the interpersonal situation, but a gender effect was found for the rule-breaking situation.
[ Key Words ] Guilt, Empathy, Role-taking, Social perspective-taking, Adolesoence



Fujimura, Nobuyuki (Faculty of Education, Saitama University). Causal Reasoning and the Development of Children's Economic Thinking. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 20-29.
This study examined children's thinking about causal relationships between prices and factors such as supply and demand. Fourth to 6th graders (N=82) answered questions about why two kinds of goods were priced differently (e.g., berries sold in December vs. May). Children also indicated the mediating factors that related their explanations to price differences. Analysis of children's explanations revealed that older children more often used causal reasoning between prices and production factors (supply, cost, and profit) than younger ones. In addition, variability in children's reasoning and the causal links of their reasoning increased with age. Even 4th graders were able to choose some appropriate economic factors depending on the characteristics of goods.
[ Key Words ] Conceptual development, Causal reasoning, Economic reasoning, Everyday knowledge, Adaptive choice



Kato, Kuniko (Hitachi Family Education Research Center), Ishii-Kuntz, Masako (University of California, Riverside), Makino, Katsuko (Ochanomizu University) & Tsuchiya, Michiko (Hitachi Fanrily Education Research Center). The Impact of Paternal Involvement and Maternal Childcare Anxiety on Sociability of Three- Year- Olds: Two Cohort Comparison. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 30-41.
The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of father's involvement in childcare and mother's childcare anxiety on measures of sociability of 3 year-olds. A path model was used to examine the relationships between these variables. Due to the changes related to Japanese men's attitudes toward work and their increased time spent with families, data were collected in both 1992-1993 (Cohort 1) and 1997-1998 (Cohort 2). The data showed paternal involvement to be a significant factor affecting sociability of among 3 year-olds, for both cohorts. This suggests the direct influence of men's participation in childcare for children's social development Furthermore, a frequent conversation between husbands and wives was found to be a significant indirect factor affecting children's sociability.
[ Key Words ] Sociability, Father's Involvement in childcare, Mother's childcare an'xiety, Path model



Fukukawa, Yasuyuki (National Institute for Longevity Sciences), Tsuboi, Satomi(National Institute for Longevity Sciences) , Niino, Naoakira(National Institute for Longevity Sciences) , Ando, Fujiko (National Institute for Longevity Sciences), Kosugi, Shotaro (Waseda University) & Shimokata, Hiroshi (National Institute for Longevity Sciences) . Stress. Social Exchanges. and Depressive Symptoms in Japanese Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults: Positive and Negative Effects of Familial Relationships on Psychological Health. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 42-50.
This study examined the relationships among life stress, social exchanges with family members, and depressive symptoms in Japanese middle-aged and elderly adults. Subjects (N= 2,010) , comprised the first wave participants of the National Institute for Longevity Sciences-Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS- LSA) ages 40 years and over. Hierarchical regression analysis showed first that positive exchanges with family had the effect of decreasing depressive symptoms, whereas negative exchanges had the inverse effect of increasing depressive symptoms (the former effect was greater than the latter) . In addition, negative exchanges also interacted with life stress; increased depressive symptoms were only related to negative exchanges for participants who reported medium or lower levels of stress. These findings suggest the unique characteristics of positive and negative social exchanges with life stress and psychological health.
[Key Words] Middle and late adulthood, Stress, Social exchanges, Depressive symptoms, Family



Okuda, Kenji (School of Social Welfare, Kibi International University) & Inoue, Masahiko (Center for Development and Clinical Psychology, Hyogo University of Teacher Education). Acquisition and Generalization of Discrimination between Own and Others ' Knowledge Situations for Children and Adult with Autism. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 51-62.
This research examined the conditions necessary, for children and adult with autism and mild mental retardation, to discriminate between their own and others' knowledge situations. Participants (ages 9-20, N=3) performed well on spatial perspective-taking tasks. But they performed badly on cognitive perspective- taking tasks that examined their understanding of whether or not the participants or others knew the number of playing cards. The findings included the following. First the skill of answering about one's own knowledge was guided by using a visual prompt-fading method. Participants learned to answer correctly about their own knowledge, but no transfer was shown to knowledge of others. Second, regarding one's and others' knowledge under different knowledge conditions (visible vs. invisible, invisible vs. visible), discrimination was guided by prompting and moving the other side. Correct answers in response to the different knowledge conditions increased, but they deceased on the same knowledge conditions (visible vs. visible, invisible vs. invisible). Third, teaching was conducted for not only different knowledge conditions, but also for the same knowledge conditions. As a result, participants learned to discriminate their own vs. others' knowledge situations, and to discriminate knowledge situations between two other people. The results were discussed in terms of teaching task conditions and teaching theory-of-mind tasks.
[ Key Words ] Self/Other. Knowledge. Perspective-taking. Theory of mind. Discrimination Autism



Takada, Akira (Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science / Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University). Caregiving Behaviors among the San and the Meaning for Child Development. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.1, 63-77.
"Gymnastic" (keeping infants standing up or jumping on one's lap) and breast-feeding have been the subjects of research with respect to the foraging lifestyle of the San (indigenous people of Southern Africa) . To better understand these two phenomena, field research was conducted among the ! Xu San, who had close associations with farming/herding people. Analyses I showed that! Xu caretakers frequently engaged fretful infants in "gymnastic" exercise with emphasizing the function to soothe them, while it was reported previously that the San believe "gymnastic" behavior promote infant motor development. Analyses 2 showed that mothers nursed their babies briefly and frequently at short intervals. It also indicated the following relevant features: (1) there was little restriction of time and space in nursing infants; (2) during sucking, mothers gazed at infants less than usual; (3) mothers seldom jiggled infants during pauses in sucking; and (4) "gymnastic" behavior sometimes interrupted breast-feeding. These findings suggest that there is a cultural diversity in caretaker reactions caused by infant behaviors, and that caretaker-infant interactions gradually become organized. This study also implicates that childrearing should be interpreted in relation to cultural structures, including behavior, folk knowledge and the environment.
[ Key Words ] The San. Infant. Gymnastic, Breast-feeding, Jiggling



Saijo, Takeo (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science). The Transition from Mothers' Horizontal to Vertical Holding of Infants :Application of a Dynamic Systems Approach. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 97-108.
Infants and their mothers (16 pairs) were videotaped monthly between 1 and 7 months of age. To identify the most effective control parameter in transition from horizontal to vertical holding, each baby was examined in terms of physical, postural and other behavioral development from a dynamic systems approach. Infants' ability to keep their heads upright was related to the transition from horizontal to vertical holding, but the infants' resistance to horizontal holding was the most effective control parameter. To futher examine the transitional process between horizontal to vertical holding, a qualitative analysis was conducted on interviews with mothers. The results showed that horizontal holding shifted to vertical holding through 2 processes. First, as the infant's condition changed, the mothers changed their ways of holding through mother-infant intersubjectivity, so that the holding style converged on vertical holding, which the infants did not resist. Second, infants' ability to keep their heads upright afforded vertical holding of the mother. The findings indicate that holding results from a self-organized process of mother-infant interaction.
［Key Words］ Dynamic systems approach, Self-organization, Intersubjectivity, Affordance, Development of holding



Fujisaki, Ayuko (Graduate School of Human Culture, Nara Women's University). Owners' Understanding of Their Pets' Internal States. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 109-121.
This study analyzed owner / pet interactions and examined how owners think about their pets' internal states. Dog owners (N = 22) and cat owners (N= 19) videotaped their pets in daily life and answered questions about pets' "mind." The videos showed that owners' utterances were most frequently intended to attract the pets' attention, and in many cases they asked pets about their internal states or situations. When they talked about internal states, owners of both dogs and cats most frequently mentioned their pets' emotions. There were also some differences in interactions with pets, comparing owners of dogs and cats. For example, cat owners were more likely to notice expressions on pets' faces. There were no differences between dog and cat owners in response to questions about their understanding of internal states. Finally, the characteristics of owner / pet interactions suggested that there may also be some similarities between adults' nurturance toward pets and pre-verbal human infants.
[Key Words］Owner / pet interaction, Internal states, Mind reading, Nurturance



Tomita, Shohei (Yamaguchi Junior College of Arts). Real vs. Not Real, Children' Understanding of Fantasy Characters. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 122-135.
In Study 1, 4-, 6-, and 8-year olds answered questions about 2 event-related fantasy characters (Santa Claus and a monster) and two popular television characters (Oh-Ranger and Sailor Moon). Children responded to questions by relating their experiences with fantasy characters and judging whether the characters were real or not. These questions examined children's reasoning about reality status. In Study 2, parents of the children answered questions about their knowledge of children's experiences and beliefs concerning fantasy characters. The main findings were as follows. Judgment of "real" or "not real" changed from non-differentiated to differentiated between 4 and 6 years of age. In addition, children's beliefs about the reality status of fantasy characters shifted from belief to disbelief between ages 6 and 8. [Key Words] Fantasy character, Reality status, Cognitive development, Preschool children, Elementary school children



Takashima, Machiko (Center of Developmental Education and Research). The Development of Young Children's Understanding of Representation Using Thought-Bubbles. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 136-146.
The focus of this study was on how preschool children understand representation of thought bubbles, such as those often appearing in comic strips. Children aged 3, 4, 5, and 6 (N= 96) participated in three experimental tasks. On the knowledge task, it appeared that children's awareness of thought and thought bubbles began during the preschool years. On the comprehension task, children between the ages of 3 and 5 explained characters' thinking more easily with increasing age. Three- and 4-year-olds had greater ease explaining the actions than the thoughts of characters. Children's ability to explain thoughts reached the same level as their ability to explain actions by the age of 5, and instruction on mental descriptions was effective for 3- and 4-year-olds in inducing their ability to explain thoughts. On the production task, the effect of instruction was not found when children were asked using a thought bubble about a character's own mental states. On the production task, expressing one's own desires or thinking and then about their preferences was easier for children than inferring the character's thinking. Finally, the fact that a substantial number of 5- and 6-year-olds answered "thinking nothing" in the interpretation of blank bubbles seems to indicate that the framework for understanding the human mind changes qualitatively between the ages of 4 and 5.
[Key Words]Cognitive development, Preschoolers, Thought bubbles, Mental terms, Understanding of representation



Ohno Kazuo (Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Faculty of Physical Education). Grade and Sex Differences in Adolescent Ego Development. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 147-157.
The present research examined ego development among Japanese adolescents, in relation to Loevinger's theory. A 36-item Japanese version of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test ("WUSCT "), constructed based on the English language version, was administered to 5th through 12th graders (N = 799). Each participant's Total Protocol Rating ("TPR") was calculated by ogive rules to characterize individuals as either Impulsive (E2; I-2), Self-Protective (E3; Delta), Self-Protective / Conformist (Delta / E3), Conformist (E4; I-3), Self-Aware (E5;I-3 / 4). Higher grade level in school was associated with a higher level of ego development. There were Self-Aware girls from 8th grade and older, whereas Self-Aware boys appeared from the 10th grade and up. Each participant's TPR was also calculated as an Item Sum Score (ISS) for the 36 items, and this TPR increased in the higher grade levels. Lastly, girls' ISS score were higher than boys' scores, across all grade levels. The results suggest that there is an increase in ego development level with higher grade level, and also a gender difference in ego development among Japanese adolescents.
[ Key Words ］ Ego development ,WUSCT Adolescence, Loevinger Personality development



Tonami, Tomoko (Graduate School of Human Culture, Nara Women's University), Miyoshi, Fumi (Mitoyo General Hospital) & Asao Takeshi (Nara Women's University). Structure of Dialogues in Children's Collaborative Decision-Making. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 158-167.
This study examined the process of collaborative decision-making among young children. Twenty-four 5 year-olds and 58 6 year-olds took part in an experiment. They entered a model rocket in pairs and exited the model when they chose to leave or when an experimenter came for them after 15 minutes. Analyses concerned discourse and behavior which displayed the intent to exit the rocket or remain in it. About 60 percent of the children changed their intentions at least once. Changing opinions immediately, or changing one's mind in agreement with a peer, accounted for 24% of all changes in opinion. The results revealed that children change their minds easily and that children's collaborative decisions were made tentatively during interactions. A fluctuation of intentions appeared in children's transition from inter-mental functioning to intra-mental functioning. Finally, the tentative appearance of double-voice discourse indicates the possibility of inner dialogue and the beginning of intra-mental functioning.
[ Key Words］Preschool children, Collaborative decision-making, Intention, Double-voice discourse, Peer relations



Matsunaga, Akemi (Faculty of Education, Gunma University). Preschool Children's Inference about Personality Traits. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, No.2, 168-177.
The present study addressed the following three questions: (1) Do young children spontaneously predict the future behavior of others people and infer personality traits based on their behavior? (2) How do young children infer personality traits? and (3) How do young children judge personality traits when a person's behavior is inconsistent? Participants (3- to 6-year olds) watched a series of animated TV cartoons in pairs. Their conversations while watching TV were analyzed, and they answered questions about the cartoon characters. There were three main findings: (1) Children spontaneously predicted the future behavior of characters and inferred their personality traits; (2) Children generalized about personality traits based on specific observed behavior; and (3) Children used several rules to judge the personality traits for a character whose behavior was inconsistent, and the rule they employed depended on the situation.
[Key Words] Early childhood, Social cognition, Inference about personality traits, Judgment of personality traits



Amaya, Yuko (Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University). Questions toward "I": Ego-Experience as Assessed by a Semi-Structured Interview. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 221-231.
This research concerned ego-experience in the form of children's questions toward themselves. "Why am I 'I' ?. "Why do I exist?," "Where did I come from?." "Why was I born at this particular time rather than at a different point in time?," and feelings that one's appearance is strange, all reflected ego-experiences. Three aspects of ego- experience were assumed in this research: "questions toward one's existence, questions toward one's origin or situation," and "sense of incongruity with oneself." Junior high school students (N=60) participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results were as follows: (1) 38 subjects reported a total of 51 ego-experiences, and ego-experiences were a common phenomenon for children. (2) The 51 ego-experiences involved the assumed three aspects of ego-experience (3) The ego-experiences appeared between upper elementary and middle school.
[ Key Words ] "I", Early adolescence, Ego-experience, Semi-structured interview, Self



Uchida, Nobuko (Graduate School of Humanities and Science, Ochanomizu University) & Omiya, Akiko (Graduate School of Humanities and Science, Ochanomizu University). Development of Young Children's Explanations: The Relationship between Domain Knowledge and Reasoning Schemata in Causal Systems. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 232-243.
To explain biological and physical phenomena, we activate complex psychological constructs. In this research, two experiments were conducted to examine the relations between domain knowledge acquisition and reasoning schemata in explanations. In the first experiment , 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, and adults (total N=120), performed "explanation tasks" consisting of 4 reasoning problems translated from conditional reasoning tasks, and justifications of yes-no judgments involving familiar phenomena. These problems were embedded in familiar and realistic contexts. In Experiment 2, children of ages 5:O years and 5:6 years, and adults (total N =9O), solved same types of problems as in Experiment 1. These tasks were embedded in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts and participants also explained their judgments in detail in response to wh-questions. The results were as follows: (1) On the tasks, young children's ability to make inferences was comparable to that of the adults; (2) Even 3-year-olds make both deductive and inductive inferences; (3) Children's explanations were flexible and appropriate depending on differentiated domain knowledge, because young children already have domain knowledge of theories of mind, biology and physics, and the level of this knowledge improved with age; and (4) Children's domain-specific knowledge acquisition promoted inductive and deductive inferences, based on domain-general reasoning schemata. There were two styles of adult explanations: highly elaborated through reasoning and a simple style through rote learning. Results (1) and (2) imply that reasoning schemata are domain-general, while results (3) and (4) suggest that increasing scientific knowledge has a powerful effect on the activation of both inductive and deductive reasoning.
[ Key Words ] Development of explanation, Causal systems, Domain knowledge acquisition, Reasoning schemata, Cognitive development



Tsuchida, Noriaki (Faculty of Letters, Ritsumeikan University). Children's Inhibition of Return on a Manual Task. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 244-251.
"Inhibition of return" refers to increased response latency when the target in a location discrimination task appears in the same location on consecutive trials. Participants in this study were 20 four-year olds and 24 five-year olds. In the experiment, the children's task was to press a left or right button in response to a stimulus displayed on a computer screen. Inhibition of return was observed at least among 4 year-olds on an intentional manual response task. In addition, inhibition of return was stronger when the task was more difficult. The data suggest that inhibition of return begins to function early during the development of behavioral regulation, and that implicit processes are important for the development of human systems of self-regulation.
[ Key Words ] Inhibition of return. Preschoolers, Inhibition, Behavioral regulation, Location discrimination task



Hatakeyama, Miho (Faculty of Education, Hiroshima University) & Yamazaki, Akira (Faculty of Education, Hiroshima University). An Observational Study of Preschooler's Aggressive Behavior in Free Play, in Relation to Gender and Peer Group Status. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 252-260.
The main purposes of the present study were to classify aggressive behaviors of preschool children according to the context in which they occur, and to examine subtypes of aggressive behavior in relation to gender, peer group status, and numbers of aggressive children. Four-and 5-years-old preschoolers (16 boys and 18 girls) were observed in a natural setting for one year. A total of 160 aggressive behaviors were observed and classified into 3 categories: proactive/overt aggression, instrumental/bullying, and relational aggression. The results showed that boys showed more proactive/overt aggression and instrumental/bullying aggression than girls, while girls showed more relational aggressive behaviors than boys. In addition, children were aggressive according to their peer group status. Children who were classified as "nuclear" in their peer group had higher frequencies of relational aggressive behavior than children who were otherwise classified. Children who were classified as "isolated" suffered more than others from relational aggression.
[ Key Words ] Aggressive behavior, Gender, Peer group status, Preschool children, Naturalistic observation



Sakagami, Hiroko(Teikyo University). Developmental Changes in Conflicts between a Mother and a Toddler. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, No.3, 261-273.
A mother-male toddler dyad was videotaped at home in natural settings when the boy was from 15 to 27 months of age. Analysis of his emotional reactions to maternal reproofs indicated that there were 3 phases in the development of conflict interactions. In Phase1, the mother communicated the inappropriateness of an action and the need to apologize and change his own behavior. He reacted mainly with positive emotion or tension. In Phase 2, the boy more often showed negative emotions in response to reproofs. However, he was also compliant relatively often and occasionally apologized in a voluntary way. The mother referred to his intention and responsibility for his behavior in this phase. Finally, in Phase3, the boy's reactions to reproofs reflected feelings of both anger end guilt, as the mother negotiated, threatened, or pushed him away when he was noncompliant. These trends suggest that changes in maternal responses to children's misbehavior parallel children's differentiation of emotional responses and intellectual advance. Such changes contribute to a reorganization of mother-child interaction in the period of toddlerhood.
[Key Words] Toddler, Mother-child interaction, Conflict, Longitudinal research, Socio-emotional development



Jin, Jing Ai (Graduate School of Science and Technology, Chiba University) & Naka, Makiko (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University) . Elicitation of Children‘s Narratives About Past Events by Chinese Mothers and Fathers. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol. 13, N0.3, 274-283.
As children develop autobiographical memories and narrative skills, parents encourage them to talk about past events. This study examined the interaction of two phenomena: (1) adaptation according to the child's age by mothers and fathers in their elicitation of children's narratives, and (2) differences between mothers and fathers in their communication with children. Conversations about past events were tape-recorded between 46 Chinese children (ages 3 to 5 years-old) and their mothers and fathers. The main findings were as follows. (1) There was less volume of parental speech with older children. (2) Parents of younger children asked more yes-no, what and repetitive question. (3) Parent of 3- and 4-year-olds asked for more information and clarifications than did parents of 5 year-olds. (4) Fathers, especially those of 4 year-olds, spoke more than did mothers, and used more yes-no and repetitive questions. The parents of 3 year-olds apparently provided scaffolding to support children's narratives, and fathers and mothers used different styles to support children's communication.
[Key Words] Narrative, Mother-child communication, Father-child communication, Chinese preschoolers, Autobiographical memory



Kamiya, Tetsuji (Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University). Paternal Cognition of lnfant Crying. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 284-294.
The present study examined men's perceptions of infant crying and their recognition of the causes of infant crying. Four groups participated in the research: (A) 45 unmarried men, (B) 10 newlywed men, (C) 15 men whose wives were expecting their first child, and (D) 27 fathers. Participants rated the cries of infants who had been evaluated as low and high for risk/complications, and offered their reasons for infants' crying. The results included: (1) Group D (fathers) perceptions were not as negative as those of Group A (unmarried men), (2) Group D perceptions correlated with frequency of child rearing activity, and Group C (husbands of expecting wives) correlated with participants' gender role concept and experience of child rearing, (3) Groups C and D discriminated between infant cries, recognizing pain as one cause of crying. These results demonstrated that a cognitive framework for understanding infant crying forms early in men's experience of fatherhood, and that fathers were competent in child rearing.
[ Key Words ] Fathers, Perception of infant crying, Cognitive framework, Gender, Transition to parenthood



Nagao, Hiroshi (Department of Literature, Kwassui Women's College). The Psychological Process of Maladjustment. and Conflicts in Ego Development in Adolescence. THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOOY 2002, Vol.13, N0.3, 295-306.
This study established the concurrent validity of Cattell's ego strength scale with Coddington's life change scale. This was shown in that Cattell's scale correlated strongly with Barron's ego strength scale, while Coddington's scale correlated positively with academic stress scales administered to Japanese junior and senior high school students. Junior and senior high school students (N=202) completed these 2 scales and an ego developmental crisis state scale (ECS-Nagao, 1989). Path analysis revealed 2 psychological processes. First, the ECS proceeded to maladjustment, as demonstrated on the basis of system theory (Lazarus, 1999). For junior high school students who did not meet life events, the process was that ego strength influenced ego developmental conflicts, and those conflicts increased the self-blame and consequently maladjustment. The process among high school students was that degree of ego strength interacted with the shock of life events. This influenced ego developmental conflicts, and then through self-blame resulted in maladjustment.
[ Key Words ] Adolescence, Maladjustment, Personality measure, Life events, Ego strength