Although repetitive thought is a risk factor for depression, it can also foster constructive consequences. One factor that determines whether repetitive thought is constructive is the processing mode. The Mini-Cambridge Exeter Repetitive Thought Scale (Mini-CERTS) is the only scale to evaluate such processing modes that relate to the abstractness of thoughts. However, there is no scale to evaluate processing modes in Japan. In this study, the Mini-CERTS was translated into Japanese, and we sought to establish a method of evaluating the processing modes of repetitive thoughts. We conducted exploratory factor analysis of data collected from 222 university students and examined internal consistency and criterion validity. Results showed that the Japanese version of the Mini-CERTS (CERTS-J) had only 12 items. These items loaded upon two factors: abstract analytical thinking (AAT) and concrete experiential thinking (CET). AAT showed sufficient criterion-related validity, but CET did not. Nevertheless, higher AAT predicted higher depression, whereas higher CET predicted lower depression. Thus, the CERTS-J can evaluate processing modes and the functionality of repetitive thoughts. Additional research is needed to assess whether the original English items suit the Japanese culture.

Aim We explored the feasibility of a long‐term but low‐frequency psychological preventive intervention in a high school setting. Background High school students may experience depression; psychological interventions to improve social and cognitive skills may be useful to decrease such depression. A long‐term but low‐frequency intervention may be feasible in this setting because of its minimal time demands and lack of need for specialist human resources Design We conducted a single‐arm longitudinal descriptive study with an intervention applied six times over 2 years in one high school. Method We conducted a psychological preventive intervention with 94 high school students in one school for 2 years (April 2014 to March 2016). This intervention aimed to improve social and cognitive skills. We measured social skills, cognitive distortion, and depression five times during the 2‐year period, through a self‐report scale. Results/Findings Scores for maintaining relationship skills tended to increase over the 2 years. However, depression did not decrease over the intervention period. Conclusion Although our research did not include control conditions and the intervention did not decrease depression, the six‐session programme for high school adolescents improved an aspect of social skills that is a preventive factor against depression.

Reading literature contributes to the development of language skills and socioemotional competencies related to empathic responding. Despite implications for improving measures of empathy used by practitioners interested in reading behavior and their applications to teaching empathic skills through literature, extensions to the ability to express empathic inference of interpersonal encounters, or empathic accuracy, remains an understudied area. Comparing which traits are associated with performance on tasks that require empathic accuracy could reveal more about underlying empathic processes and their characteristics for the benefit of practitioner tools and pedagogical choices for reading. Two studies were conducted to investigate possible relationships between self-reported constructs of interpersonal reactivity and an experimental paradigm that measures empathic accuracy. Experiment 1 investigated these relationships among participants having everyday conversations, and Experiment 2 examined the same variables in a context designed to emulate a counseling setting. In both cases, scores on the Fantasy self-report scale ARTICLE HISTORY

No abstract