Aim:The goal of the study was to investigate the correlations among parental bonding patterns, eating disorders (ED) and self-injurious behavior (SIB). Methods:The subjects were 80 patients with ED who were divided into two groups based on those that had (n = 25) and had not engaged in SIB at least once in the last month. The patients and 120 healthy control subjects were evaluated using the Eating Disorder Inventory and the Parental Bonding Instrument.Results: On the Parental Bonding Instrument, the ED + SIB group showed significantly lower paternal care compared with the ED/no SIB and control groups. On the Eating Disorder Inventory, the ED + SIB group showed higher body dissatisfaction, and increased maturity fear compared with the other two groups. The total scores and perfectionism and interoceptive awareness differed significantly among the three groups.Conclusion: ED + SIB patients had a more severe ED pathology than ED/no SIB patients, and also felt that they had received low paternal care during childhood. Therefore, paternal care may be linked to severe ED pathology.

Aims: This study was conducted to examine factors associated with postpartum depression and abusive behavior in mothers with infants.

Psychological studies of loneliness are comparatively new. This study examined influences of attachment style, family functions and gender differences on loneliness in Japanese university students. The following questionnaires were administered: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, Internal Working Model Scale for assessing attachment, and Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were employed to examine relationships between loneliness as the dependent variable, and gender, attachment style and family functions as independent variables. Results showed that gender differences significantly influenced loneliness. Furthermore, loneliness was positively influenced by avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles and negatively influenced by stable attachment style and family cohesion. A significant interaction was also observed between secure attachment style and family cohesion. These results indicated that a stable attachment style might reduce loneliness. On the other hand, in spite of an unstable attachment style, loneliness can be decreased if family cohesion is high.

PurposeObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients exhibit a noninhibition response pattern very similar to that observed in schizotypy patients in cognitive tasks. It has been suggested that the reduced cognitive inhibition observed in both schizotypy and OCD may result in the frequent entry into awareness of unacceptable urges and intrusive thoughts. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the severity of obsession or compulsion and schizotypy in OCD.Patients and methodsSixty subjects (25 males and 35 females) who were OCD outpatients in the University Hospital at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine during the period 2008–2010 were enrolled in the study. Assessments of these patients were made using the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). The Pearson correlation coefficients between Y-BOCS and SPQ scores were calculated. Furthermore, hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess whether schizotypy predicted the severity of obsession and compulsion.ResultsBy calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient, it was found that the Y-BOCS obsession score, not the Y-BOCS compulsion score, was correlated with the SPQ total score. Results of the hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis showed that SPQ total score was a significant predictor of the Y-BOCS obsession score, after accounting for control variables (ie, HAM-D and HAM-A).ConclusionResults of this study showed that the Y-BOCS obsession score, not the Y-BOCS compulsion score, was correlated with the SPQ total score. This finding suggests that OCD patients with an elevated SPQ total score experience a reduction of cognitive inhibition, resulting in the frequent entry into obsession. Future longitudinal studies are recommended to clarify the effect of schizotypy on the clinical course of OCD.

In recent decades, social network sites (SNSs) have become more popular and SNSs addiction has become a serious social problem. However, few studies have examined the effect of a person's internal working model (IWM) on addiction, which determine how attachment processes operate throughout the life course. This study aims at investigating the influence of IWMs and the psychological state, particularly loneliness and interpersonal trust, and of gender differences on addiction of SNSs in Japanese university students. Participants were 284 undergraduates in Japan (130 males, 154 females) who were evaluated with an original questionnaire about SNSs addiction, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Interpersonal Trust Scale, and Internal Working Model Scale. We conducted multiple regression analyses by setting the entry method, one of which was forced entry, to examine the relationship between the dependent variable (SNSs addiction) and the independent variables (other factors) in each gender. The results show that SNSs addiction is influenced by an ambivalent attachment style (males, β = .19; females β = .36) and utilization time (males, β = .32; females β = .32) in both genders. To compare gender differences, we examined the structural equation modeling. The results show that only the influence of an ambivalent attachment style is significantly different between males and females (z = 5.04, p < .01), suggesting that such an attachment style predicts SNSs addiction. Because females tend to use SNSs as interaction tools, those with a high ambivalent style may become preoccupied with peer group membership. To prevent * Corresponding author. A. Fujimori et al. 1833 SNSs addiction, it is important that children form stable attachment relationships with parents/ caregivers when young. Regarding clinical implications, if counseling or psychotherapy is employed for people with SNSs addiction, it is important to assess the attachment style, and that therapy work toward changing an ambivalent style to a stable one.