Somatic Symptoms: Association Among Affective State, Subjective Body Perception, and Spiritual Belief in Japan and Indonesia.

This study aimed to examine differences in the following somatic symptoms: affective state (i.e., health concerns, anxiety, and positive and negative affect), somatosensory amplification, spirituality in Japan and Indonesia, and associations among all variables from each culture. Previous studies and a potential bio-psycho-spiritual model has identified the association of each variable in the development of somatic symptoms. Moreover, they demonstrated that individuals who describe themselves as more religious and spiritual report better physical and mental health. A total of 469 and 437 university students from Japan and Indonesia, respectively, completed the questionnaires for assessing somatic symptoms, health concerns, trait anxiety, positive and negative affect, somatosensory amplification, and spiritual belief. This study found significant differences in health concerns, positive and negative affect, state anxiety, and spiritual belief. Moreover, the difference in somatosensory amplification was negligible. There is a shared association in both cultures among somatic symptoms, affective state, subjective body perception, and spirituality. Health concerns and trait anxiety moderated somatosensory amplification in the development of somatic symptoms. However, the role of spirituality belief in somatic symptoms was observed in the Japanese and Indonesian cultures in relation to positive affect.

Effects of Psychological Distress and Coping Resources on Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison between Chinese and Japanese University Students.

The high prevalence of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) among Asian youth indicates an urgent need to identify protective factors and examine their consistency across Asian cultures in order to facilitate cost-effective interventions. Based on the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study collected data of 1243 online gamers (45% males; 18-25 years) through an anonymous survey from universities in China and Japan and investigated whether three coping resources (i.e., mindfulness, coping flexibility, and social support) serve to protect Chinese and Japanese youth from the impact of psychological distress on IGD tendency. After adjusting for the measurement non-invariance across samples, we found that Japanese students reported higher levels of IGD tendency and psychological distress than Chinese students. The results of multiple-group SEM analyses showed that, after controlling for other predictors, mindfulness served as the strongest protective factor against IGD across samples. Moreover, the buffering effect of mindfulness on the association between psychological distress and IGD tendency of female (but not male) students was observed. Our findings highlighted the cross-cultural invariance of the impact of psychological distress and coping resources on IGD in Chinese and Japanese youth, which can be considered in future IGD prevention programs.

The associations among emotional factors, personality traits, and addiction-like eating: A study on university students in six Asian countries/regions.

OBJECTIVE: Addiction-like eating (AE) is characterized by food cravings and loss of control over excessive food consumption. This study investigated the associations among emotional factors, personality traits, and AE symptoms in Asian young adults. METHOD: This study included 6,823 Asian university students in South Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong/Macao, Japan, and Taiwan. Participants completed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS) and scales on the Big-Five personality traits, impulsivity, anxiety, and depression. RESULTS: 6.2% of the participants met the mYFAS (DSM-IV-TR) food addiction diagnostic threshold. Participants from South Korea (7.9%) had the highest rate of food addiction, while participants from Japan (5.1%) and Taiwan (4.1%) reported the lowest rates. Emotional factors of anxiety and depression were the most robust correlates of AE symptoms, followed by country/region and personality factors of higher impulsivity, higher extraversion, and lower agreeableness. Personality correlates were region-specific. Higher impulsivity was a significant correlate for participants from South Korea and Taiwan, higher extraversion for participants from Singapore and Japan, and lower agreeableness for participants from China and Taiwan. Gender was also a significant correlate for participants from South Korea, Hong Kong/Macao, and Taiwan. DISCUSSION: Emotional and personality factors are important correlates of AE symptoms among Asian young adults.

Working memory capacity can be improved by expressive writing: a randomized experiment in a Japanese sample.

This study examined the influence of expressive writing on working memory capacity (WMC), a component of executive function. Japanese undergraduates (N=104) were individually tested across six separate experimental sessions (baseline, three writing, and two follow-up sessions at 1 and 5 weeks). Participants were randomly assigned to write about a traumatic experience, their best possible future selves (BPS), or a trivial topic for 20 minutes. WMC tests were completed at baseline and follow-ups. Results indicate that expressive writing about traumatic experience can improve WMC at 5 weeks after writing, but that writing about BPS or trivial topics has no effect on WMC.

The cognitive, emotional, and social impacts of the September 11 attacks: group differences in memory for the reception context and the determinants of flashbulb memory.

The authors examined group differences in memories for hearing the news of and reactions to the September 11 attacks in 2001. They measured memory for reception context (immediate memory for the circumstances in which people first heard the news) and 11 predictors of the consistency of memory for reception context over time (flashbulb memory). Shortly after 9/11, a questionnaire was distributed to 3,665 participants in 9 countries. U.S. vs. non-U.S. respondents showed large differences in self-rated importance of the news and in memory for event-related facts. The groups showed moderate differences in background knowledge and emotional-feeling states. Within non-U.S. groups, there were large differences for emotional-feeling states and moderate differences for personal rehearsal, background knowledge, and attitudes toward the United States. The authors discuss the implications of those findings for the study of group differences in memory and for the formation of flashbulb memories.