Tsukasa Kato

Development of the Coping Flexibility Scale: Evidence for the Coping Flexibility Hypothesis.

Coping flexibility was defined as the ability to discontinue an ineffective coping strategy (i.e., evaluation coping) and produce and implement an alternative coping strategy (i.e., adaptive coping). The Coping Flexibility Scale (CFS) was developed on the basis of this definition. Five studies involving approximately 4,400 Japanese college students and employees were conducted to test the hypothesis that flexible coping produces more adaptive outcomes. Studies 1, 2, and 3 provided evidence of the reliability of the CFS scores as well as of its convergent and discriminant validity for Japanese samples. Study 4 further demonstrated that flexible coping was positively associated with improved psychological health, including reduced depression, anxiety, and distress. In Study 5, coping flexibility as measured by the CFS was associated with reduced future depression, even after controlling for the effects of other coping flexibility measures and popular coping strategies. Overall, these results suggest that a valid approach for assessing coping flexibility has been developed and that flexible coping can contribute to psychological health. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.

Taste aversion induced by confinement in a running wheel

Opportunities of spontaneous wheel running induced aversion in rats to the taste consumed before the running. Eight thirsty rats of Wistar strain were daily allowed to drink one of two taste solutions (sucrose or sodium chloride, say A) followed by confinement in a wheel or another taste solution (say B) followed by confinement in a Skinner box. Repeated training with Tastes A and B made the rats drink Taste A less than Taste B. Post-training two-bottle choice tests also showed clear demonstration of wheel-running-induced aversion to Taste A. These results confirmed those from Letts laboratory and expanded the generality of the phenomenon in respect to strain of rats, deprivation conditions of the subjects, tastes, and other details. Furthermore, our procedure rejected three accounts alternative to wheel-induced aversion to Taste A.

Frequently Used Coping Scales: A Meta-Analysis.

This article reports the frequency of the use of coping scales in academic journals published from 1998 to 2010. Two thousand empirical journal articles were selected from the EBSCO database. The COPE, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, Religious-COPE and Coping Response Inventory were frequently mentioned. In particular, the COPE (20.2%) and Ways of Coping Questionnaire (13.6%) were used the most frequently. In this literature reviewed, coping scales were most often used to assess coping with health issues (e.g. illness, pain and medical diagnoses) over other types of stressors, and patients were the most frequent participants. Further, alpha coefficients were estimated for the COPE subscales, and correlations between the COPE subscales and coping outcomes were calculated, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, negative affect, psychological distress, physical symptoms and well-being.

Coping with interpersonal stress and psychological distress at work: comparison of hospital nursing staff and salespeople

Hospital nurses frequently experience relationships with patients as stressors in the workplace. Nurses’ coping behavior is one potential buffering factor that can reduce the effects of job stress on their psychological functioning and well-being. In this study, the association between nurses’ strategies for coping with interpersonal stress from patients and their psychological distress was examined. Participants included 204 hospital nurses and 142 salespeople, who were used as a comparison group. Participants completed measures of coping with interpersonal stress and psychological distress. Hospital nurses reported more psychological distress than did salespeople. Moreover, distancing coping was correlated with high psychological distress in both nurses and salespeople, and reassessing coping was correlated with low psychological distress in nurses. For nurses only, constructive coping appeared to be an effective strategy for reducing psychological distress. It is important for nurses to understand the role of constructive coping in nurse–patient communication and interaction.

Insomnia Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicide Ideation in Japanese White-Collar Employees

BackgroundAlthough poor sleep quality is the most common subjective complaint of workers and is a risk factor for depressive symptoms and suicide, researchers have not yet provided definitive links between insomnia symptoms, depressive symptoms, and suicide.PurposeIn our mediation model, we hypothesized relationships among insomnia symptoms, depressive symptoms, and suicide ideation. The purpose here was to use structural equation modeling (SEM) to test our mediation model.MethodThree hundred forty-three Japanese full-time white-collar workers completed the measures to assess insomnia symptoms, depressive symptoms, and suicide ideation over an approximately 3-month period.ResultsA SEM analysis revealed that insomnia symptoms were positively and significantly associated with depressive symptoms, and depressive symptoms were positively and significantly associated with suicide ideation. Two tests showed a significant indirect effect of insomnia symptoms on suicide ideation through depressive symptoms. Thus, these results supported our mediation model.ConclusionWe conclude that insomnia symptoms were positively associated with suicidal ideation, though this relation was accounted for by depressive symptoms in Japanese white-collar workers.

The Impact of Coping Flexibility on the Risk of Depressive Symptoms

Objective According to the dual-process theory, coping flexibility is defined as the ability to produce and implement a new coping strategy in place of an ineffective coping strategy. Specifically, coping flexibility includes two processes: evaluation coping and adaptive coping. Evaluation coping refers to sensitivity to feedback about the efficacy of a coping strategy, and adaptive coping involves the willingness to implement alternative coping strategies. The coping flexibility hypothesis (CFH) postulates that more flexible coping will be associated with more adaptive outcomes; importantly, there are numerous theories and studies that support the CFH. The main purpose of this study was to test the CFH based on dual-process theory. Methods A total of 1,770 Japanese college students participated and, completed a set of questionnaires that measured coping flexibility (evaluation coping and adaptive coping) and depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were measured via the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results The proportions of women and men who reported depressive symptoms were 58.69% (95% CIs [55.74, 61.66]) and 54.17% (95% CIs [50.37, 57.95]), respectively when a cut-off score of 16 on the CES-D was used. A multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that evaluation coping (OR = 0.86, 95% CIs [0.83, 0.0.89]) and adaptive coping (OR = 0.91, 95% CIs [0.88, 0.93]) were significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Conclusion The results of the present study indicated that the CFH based on dual-process theory was supported in a Japanese sample.

Testing of the coping flexibility hypothesis based on the dual-process theory: Relationships between coping flexibility and depressive Symptoms

According to the dual-process theory of coping flexibility (Kato, 2012), coping flexibility is the ability to discontinue an ineffective coping strategy (i.e., evaluation coping process) and implement an alternative strategy (i.e., adaptive coping process). The coping flexibility hypothesis (CFH) proposes that the ability to engage in flexible coping is related to better psychological functioning and physical health, including less depression. I the present study, participants were 393 American Whites, 429 Australian Whites, and 496 Chinese, selected from the data pool of the 2013 Coping and Health Survey (see Kato, 2014b). They completed both the Coping Flexibility Scale (Kato, 2012), which is based on the dual-process theory of coping flexibility, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). For all nationalities and genders, evaluation coping and adaptive coping were significantly correlated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling revealed that evaluation coping was associated with lower depressive symptoms for all nationalities and genders, whereas no significant relationships between adaptive coping and depressive symptoms were found for any nationalities. Our results partially supported that the CFH fits with the dual-process theory of coping flexibility.

Coping with Workplace Interpersonal Stress among Japanese Employees

The current study examined the relationship between coping with workplace interpersonal stress (WIS) and psychological dysfunction (i.e. depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness). Three hundred twenty-four Japanese full-time workers completed measures assessing coping strategies with WIS and psychological dysfunction. Three strategies of coping with WIS were measured: distancing coping, reassessing coping and constructive coping. Multiple regression analyses revealed that distancing coping, which reflects strategies to actively damage, disrupt and dissolve a stressful relationship, was related to high levels of depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness. Reassessing coping, which incorporates efforts to patiently wait for an appropriate opportunity to act, such as a change or improvement in the situation, was related to low levels of depressive symptoms, burnout, general distress and daytime sleepiness. Constructive coping was not significantly associated with psychological dysfunction. Implications for workplace stress are discussed.

Relationship between Coping with Interpersonal Stressors and Depressive Symptoms in the United States, Australia, and China: A Focus on Reassessing Coping

Objective Reassessing coping involves efforts to wait patiently for an appropriate opportunity to act or for a change or improvement in the situation, and can be observed in individuals encountering a stressful relationship event. It was hypothesized that reassessing coping would be negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Methods A cross-sectional Web-based survey was conducted in order to test this hypothesis by examining relationships between coping strategies including reassessing coping, distancing coping and constructive coping for stressful relationship events and depressive symptoms. Participants were 1,500 individuals recruited from the general populations of the United States, Australia, and China. Results Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that scores on coping strategies predicted depressive symptom scores in the samples from all three countries with medium or large effect sizes. Further, the beta values for reassessing coping scores were negative and significant in all samples, indicating that the hypothesis was supported for each of the population samples surveyed. In addition, distancing coping, which reflects strategies that attempt to actively damage, disrupt, and dissolve a stressful relationship, was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms. Conclusions Reassessing coping for interpersonal stressors was be negatively associated with depressive symptoms in sample from general populations of the United States, Australia, and China.

A Reconsideration of Sex Differences in Response to Sexual and Emotional Infidelity

Previous studies have found that males are more upset over sexual infidelity than females whereas females are more upset over emotional infidelity than males. We hypothesized that such sex differences are explained by explicit sexual imagery by males. The hypothesis was tested in a laboratory using vivid infidelity scenarios and photographs to induce detailed and sexually oriented imagery of a partner’s infidelity. In the main experiment, participants included 64 males and 64 females who were currently in committed relationships. The results showed that participants became more upset when they imagined sexual infidelity vividly and realistically than when they did not and there were no significant sex differences in jealousy found when sexual infidelity was imagined in this matter. Overall, our findings suggested that the sex differences in jealousy resulted from males’ tendency to imagine sexual infidelity more vividly than females.