Parental bonding during childhood affects stress-coping ability and stress reaction.

An online survey examined the effects of parental bonding during childhood on adult workers' stress-coping ability (Sense of Coherence) and stress reactions (General Health Questionnaire and Self-Rating Depression Scale). Participants who completed the questionnaire were grouped into optimal bonding and poor bonding groups. Analyses of covariance by gender with age as a covariate were conducted for the Sense of Coherence, General Health Questionnaire, and Self-Rating Depression Scale scores for 9525 participants. For both genders, the scores of the poor bonding group were significantly lower for the Sense of Coherence and significantly higher for the General Health Questionnaire and Self-Rating Depression Scale compared to those of the optimal bonding group.

Maximum Inter-foot Distance During Leg-crossing Movement Depends on Whether the Dominant or Non-dominant Leg Is in Front.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to describe a test to evaluate the maintenance of posture by measuring the inter-foot distance (IFD) during tandem stance. METHODS: The subjects were 38 young healthy volunteers (age 29 ± 6 years, 17 men). A three-dimensional motion analysis system and a split-belt treadmill were used to collect data. The subjects allowed their front leg to move across the front of their body according to the treadmill belt movement. The maximum IFD was defined as the IFD when either foot was removed from the treadmill belt while the subject maintained a standing posture. Measurements were made under four conditions: the dominant and non-dominant leg placed in front of the body and treadmill belt velocities of 0.5  and 1.0 km/h. Data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: The normalized maximum IFD was 10-12% of subject height. There was no significant interaction between the front leg and the treadmill belt velocity (P=0.42). There was a significant main effect of the front leg on the normalized maximum IFD: the normalized maximum IFD was larger when the dominant foot was in front of the body than when the non-dominant foot was in front of the body (P=0.044). There was no significant main effect of the treadmill belt velocity on the normalized maximum IFD (P=0.97). CONCLUSION: The normalized maximum IFD was significantly affected by which leg was placed in front.

Characteristics of Telephone Crisis Hotline Callers with Suicidal Ideation in Japan.

Hotline callers do not always have suicidal ideation and previous studies have noted that the rate of such callers is limited. Crisis hotline counselors must be able to identify high-risk callers in order to provide appropriate support. This study investigated the characteristics of Japanese crisis hotline callers in 2012 (N = 541,694) and is the first to analyze crisis hotline data for all parts of Japan over 1 year. About 14% of the callers had suicidal ideation and 6% had a history of attempted suicide. The odds ratio for suicidal ideation among those with a history of attempted suicide was 15.5. The suicidal ideation rate was much smaller compared to previous studies in other countries. There is a psychological barrier that must be broken for high-risk people to use support hotlines. In addition, attempted suicide is a strong exclusive predisposing factor for death due to suicide; therefore, counselors should pay careful attention to callers with a history of attempted suicide. The characteristics of Japanese crisis hotline callers and the features of suicidal ideation revealed in the present study are expected to be useful in developing telephone crisis hotline strategies.

Risk Factors for Suicidal Ideation Among Telephone Crisis Hotline Callers in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Telephone hotlines are a widely used type of suicide prevention program. AIMS: The aim of this study was to clarify the risk factors for suicidal ideation by investigating its association with a number of characteristics among telephone hotline callers. METHOD: Data were collected over a 10-year period from a total of 246,595 calls to Inochi No Denwa, a telephone crisis hotline in Ibaraki, Japan, and subsequently analyzed. Odds ratios for suicidal compared with nonsuicidal ideation were also calculated. RESULTS: About 6% of the calls to the hotline were suicide related, and about 2% of the callers had attempted suicide in the past. Odds ratios for suicidal ideation increased during winter, but no daily tendencies were evident. Those whose problems were related to their way of life were at the highest risk of suicidal ideation, followed by those with health-related concerns. CONCLUSION: We were able to identify risk factors for suicidal ideation based on an analysis of enormous amounts of data from a telephone crisis hotline in Japan. Knowledge of these risk factors is expected to lead to improvements in suicide prevention programs.

Relationship between sickness presenteeism and awareness and presence or absence of systems for return to work among workers with mental health problems in Japan: an Internet-based cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to clarify the relationship between sickness presenteeism and the degree of awareness of company regulations regarding financial compensation for absenteeism. METHODS: An Internet-based survey of 258 full-time workers who had more than 28 days of sickness absence due to mental health problems was conducted. Workers were categorized as having either low or high sickness presenteeism, and awareness and presence or absence of systems for return to work and duration of financial compensation were compared between groups. RESULTS: The following factors were significantly related to high sickness presenteeism based on logistic regression analyses: working for a private company (odds ratio [OR]=2.57; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.10-5.99); recognition of a gradual resumption system (OR=3.89, 95% CI=1.02-14.81); and awareness regarding the duration of financial compensation (OR=1.04, 95% CI=1.01-1.07). CONCLUSIONS: No relationship was found between mental sickness presenteeism and presence or absence of systems for return to work in our multivariate analysis; however, a relationship was apparent between sickness presenteeism and characteristics of the workers' companies. These results are expected to contribute to research involving human resources and occupational health.

The association of sense of coherence and coping profile with stress among research park city workers in Japan.

Via a large scale cross-sectional study among Japanese white color workers, the authors aimed to elucidate: (1) the distributions of Sense of Coherence (SOC), which reflect stress coping abilities, (2) the distributions of the Brief Scale for Coping Profile (BSCP) which reflect coping profiles for stressors; (3) and the association between SOC and BSCP. Anonymous self-administered questionnaires were sent to 20,742 employees at educational and research institutions in Tsukuba Research Park City. A total of 12,009 (57.9%) workers completed and returned the questionnaire; 10,317 workers without missing data were analyzed. SOC scale scores and BSCP subscale scores differed by gender, age, and other demographic features. Among the BSCP subscales, workers whose SOC scale scores were higher tended to adopt a problem-focused coping profile, whereas workers whose SOC scale scores were lower adopted an emotion-focused coping profile. The coping profile that workers adopted depended on their background and demographic characteristics. Stronger SOC allowed one to adopt a problem-focused coping profile that allows for better coping with work-related stressors.