Umeå University Medical Dissertations, New Series No 1320

Japanese Adolescents’
Self-Concept and Well-being
in comparison with other countries

Saori Nishikawa

Department of Clinical Sciences

Divisons of Psychiatry and
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Umeå University
Umeå 2009
•

Responsible publisher under swedish law: the Dean of the Medical Faculty
© Saori Nishikawa
ISBN: 978-91-7264-922-4
ISSN: 0346-6612
Cover by Kumako (www.kumako.se) with kind permission
E-version available at http://umu.diva-portal.org/
Printed by: Print & Media
Umeå, Sweden, 2009

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In memory of my grandfather Akira Noma

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 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

This dissertation is based on the following papers.

I. Nishikawa, S., Norlander, T., Fransson, P., & Sundbom, E.

(2007). A Cross-cultural validation of Adolescent Self-
Concept in Two Cultures: Japan and Sweden. Journal of
Social Psychology and Behavior, 35, 269–286.

II. Nishikawa, S., Sundbom, E., & Hägglöf, B. (2009). Influence

of Parental Rearing on Adolescent Self-Concept and Mental
Health in Japan. Journal of Child and Family Studies,
published online: June 12.

III. Nishikawa, S., Hägglöf, B., & Sundbom, E. (2009).

• Contributions of Attachment to Self-concept and
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among Japanese
Adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, published
online August 27.

IV. Nishikawa, S., Sundbom, E., Zashikhina, A., Lekkou, S., &
Hägglöf, B. (submitted). Mental Health Problems reported by
Adolescents from Four Countries: Greece, Japan, Russia, and
Sweden.

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ABBREVIATIONS

SDQ-II Self Description Questionnaire-II

SDQII-S Self Description Questionnaire II- for Short

YSR Youth Self-Report

AQC Attachment Questionnaire for Children

EMBU-C Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran- for Children

PLS Partial Least Square regression

SEM Structural Equation Modeling

AMOS Analysis of Moment Structures

ES Effect Size

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 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 10
Adolescents in Japan 10

CONCEPTS, THEORIES, AND RESEACH 12

Adolescent development 12
Self-concept in adolescence 14
Attachment style in adolescence 17
Perceived parental rearing 19
Attachment and parenting in Japan 20
Mental health problems in adolescence 22
Gender 24

ASPECTS OF CULTURE 25
Issues in cross-cultural assessment 26

AIMS 27
Specific aims 27

• METHODS 29
Participants 29
Design 31
Ethical cinsideration 31
Instruments 31
Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II) 31
Self-Description QuestionnaireII- for Short (SDQII-S) 32
Actual-Ideal Questionnaire 32
Youth Self-Report (YSR) 33
Attachment Questionnare- for Children (AQC) 34
Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran- for Children (EMBU-C) 34
Statistical analysis 35
Descriptive statistics 35
Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS) 35
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) 36
Procedure 37

RESULTS 38
Paper I: Cross-cultural Validation of Adolescent Self-Concept in two
countries: Japan and Sweden. 38
Paper II: Influence of Perceived Parental Rearing on Adolescent
Self-Concept and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Japan. 39
Paper III: Contribution of Attachment and Self-concept on Internalizing

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 and Externalizing Problems among Japanese Adolescents. 39
Paper IV: Mental Health Problems Reported by Adolescents in Four
Countries: Greece, Japan, Russia, and Sweden. 41
Qualitative notes from the Japanese adolescents from the YSR 41

DISCUSSION 43
Self-concept 43
Interpersonal relationships 45
Emotional and behavioral problems 47
Culture and well-being in adolescence 50
Limitation of the studies 51
Main conclusions 53
Implication for further studies 54

SUMMARIES IN JAPANESE 55

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 57

REFERENCES 59

APPENDIX 72

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 Abstract

Nishikawa, S. (2009). Japanese Adolescents’ Self-Concept and Well-

being in comparison with other countries.

Background: In a rapidly changing and increasingly interconnected

world, the issue of mental health and well-being among adolescents is
one of the important research topics. However, there have been few
studies amongst Japanese adolescents that have been published in
international journals. Objectives: (I) to make a comparison in self-
concept between healthy adolescents in Japan and Sweden, (II) to
address the influence of perceived parental rearing on self-concept and
mental health problems among Japanese adolescents, (III) to
investigate contributions of attachment and self-concept to mental
health problems reported by Japanese adolescents, (IV) to address a
comparison of mental health problems and self reported competence in
adolescents from Greece, Japan, Russia, and Sweden.
•
Methods: The following self-report instruments were used: Self-
Description Questionnaire II (Marsh, 1992), Actual-Ideal
Questionnaire (Nishikawa, 2003), Self-Description Questionnaire II-
Short (Marsh, Ellis, Parada, Richards, & Heubeck, 2005), Youth Self-
Report (Achenbach, 1991), Attachment Questionnaire- for Children
(Sharpe et al., 1998), and Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (my
memories of child upbringing) for Children (Muris, Meesters, & van
Brakel, 2003). The participants for Paper I were adolescents aged 14
and 15 from Japan (n=144) and Sweden (n=96). One hundred ninety
three Japanese students between the ages of 15-19 participated in
Paper II and 228 students for Paper III. The participants for Paper IV
were 812 healthy adolescents between 15 and 17 years of age from
Greece (n=152), Japan (n=219), Russia (n=159), and Sweden (n=282).

Results: Paper I showed that Japanese students reported less positive

self-concept compared to the Swedish counterparts. The results were
discussed in terms of different response style and modesty in Japanese
culture. Paper II showed that dysfunctional parental rearing and
insecure peer attachment were associated with negative self-concept
and more mental health problems. A unique influence on mental health

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problems from parent-adolescent relationships depending on the
gender of parents and adolescents was also found. Paper III showed a
mediating role of self-concept in influencing the relationships between
attachment style and Internalizing Problems. Paper IV indicated rather
small differences across countries in the syndrome scales. Japanese
and Swedish adolescents tended to score lower than Russian and Greek
counterparts. Some cultural specific syndromes were found.

Conclusion: These results reported in this thesis present a general

view of Japanese adolescents’ self-concept and the influence of
interpersonal relationships in mental health problems assessed by
Western self-report instruments. When being compared with other
countries, cultural background and response style must be taken into
account.

Key words: Adolescence, Self-concept, Mental Health, Attachment

Style, Perceived Parental Rearing, Cross-cultural

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 INTRODUCTION
It can be said that my thesis project started when I visited Sweden in
1998. My impression of the people in Sweden was kind and helpful.
Since I liked it here, I came back as a university student. It did not take
a long time realize the things that I did not know when I was just a
tourist—differences in culture and communication. That was a
challenging period for me in discovering and developing myself in a
different cultural context. As I continued my studies in psychology, I
learned about the constructs as “independent and interdependent self”
by Markus and Kitayama (1991) and the concept of “amae” by Doi
(1973) which are described later in this thesis. I was impressed since
these could explain the cultural differences I experienced. These
differences contributed to my interest in self-concept in different
cultures. In Japan, with a concept of amae, we can expect others to
come by and offer help. However, it did not work when I had all
Swedish classmates. I argued in my mind that Swedes were
collectivistic and I was individualistic. Once I thought the difficulty in
• communication was because of the language. When I learned Swedish,
however, I realized that it was not about the language. In order to
communicate with people, I needed to push myself in front of them
instead of expecting them to come to me. In recent years I learned of
many interesting cultural differences through daily conversations with
my supervisor, colleagues, and friends. I have felt strongly that I am
“Japanese”, and this is deeply rooted in me even after a long time
living abroad.

Adolescents in Japan

In a rapidly changing and increasingly interconnected world,

acculturation and ethnic relations, individual behavior, experiences,
and relatedness are important research topics. Japanese culture is a
unique blend of tradition and modernism. Traditional norms, rules, and
values are still powerful in regard to behaviors within families,
businesses, and social life (Arnett, 2006). Many social changes, such
as decreasing family size, increase of divorce and single-parent
households, in the past two decades influenced Japanese adolescents’

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family lives. In Japanese, the term “adolescence” is translated as
seinenki (青年期), and it refers to adolescents aged between 14 and 25
years old. Currently there are approximately 6,947,531 adolescents
between 12 and 18 years of age attending junior high schools and
senior high schools in Japan (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology, 2009). In 2009, 98.2% of students started
high school, and 53.9% (52.3% male and 55.5% female) of students
went on to higher education (e.g., universities, colleges) directly after
high school (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology, 2009). Japanese adolescents wear uniforms and follow
school regulations, use mobile phones and communicate with friends
online. They seem to be satisfied with their relationships with friends,
family, and teachers, but dissatisfied with the present Japanese society,
their own personality, and their school grade (Kurosawa & Makino,
2005). Their free-time is largely organized around the demands of
schoolwork, juku (private classes after school known as “cram
school”), and bukatsu (school-supported extra curricular activities and
clubs). When they are asked what they would like to do in their free
time, many of them answered “to take a nap, rest, or relax” (Nishino &
Larson, 2003).

Figure 1. A class in second grade of Junior High School in Japan.

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 Recent years have seen increasing mental health problems such as
delinquency, bullying, school refusal, and depression among Japanese
adolescents (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology, 2009), as reflected in children’s and adolescents’
complete and busy lives. Japanese society has increasingly become
aware of the importance of mental health care. However, it was only a
few years ago that school psychologists were placed in schools in
Japan. Triandis (1994) called Japan a “tight culture”, meaning that
Japanese people have traditional behaviors or prescriptions they should
use when confronted with emotional difficulties. Therefore, going to
the psychologist is not as common as it is in the West, as the Japanese
follow their traditional cultural prescriptions. However, we are now
aware of the assistance psychologists can offer that traditional
prescriptions cannot cure.

CONCEPTS, THEORIES, AND RESEARCH

Adolescent development

"Sublime power at the heart of the movement. Not everyone agreed

with your smile. How strange that you should continue anyhow, strong
hearted confidence and such repose. You talk like the tingling of ivory,
a violin seems to alter the sound of the surrounding air, your voice
rises on the crest" (The Unfolding, Sean Michael Wilson, 2008).

Adolescence is a period of challenges and opportunities for

understanding oneself within the social context. A well-known note
from more than 100 years ago describing adolescence as “storm and
stress” (Hall, 1904), is still addressed by psychologists. Adolescence is
typically divided into three periods: early (ages 13-14), middle (ages
15-18) and late (age 19, adoption of adult roles). During these periods,
changes occur across multiple developmental systems—physiological,

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cognitive, and psychosocial. Erikson (1968) called adolescence a
“stage of identity”, the time when young people set the patterns for
their future lives. Erikson believed that adolescents seek to find a
definition of self (i.e., identity), and question their goals, attitudes,
beliefs, and place in society. If the adolescents can resolve these
questions of sense of self, they will develop an identity. However, if
they fail to achieve this, they will develop a sense of identity confusion
(Erikson, 1968).
Adolescence is a period of engaging in conflict with their parents
(Branje, van Doorn, van der Valk, & Meeus, 2009). Yet parental
support is important for their development of individuation and
autonomy (Markiewics, Lawford, Doyle, & Haggart, 2006). Puberty
starts in late childhood and early adolescence (e.g., Negriff, Fung, &
Trickett, 2008; Stroud & Davila, 2008). The timing of pubertal
changes seems to be important in socialization. For example, an early
study found that early maturing girls report more psychosocial and
behavior problems, while early maturing boys have good psychosocial
adjustment (e.g., Graber, Seeley, Brooks-Gunn, & Lewinsohn, 2004;
Stattin & Magnusson, 1990). However, more recent studies are less
clear about these gender differences, as it was found that both early
maturing girls and boys are at risk (e.g., Negriff, Fung, & Trikett,
2008; Stround & Davila, 2008). In this period of “storm” and “stress”,
adolescence can be a time of risk for the onset of a wide range of
emotional and behavioral problems, such as depression, delinquency
and substance use (e.g., Pencer & Addington, 2008). Arnett (1999)
proposed the concept of individual difference and cultural variation in
the view of storm and stress. He noted that adolescents in more
traditional cultures than in the West tend to experience less storm and
stress. However, in our increasingly interconnected world, cultural
differences may change. Adolescence can be not only a time of storm
and stress but also a time of exuberant growth (Arnett, 1999), as Hall
(1904) also noted adolescence as “the birthday of imagination” (Vol.1,
p.313), and “the best decade of life” (Vol.1, p. xviii).
Above all, the development period of adolescence reflects an active
interplay between him/her and his/her context such as the individual,
family, friends, community, and culture.

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 Self-concept in adolescence

"Tell me about me, you don't even know you. Everything is within
that closed left hand, slowly unfolding...He talks like just himself, but
looks a little different; she says she loves herself, but don't let that
stop you" (The Unfolding, Sean Michael Wilson, 2008).

The self broadly refers to the cognitive and affective representation of

one’s identity. Current views of the self in psychology see the self as
playing an integral part in human motivation, cognition, and affect.
The self is emotionally invested in the cultural world through language
and emotions. The word for self in Japanese, 自分 (jibun) implies that
self is not apart from the social realm. Jibun literally means “self
part”—a part of the larger whole that consists of groups and
relationships. The Japanese divide the self into inner and outer world,
such as outside and inside (uch to soto), or front and back (omote to
ura).
William James (1890/2007), as a pioneer of the study of self and
• self-concept research, distinguished between the self as “I” (the
subjective knower) and “Me” (object that is known). Mead (1934)
viewed “Me” as the socialized aspect of the person, from interaction
with others and with the environment, which includes both knowledge
about that environment and about who he or she is: his or her “sense of
self”, whereas “I” is the active aspect of the person, creatively, within
the context of the “me”. Sullivan (1953) developed the concept of self-
system as the individual’s collection of self-perceptions. In the process
of the self system, it allows one to maintain congruence between one’s
interpersonal world and one’s self-perceptions.
The early formulation of the self was dominated by a unidimentional
construct regarded as a single score of the self-concept. One of the
widely used instruments for one-dimensional assessment, the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), is concerned with
how the individuals feel about themselves in general, but places little
emphasis on social or specific situations.
The self-concept refers to the global understanding of being him or
herself, and the answer to the question “Who am I?”. The self-concept
is distinguished from self-awareness, which is an awareness of one’s
self. Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton (1976) developed a
multidimensional, hierarchical model of self-concept based on

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relatively distinct components of self-concept (e.g., emotional, social,
academic, physical, etc.). They defined self-concept as “a person’s
perceptions of him/herself, formed through experience with the
environment, interactions with significant others and attributions of
his/her own behavior, p.411”. Shavelson et al. (1976) argued that self-
esteem is the global, hierarchical component of a multidimensional
hierarchy of specific components of self, and both self-esteem and
specific components of self-concept (e.g., academic, social, and
physical). Self-concept is both descriptive and evaluative (Shavelson et
al., 1976). For example, “I am good at mathematics,” “I can run a long
way without stopping,” and “I am good looking”. All have both
evaluative and descriptive components and reflect specific components
of self-concept. Based on the multifaceted and hierarchical self-
concept model (Shavelson et al., 1976), Marsh (1992) developed the
Self-Description Questionnaire for children (SDQI), adolescents
(SDQII), and adults (SDQIII). These instruments include factors
representing the specific physical (e.g., physical competence and
attractiveness), social (e.g., relationships with friends, peers and
parents), academic (e.g., math and verbal self-concept), and emotional
domains and self-esteem. Currently, the SDQ instruments are
translated and widely used in many countries, and the
multidimensional construct is widely accepted in different psychology
disciplines (e.g., social and educational psychology).

General Self

Academic Social Emotional Physical

Figure 2. A multidimensional and hierarchical model of the self-concept proposed by

Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton (1976).

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 Our self-concept changes with time throughout our lifespan. Self-
concept becomes more organized and hierarchical through
adolescence, and the level of the self-concept decreased during
preadolescence and increased during late adolescence and adulthood
(Marsh, 1989). Adolescents are more capable of regulating their
behavior to the demands of specific interpersonal contexts (Moretti,
Marlene, & Wiebe, 1999). Along with this benefit, it increases the risk
of highlighting congruence between one’s view of self and various
self-standards. Discrepancy between Actual-self (actual view of self)
and Ideal-self (one would like to be) were associated with emotional
problems (Higgins, 1989).
There are some stereo typical gender differences found in specific
self-concepts. For example, in SDQII boys had higher scores on
Physical, Appearance and Self-esteem than girls while girls had higher
scores on Verbal and Honesty self-concepts than boys. But gender
differences were small for Parental Relations and School self-concepts.
The age and gender interactions were typically small (Marsh, 1989).
Self-concept is important in its own right and also its close
relationships with other psychological competence such as emotional
• and behavioral problems. Marsh, Parada, and Ayotte (2004)
demonstrated the salience of a multidimensional self-concept for
psychological well-being, and proposed taking the multidimensional
self-concept rather than unidimentional self-esteem in mental health
research. In a comparison between girls with anorexia and non-clinical
girls, the non-clinical group scored significantly higher on Appearance,
Emotional Self-concept, and Self-esteem, while the clinical group
scored higher on two of three Academic self-concepts (i.e., Math and
General School)( Ha, Marsh, & Halse, 2003).
So far, there have been few cross-cultural studies in
multidimensional self-concept (e.g., Hägger, Lindwall, & Asci, 2004;
Marsh & Hau, 2004; Wästlund, Archer, & Norlander, 2001). However,
various studies have demonstrated that the average levels of self-
esteem vary across cultures (e.g., Chan, 2000; Dekovic, Engels, Shirai,
de Kort, & Anker, 2002; Farruggia, Chen, Greenberger, Dmittieva, &
Macek, 2004), and that Japanese and other Asians generally reported
lower levels of self-concept/self-esteem than their Western
counterparts (i.e., American, British, and Australian). Despite the
cross-cultural difference in the mean level of self-esteem, a recent
study showed that the function of self-esteem in China and the USA
are similar, indicating that self-esteem is of general psychological

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importance (Brown, Cai, Oakes, & Deng, 2009). Heine and Lehman
(1999) showed that Japanese college students reported higher
congruence between the Actual and Ideal-self compared to the
Canadian students, and self-discrepancy was less distressing for the
Japanese than for the Canadians, as the Japanese seemed to regard
themselves in a daily self-critical view and seeing oneself further away
from one’s ideal is a motivation for self-enhancement. Cultural
influence on self-esteem or self-concept is theoretically or empirically
complex. In recent years there have been debates about the empirical
evidence of the biases in judging the self as generally less pronounced
in Asians than in the West (e.g., Brown, 2005), and the dimensions of
independent-interdependent self or individualistic-collectivistic culture
are not as pronounced as earlier (e.g., Matsumoto, 2002).

Attachment style in adolescence

Attachment theory was originated as an explanation for infant social

and emotional development and adjustment (Bowlby, 1963, 1972,
1980). Bowlby (1963, 1972, 1980) conceptualized attachment as a life-
span construct in which children maintain attachment bonds to their
parents through childhood and adulthood. Infants’ attachment
experiences are consolidated into internal “working models” of self,
self in relation to others, and the world in general. Early researchers
(1970-1985) investigated the validity of the three basic attachment
patterns. Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall (1978) developed a
procedure to observe attachment relationships between infants and
mothers called Strange Situation, in which children are classified in
one of three categories: secure, anxious-avoidant, and anxious-
ambivalent.
The next phase (1985 to present) focused on attachment adjustment
in high-risk populations and development of methods for adult
attachment. Hazan and Shaver (1987) extended the attachment theory
to adult romantic relationships. Their assumption was that romantic
relationships involve a combination of three innate behavioral systems
described by Bowlby (1969) “attachment, care giving, and sex”, and
identified four styles of attachment in adults: secure, anxious-
preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. Bartholomew
and Horowitz (1991) differentiated two forms of avoidant attachment:

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 dismissing and fearful. Attachment research on adolescence seems to
be relatively new. During the last decade, self-reports of the
attachment style of late adolescents, family and peers were introduced.
A recent cross-cultural study of preschool children’s attachment
experiences showed differences in the magnitude of gender
differences. Girls from Hispanic countries (i.e., Spain and Chile) and
European countries (i.e., Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium) scored
higher in attachment security than boys from the same countries, but
the difference was less common among European adolescents
(Pierrehumbert et al., 2009).
Between ages 8 and 14, the attachment secure base transfers from
parents to peers, when most children turn to friends for comfort and
emotional support (Hazan & Zeifman, 1994). Yet secure base
functions are still primarily with parents, especially mothers (e.g.,
Hazan & Zeifman, 1994; Markiewics et al., 2006). Many adolescents
pose such questions as “How do I function with the others?” “How
should I act for the others?” or “What is friendship?” Relationships
with both peers and parents serve different complementary roles.
Parental attachment and peer attachment appear unique to some
• adolescents. Some adolescents with insecure attachment from parents
may seek friends to fulfill their needs (Nickerson & Nagle, 2005).
Some studies have shown associations between peer attachment and
emotional/behavior problems. For example, secure attachment was
negatively associated with depression and anxiety, while insecure
attachment was positively associated with these problems (Irons &
Gilbert, 2005); adolescents who were classified as securely attached
reported fewer emotional behavioral problems compared to those who
were classified as insecure attached (Muris, Meesters, & Van den
Berg, 2003; Roelofs et al., 2006). Peer attachment and parental rearing
behavior accounted for a unique proportion of the variance in the case
of Internalizing Problems (Muris et al., 2003b), and in both
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems (Roelofs et al., 2006). It was
found that adolescents’ views of self were mediators between
attachment and depression (Kenny, Moilanen, Lomax, & Brabeck,
1993). Tanaka et al., (2008) demonstrated that intrafamilial and
extrafamilial variables from the early days, and those that are current,
were potent determinates of attachment among University students in
Japan.
Theoretical processes on the basis of longitudinal data obtained from
meta-analysis indicated that attachment security is moderately stable

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across the first 19 years of life (Fraley, 2002). However, change in the
organization of attachment security was provided (Allen, McElhaney,
Kuperminc, & Jodl, 2004). Adolescents with a risk factor showed
declines over the course of adolescence, while adolescents with no risk
at age 16 trend toward increasing security in the following two years. It
was also found that attachment and depressive syndromes seem to
influence each other longitudinally (Buist, Decovic, Meeus, & van
Aken, 2004).

Perceived parental rearing

Interpersonal theory emphasizes that early interactions, primarily with

parents, share children’s personalities (Sullivan, 1953). Closely related
to attachment patterns, parent-child relationships frequently undergo
transitions during adolescence (e.g., Wissink, Dekovic, & Meijer,
2006). One of the major aspects of parent-adolescent relationships is
autonomy. Children’s autonomous self-regulation is associated with
parental encouragement and support of participation in decision
making and problem solving (Ryan & Lynch, 1989). Autonomy is
challenging for both children and their parents, as Ryan and Lynch
(1989) stated “individuation is not something that happens from
parents but rather with them” (p. 341).
Baumrind (1966) developed dimensions of parenting styles:
authoritative (high demandingness and responsiveness), authoritarian
(high demandingness and low responsiveness), and permissive (low
demandingness and high responsiveness). Children with authoritative
parents had higher competence and psychosocial maturity compared to
those with authoritarian and indifferent parents (Baumrind, 1991).
Authoritarian parenting has been found to be more effective in
collectivistic cultures (e.g., Chao, 1994).
Alternatively, high “care” and low “overprotection” have been
widely recognized as an optimal rearing combination (Parker, Tupling,
& Brown, 1979). Emotional warmth from parents seemed to be the
protective factor from development of a dysfunctional self, and
overprotection and rejection from parents were related to dysfunctional
perception of self and others (Andersson & Perris, 2001). Empirical
studies showed that lower levels of perceived parental emotional
warmth and higher levels of rejection and overprotection were linked

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 to increased mental health problems in adolescents (e.g., Bosco, Renk,
Dinger, Epstein, & Phares, 2003; Muris et al., 2003b; Veenstra,
Lindenberg, Oldehinkel, De Winter, & Ormel, 2006). Dysfunctional
parenting styles were more strongly associated with Externalizing
Problems than with Internalizing Problems (Muris et al., 2003b;
Pereira, Canavaro, Cardoso, & Mendoça, 2008). It was shown that
perceived parental rearing of both mother and father influenced
adolescents’ interpersonal problems (Hakelind, Henningsson, &
Armelius, 2008). Associations between parental rejection and problem
behaviors were reported by both delinquent and healthy adolescents
(Ruchkin, Eisemann, Hägglöf, & Cloninger, 1998).
Gender has a unique influence on parents and children (e.g., fathers
vs. mothers, boys vs. girls) (Bosco et al., 2003; McKinney, Donnelly,
& Renk, 2008; Roelofs, Meesters, ter Huurne, Bamelis, & Muris,
2006; Shek, 2005; Werner & Silbereisen, 2003). For example, boys
reported more Externalizing Problems if they had negative perceptions
of their mothers, while girls exhibited Internalizing Problems when
they perceived both father and mother as negative (Bosco et al., 2003).
Similarly, a study showed that memories of a rejecting father were of
• some importance to girls’ interpersonal problems, while memories of a
rejecting mother were of some importance to boys’ interpersonal
problems (Hakelind et al., 2008), and the concept of mothers as
attachment behavior is important especially for girls regarding the
development of Internalizing Problems (Östgård-Ybrandt & Årmelius,
2004).
Lack of parental warmth is related to negative psychological
outcomes (i.e., depression, aggression, school misconduct, and
emotional unresponsiveness) and is found universally (Chen, Rubin, &
Li, 1997; Greenberger & Chen, 1996). There were both cultural
similarities and differences in the patterns of associations among
family relationships and problem behaviors in adolescents from the
United States, China, Korea and the Czech Republic (Dmitrieva, Chen,
Greenberger, & Gll-rivas, 2004).

Attachment and parenting in Japan

Parenting varies with cultural norms and socialization. For example,

Japanese mothers expect their young infants to be relatively

20
independent and to be socialized into interdependence with others, and
typically spend more time with their infants compared to the Western
mothers (Goldbergs, 2001/04). Japanese childrearing practices foster
empathy (omoiyari) and receptivity (sunao) (Azuma, 1994). Harmony
is symbiotic in Japan and a child could seek dependence (amae) on the
mother (Doi, 1973). Amae means “to depend and presume upon
another’s love or back in another’s indulgence” (p.8), and is “what an
infant feels when seeking his or her mother” (p. 7). This amae-based
symbiotic harmony continues in later childhood and adulthood in
interpersonal relationships among the Japanese (Doi, 1973).
Furthermore, scholars argue that such aspects as sensitivity,
competence, and secure base of attachment, which emphasize the
child’s autonomy, individuation and exploration, are viewed
differently in Japan where interdependence in the form of
accommodation is emphasized (Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, &
Morelli, 2001). A more recent study showed both similarities and
differences in mothers’ perceptions of attachment security and amae in
mothers from Japan and the United States. It was shown that both
Japanese and American children who were described as having
designable characteristics were perceived to be secure and to have
responsive mothers. However, Japanese mothers more often than
American mothers link security with accommodative behaviors.
Further, Japanese mothers more often attribute the child’s
inappropriate behavior to the need for security and interdependence,
while American mothers more often attributed these behaviors to
egoism and self-maximization (Rothbaum, Kakinuma, Nagaoka, &
Azuma, 2007).
Other studies of parent-child relationships showed that Japanese
children and adolescents reported greater emotional ties to their
mothers than fathers (Kurosawa & Makino, 2005). Since fathers are
out of the house working all day (Matsumoto, 2002), Japanese children
feel more emotionally close to their mothers than to their fathers.
Despite the fathers’ absence, Japanese fathers take an important lead in
family matters. Adolescents from Japan, Korea and Germany reported
more fathers taking the lead in family matters, while more mothers
took the lead in Sweden (Director General for Policy Planning and
Coordination, 2004). One study identified a four-factor model of
Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) in a Japanese population (care,
indifference, overprotection, and autonomy) (Uji, Tanaka, Shono, &
Kitamura, 2006). This result was different from a Western study that

21
 showed a two-factor model (Parker et al., 1979). Uji et al., (2006)
explained it in terms of Japanese culture where the concept of
individual independence and autonomy is not very deeply rooted. They
also noted that behaviors perceived as allowance of
“autonomy/independence” by Westerners may be perceived as
“consideration or benevolent care” by the Japanese. This could be
interpreted as an expression of the Japanese person’s psychological
organization of “amae” (Doi, 1973).

Mental health problems in adolescence

Child and adolescent mental health is defined as “the capacity to

achieve and maintain optimal psychological functioning and well-
being. It is directly related to the level reached and competence
achieved in psychological and social functioning” (WHO, 2005).
Mental health can be conceptualized as a state of well-being in which
the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the
• normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is
able to make a contribution to his or her community. There are
empirically and diagnostically based approaches to identify the
distinguishing features of individuals and patterns of problems. The
empirically based (bottom-up) approach applies through reports of
multiple informants to derive and assess syndromes, and the
diagnostically based (top-down) approach conceptualizes children’s
problems as syndromes of disorders (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2007).
Youth Self-Report (YSR) is one of the most widely used mental
health assessments for children and adolescents (Achenbach, 1991a).
Achenbach (1991a) identified Internalizing Problems (Withdrawn,
Somatic Complaints, and Anxious/Depressed) and Externalizing
Problems (Delinquent Behavior and Aggressive Behavior) by the
second-order factor analysis of the syndrome scales. Since Social
Problems, Thought Problems, and Attention Problems scales were
related one another, they are not on either grouping.
There have been gender differences reported in various studies. For
example, Internalizing Problems are more frequently reported by
adolescent girls than boys while Externalizing Problems are more
frequently reported by adolescent boys (e.g., Broberg et al., 2001;
Lekkou, Åström, & Hägglöf, 2006).

22
 The YSR is translated and widely used in different countries. A
cross-cultural study of youth from seven countries (Australia, China,
Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United States) using
the YSR indicated that youth from China and Jamaica had the highest
and adolescents from Israel and Turkey had the lowest mean total
score. Gender differences were similar across the cultures, i.e., girls
scored higher than boys on Total Problems and Internalizing Problems,
while the boys scored higher on Externalizing Problems than the girls.
The age effects were less consistent, but generally adolescents in the
majority of the cultures scored higher with increased age (Verhulst,
Achenbach, van der Ende, Erol, Lambert, Leung, Silva, Zilber, &
Zubrick, 2003).

Total Problems

Internalizing Externalizing
Anxious/Depressed

Delinquency

Aggression
Withdrawn

Attention
Thought
Somatic

Social

Other

Figure 3. Youth Self-Report, broadband and narrowband subscales (Achenbach, 1991).

Using YSR, it was shown that self-reported problems across

countries were similar with small effects for differences in 23 countries
(e.g., Sweden, USA, and Japan). Adolescents from Ethiopia, Hong
Kong, Korea and Japan scored low in Positive Qualities (i.e., positive
worded items that describe desirable characteristics for adolescents)
compared to their counterparts (Rescorla et al., 2007). Ivanova et al.

23
 (2007) showed generalizability of an eight-syndrome structure of YSR
in 23 countries. It was shown that patterns of co-occurrence of
problems reported by YSR items and scales in different countries were
similar, and that Total Problems in 17 countries (e.g., Asia, the Middle
East, Europe, and USA) were within one standard deviation of the
grand mean.
Numbers of cross-cultural comparisons of mental health problems of
youth were based on parent or teacher reports such as Child Behavior
Check List (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991b). According to a study of 31
countries measured by CBCL (Rescorla et al., 2007), Greece and
Russia had among the highest symptoms among the youths, while
Sweden and Japan were among the lowest. However, parent or teacher
reports cannot fully substitute for adolescents’ reports of their own
problems, as adolescents have different perspectives on their problems.
There were discrepancies between the youth and the parent/teacher
reports (e.g., Tepper et al., 2008; Vassi, Veltsista, Lagona, Gika,
Kavadias, & Bakoula, 2008). Another limitation mentioned by
Achenbach et al., (2007) was that low problem scores in some
countries might be seen as an expression of the parents’ reluctance to
• report problems as self-presentation (“self-serving”) more commonly
in Asian countries than Euro-American societies (Yabuuchi, 2004).
Marsh et al. (2004) demonstrated the importance of taking into
account multidimentional perspectives of both self-concept (SDQII)
and mental health (YSR) for understanding the complexity of self in
different contexts. They evaluated the construct validity of the SDQII
factors in relation to multiple dimensions of differentiated patterns of
mental health. For example, Physical, Appearance, Opposite-sex,
Same-sex Relations self-concepts had almost no relationship to
Externalizing Problems, while Emotional self-concept was
substantially related to Anxious/Depressed and Attention Problems.
These results provide support for predicting a variety of behaviors as
well as outcome measures of diverse interventions.

Gender

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, activities and

attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and
women (WHO, 2002). Sex is in focus on the biological characteristics,

24
while gender differences are social constructions that can be changed
in ways that biological characteristics cannot (WHO, 2002). Chodorow
(1978) argued that the different gender perspective may arise from the
different developmental tasks in boys and girls, and differential
emphases on self-definition and relatedness in the developments across
genders.
Gender role varies with culture. In traditional cultures, gender roles
tend to be divided (Arnett, 2006). Gender socialization leads to
socializing boys and girls according to the different expectations about
attitudes and appropriate gender behavior (Bussey & Bandura, 2004).

ASPECTS OF CULTURE
“After all, you open your eyes on a new morning and feel blessed,
don't you? All those words are from here, lingering and waiting. You
look at it, the geography of desire, the search for meaning, holy
sepulcher from invisible substance made; not found on this planet until
you came along. Show to use the products of that unfolding”
(The Unfolding, Sean Michael Wilson, 2008).

Culture is a term that has different meanings. One of the most

commonly used definitions in cultural psychology is “a dynamic
system of rules, explicated implicit, established by groups to ensure
their survival, involving attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and
behaviors, shared by a group but harbored differently by each specific
unit within the group, communicated across generations, relatively
stable but with the potential to change across time” (Matsumoto &
Juang, 2004, p10).
In the topic of self in the cultural context, scholars distinguished
between individual and collectivistic self (Hofstede, 1983; Triandis,
1989), or independent and interdependent self (Markus & Kitayama,
1991). Western culture places relatively greater value on individuals
being competent and self-sufficient while the Eastern culture focuses
on fitting harmoniously with others and gaining a sense of
belongingness and interdependence with others (e.g., Markus &
Kitayama, 1991). More recently, it was found that the definition of the

25
 individualism—collectivism dimension of cross-cultural differences in
self-construal is complex (e.g., Kolstad & Horpestad, 2009; Takano &
Sogon, 2008). A comparative Chilean and Norwegian study of
individualism and collectivism was inconsistent with the previous
characteristics of Chile as collectivistic and Norway as individualistic.
Individuals in both countries had a unique blend of individualistic and
collective elements (Kolstad & Horpestad, 2009).
In research of psychopathology, culture is also viewed as
characteristics from shared social conventions, and refers to social
conventions shared by people from a particular socio economic status.
Not only the differences between cultural groups but also individual
differences between members of each cultural group are important.
The multicultural research on psychopathology can advance
understanding of adaptive and maladaptive functioning and can assist
help providers to meet children’s needs (Achenbach & Rescorla,
2007). The nature of the relationships of abnormal behavior and
culture must be taken into account. A comparison of borderline and
schizophrenic patients from Sweden and Nicaragua showed that
cultural variability decreased as psychological disturbance becomes
• more severe (Sundbom, Jacobsson, Kullgren, & Penayo, 1998).
In this thesis, the term “culture” or “cross-cultural” are used for one
group of shared social conventions related to characteristics such as
nationality, ethnicity and language following the definition by
Matsumoto and Juang (2004).

Issues in cross-cultural assessment

One of the problems in cross-cultural comparison is how to define the

most appropriate combination of reliability and validity. There are
typical sources of bias and strategies in cross-cultural studies such as:
(1) construct bias (definitions of a construct do not completely
coincide across cultures), (2) method bias (e.g., sample
incomparability, different response styles, differential familiarity with
response procedures), (3) item bias (poor item translation, and/or
ambiguous items, with different meanings or interpretations across
cultures) (Van de Vijver & Tanzer, 1997). Just as importantly, there
are various ways to attempt to deal with such bias:

26
 (1) Construct bias (using the convergence approach i.e.,
independent within culture development of instruments and
cross-cultural administration of instruments).
(2) Construct bias and/or method bias (e.g., using bilingual
subjects in samples, and use of local surveys, i.e., content
analysis of free-response surveys).
(3) Method bias (e.g., training of administrators, detailed
manual/protocol and instructions for administration,
assessment of response style, and use of test/retest).
(4) Item bias (e.g., judgmental method of item bias detection as
linguistic and psychological analysis, and psychometric
methods of item bias detection such as differential item
functioning analysis) (for more details see Van de Vijver &
Tanzer, 1997).

To obtain a picture of similarities and differences across cultures, it

is necessary to make a comparison in the relatively molecular level of
specific items and at more molar level, i.e., syndromes and groups of
items (Verhulst & Achenbach, 1995).

AIMS

General aims for this thesis

This thesis deals with the period of adolescence and how the healthy
Japanese adolescents’ self-concept is related to the
emotional/behavioral problems and interpersonal relationships during
this period. Also, part of the thesis deals with how the view of self and
mental health problems are described by adolescents from different
countries.

Specific aims

I. The study aimed to (1) examine the psychometric properties of

the SDQII, (2) examine the extent to which Japanese and

27
 Swedish students differ in their self-concepts and actual-ideal
self discrepancies and (3) explore gender differences.

II. The study aimed to (1) examine the associations between the
perceived parental rearing, peer attachment style, self-concept,
and mental health problems reported by healthy Japanese
adolescents, (2) explore the influence of gender, and (3)
investigate the predictive power of perceived parenting,
attachment style and self-concept for mental health problems.

III. The study aimed to (1) investigate the hypothesized pathways

underlying the relationships between peer attachment as
determinants of self-concept and mental health problems
defined as Internalizing and Externalizing Problems, (2)
examine the influence of gender in the pathways in the model.

• IV. The study aimed to (1) compare scores and scales of YSR
reported by healthy adolescents 15-17 of age from Greece,
Japan, Russia, and Sweden, (2) compare scores of competence
scales and their associations to mental health problems, and (3)
analyze gender and age effects between and within countries of
the YSR syndrome scores.

The following main questions were addressed in studies:

 How is self-concept described by students in Japan and

Sweden? Are there any gender differences? (Paper I)
 How are the self-concept and peer attachment styles associated
with Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among Japanese
adolescents? Are there gender differences? (Papers II, III)
 How are perceived parental behaviors of both mothers and
fathers associated with adolescents’ well-being? (Paper II)

28
  Do self-concept and perceived parental rearing and peer
attachment predict Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
among Japanese adolescents? (Paper II)
 Is it possible to generate a structured model for the relationship
among peer attachment, self-concept and mental health
problems, and how does this model fit for boys and girls in
Japan? (Paper III)
 How are mental health problems and competencies reported by
adolescents from different countries? (Paper IV)
 Do self-reported competencies have associations to self-
reported mental health problems? Do the associations differ in
countries? (Paper IV)
 Are there gender and age differences in mental health
problems, and are they similar/different across countries?
(Paper IV)

METHODS

Participants

I. In Paper I, the participants were 144 Japanese (60 boys and 71

girls) and 96 Swedish (38 boys and 45 girls) adolescents
attending public schools in middle-class neighborhoods in
Japan and Sweden. The mean age of the Japanese students was
14.3 years (range: 14 to 15) and 14.5 years (range: 14 to 15)
for the Swedish students. There were seven Japanese and 12
Swedish students who did not complete the questionnaire due
to school absence or unwillingness to participate. Thirteen
Japanese and 13 Swedish adolescents completed the
questionnaires but did not mark their gender. These participants
were not included in the gender analyses.

29
 II. In Paper II, the study involved 193 adolescents (143 boys and
50 girls) attending public high school in middle-class
neighborhoods (total inhabitants 255,765) in Japan. The mean
age was 16.4 years (range = 15 to 19; SD = .96). Of the total
sample of 268 students, 46 students (17.2%), who lived with
only one parent, were excluded as well as 29 students (10.8%)
due to absence. The response rate was 72%. Based on
information provided by the school, a majority of the students
were from middle class families.

III. In Paper III, the adolescents were the same as the group in
Paper II, but included the students who don’t live with both
fathers and mothers. The group of adolescents consisted of 228
high school students (186 boys and 82 girls) in middle-class
neighborhoods in Japan. They were aged between 15 and 18
years with a mean age of 16.4 years. Based on information
provided by the school director, a majority of the students were
from middle-class families. Nineteen students (7.1%) did not
• complete the questionnaire due to absence from the school.

IV. Paper IV involved adolescents from different countries.

Greece: 152 (61 boys, 91 girls) adolescents of 15-17 years old
(mean age =15.99; SD=0.94) from a city in southern Greece.
There was no drop out (Lekkou et al., 2006); Japan: 219 (146
boys, 73 girls) adolescents of 15-17 years old (mean age
=16.21; SD=0.76 (Nishikawa et al., 2009) from a city in
southern Japan. There were six students (2.7%) who did not
participate due to absence or did not complete the
questionnaire; Sweden: 282 (135 boys, 147 girls) adolescents
aged between 15 and 17 (mean age =15.80; SD=0.86) from a
small town in northern Sweden. There were two students who
did not participate due to absence (Lekkou et al., 2006); Russia:
159 (73 boys, 86 girls) adolescents aged 15 to 16 (mean age=
15.40; SD=0.49) from a city in northern Russia. There was no
drop out (Zashikhina & Hägglöf, 2007).

30
Design

All of the studies were cross-sectional, and each group was assessed on
one occasion. Between and within group analyses were performed.
This thesis is exclusively based on the adolescents’ self-ratings.

Ethical consideration

There are challenging issues when conducting research in different

countries from an ethical point of view regarding the differences in
values and world views, definitions, research design, informed
consent, entry into the field, approaches to data collection and
participant roles (Marshall & Batten, 2003). The studies (Papers I, II,
III, and the Japanese sample in Paper IV) were designed and conducted
following the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (The
World Medical Association, 2008) as ethical principles for the
participants. All participants gave informed consent. In Papers I, II,
and III, the studies were approved by the director of the school.
Confidentiality was secured since data was analyzed in coded form and
no individual could be identified in the publication. Students marked
only gender and age. In Paper I, a letter for parental authorization was
delivered before conducting the study.
In Paper IV, the Swedish study was approved by the Research Ethic
Committee at Umeå University, Sweden (§53/99, dnr 99-014), and in
Greece by the Pedagogic Institute of Greek Ministry of Education
(21.01.98, Pr. No. T2/343). The Russian material was designed and
conducted following the ethical principle in their country. The study
was first approved by the director of the school, and the students
marked only gender and age; participation was voluntary.

Instruments

Assessment of the self-concept

The SDQII (Self-Description Questionnaire II; Marsh, 1992) is a 102

item self-report inventory including 11 subscales that measured
adolescent self-concept in the following areas: (1) an overall Total

31
 Self-concept (total score of the SDQII), (2) Academic Self (Math,
Verbal and School) and (3) Non-academic Self (Physical, Appearance,
Same-sex relations, Opposite-sex Relations, Parent Relations,
Emotional Stability and Honesty-trustworthiness) and Self-esteem.
Each of the 11 SDQII scales is based on simple declarative sentences
to which the participants respond on a six-point Likert response scale
ranging from 1= false to 6= true; where the higher score means a more
positive self-concept. The SDQII test manual based on an Australian
normative sample showed good psychometric properties of the SDQII,
as internal consistency of the Total Self scale was .94 and corrected
item-scale correlations ranged from .35 to .80 (Marsh, 1992).

Assessment of the self-concept (short version)

The SDQII-S (Self-Description Questionnaire II for Short; Marsh,

Ellis, Parada, Richards, & Heubeck, 2005) is a 51 item self-report
inventory that has been modified from the original 102 item SDQII
• (Marsh, 1992) to measure junior and senior high school age self-
concept in the following areas: Non-academic Self (Physical,
Appearance, Same-sex Relations, Opposite-sex Relations, Parent
Relations, Emotional Stability, and Honesty-trustworthiness),
Academic-self (Math, Verbal, and School), and Self-esteem. The Total
self-concept score is the sum of the different subscales. The
participants respond on a six-point Likert response scale ranging from
1 = false to 6 = true. The psychometric properties of the original
SDQII-S were sufficient with good reliability and higher order
confirmatory factor models applied in Australia. Internal consistency
of the Total Self concept scored .90, and the reliability coefficient for
the SDQII-S factor ranged from .56 to .90 (median =.76; Marsh et al.,
2005).

Assessment of actual-ideal self-discrepancy

The Actual-Ideal Questionnaire (Nishikawa, 2003) was designed for

the present study to measure congruency between “Actual-self” and
“Ideal-self”. The following eight comparison pairs of traits were
included: (1) intelligent vs. less intelligent, (2) shy vs. not shy, (3)

32
relaxed vs. stressed, (4) popular vs. unpopular, (5) useful vs. useless,
(6) satisfied vs. dissatisfied, (7) hopeful vs. hopeless, (8) independent
vs. interdependent. To reduce the positive and negative response bias,
the positive and negative traits were placed in parallel, i.e., (1)
“intelligent vs. less intelligent (positive vs. negative)”, (2) “stressed vs.
relaxed (negative vs. positive)”. Each pair is rated on a six-point
semantic differential scale. At first the participants were asked to rate
their actual-self traits and then their ideal-self. The scores ranged from
1 for negative traits to 6 for positive traits. The differences between the
total score of Actual and Ideal scales were then combined to yield an
overall measure of the discrepancy between the Actual and Ideal Self.
As the pair “independent vs. interdependent” is difficult to value in
terms of somewhat positive or negative traits, this comparison pair was
not included in the total measure of self-discrepancy. First, the
questionnaire was developed in English, and then translated to
Swedish and Japanese by the author whose first language is Japanese.
The Swedish translation was modified by a university teacher who has
Swedish as the first language. A pilot study and back translation for
both Swedish and Japanese version were conducted. This instrument
was designed as short to save time and make it easy for students when
answering other instruments (e.g., SDQII).

Assessment of emotional/behavioral problems

YSR (Youth Self-Report; Achenbach, 1991a) is a widely used self-

report questionnaire designed for use with adolescents between the
ages of 11 and 18. The first part contains seven competence items
which include the scales Activity, Social Competence, and Total
Competence. The second part contains 112 items that measure (a) eight
narrowband sub-scales (Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints,
Anxious/Depressed, Social Problems, Thought Problems, Attention
Problems, Aggressive Behavior, Delinquent Behavior), and (b) two
broadband scales: Internalizing Problems (Withdrawn, Somatic
Complaints, and Anxious/Depressed) and Externalizing Problems
(Aggressive Behavior and Delinquent Behavior). Items that are not
included in any of the subscales are collected under the heading of
Other Problems. The Total Problems scale measures the overall
behavioral and emotional functioning of the adolescents. The youth is
asked to rate each item on a three-point scale from 0 (not true) to 2

33
 (very true or often true). A higher score means more
emotional/behavioral problems. The reliability and validity of the YSR
are documented by Achenbach (1991), with reliability coefficients
ranging from .59 to .87.

Assessment of peer attachment

AQC (Attachment Questionnaire for Children; Sharpe et al., 1998) is a

simplified age-downward version of Hazan and Shaver’s (1987)
single-item measure of attachment style developed by Sharpe et al.
(1998). Children and adolescents are provided with three descriptions
concerning their feelings about and perception of relationships with
their friends and peers as follows: (1) “I find it easy to become close
friends with other children. I trust them and I am comfortable
depending on them. I do not worry about being abandoned or about
another child getting too close friends with me” (secure attachment
style), (2) “I am uncomfortable to become close friends with other
children. I find it difficult to trust them completely and difficult to
• depend on them. I get nervous when another child wants to become
close friends with me” (avoidant attachment style), and (3) “I often
find that other children do not want to get as close as I would like them
to be. I am often worried that my best friend doesn’t really like me and
wants to end our friendship. I prefer to do everything together with my
best friend. However, this desire sometimes scares other children
away” (ambivalent attachment style). Various studies (e.g., Muris et
al., 2003b; Sharpe et al., 1998) yielded good validity by showing
theoretically meaningful relationships with other attachment indexes
and psychopathology in youth. In the present studies, the word
“children” in AQC was changed to “students” in order to make it more
suitable for the adolescents.

Assessment of perceived parental rearing

EMBU-C (Egna Minnen Bätraffande Uppfostran: My memories of

child upbringing-for Children; Muris, Meesters, & van Brakel, 2003) is
a self-report instrument based on the original (Perris, Jacobsson,
Lidström, VonKnorring, & Perris, 1980) that has been used for studies
of adults and adolescents in different countries (e.g., Arrindell, Perris,
Eisemann et al., 1992). The EMBU-C consists of 40 items assessing

34
adolescents’ current perceptions of parent behavior across four
domains: Emotional Warmth, Rejection, Overprotection, and Anxious
Rearing, and consists of 40 items (Muris et al., 2003a). In the present
study of Japanese adolescents, a negatively worded item of
overprotection (item number 24) “My parent(s) allow(s) me to do
everything” was excluded due to negative item-scale correlation to the
other items in the scale of Overprotection. Consequently, the EMBU-C
in the present study contained 39 items that were to be answered on 4-
point Likert-scales (1 = No, never, 2 = Yes, but seldom, 3 = Yes, often,
4 = Yes, most of the time). The EMBU-C has been found to be a
reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing the main dimensions of
parental rearing (Muris et al., 2003a). A higher score of Emotional
Warmth means more functional parenting while a higher score in
Rejection, Overprotection and Anxious Rearing is interpreted as more
dysfunctional parenting. Two dimensions “control” (high loadings of
Anxious Rearing and Overprotection and moderate loadings of
Rejection), and “care” (high positive loadings of Emotional Warmth
and high negative loadings of Rejection), were identified in the
EMBU-C (Muris et al., 2003a). First, the participants rated the father’s
rearing behavior and then the mother’s rearing behavior.

Statistical Analysis

Descriptive statistics

SPSS (The Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 15 and 16.0
(2008) was used for computing descriptive statistics, correlations, t-
test, analysis of variance (ANOVAs), and effect size, as well as SEM
analysis. SIMCA (Soft Independent Modeling Class Analogy) version
8.0 was used for the PLS analysis.

Partial Least Squares regression (PLS)

Partial Least Squares (PLS) is a regression extension of Principal

Component Analysis (PCA) (e.g., Henningsson, Sundbom, Armelius,
& Erdberg, 2001; Wold et al., 1983). This predictive method
represents an important development for clinical psychology and

35
 personality assessment that often involves the data set that contain too
many variables in relation to the number of subjects and/or variables
that are not independent, implying risks with spurious results (Type I
and II errors). PLS is an alternative to OLS regression. The advantage
of the PLS regression is that it can cope with multicollinearity that
OLS regression does not, and is useful when exceeding the numbers of
the cases. It extracts a set of latent factors that explain as much of the
covariance as possible between the independent and dependent
variables. The statistical significance of each component is determined
by cross-variation criteria to avoid overfitting of the model. The Q2
value (the goodness of prediction) is a measure of how well the
independent variables X can predict the Y variables, when new cases
are added. A Q2 value larger than 0.1 of a component indicates
significance of the model. The relative contribution from each
independent variable to the PLS model is expressed in a Variable
Importance in Projection (VIP) value. A VIP value larger than 1.0
contributes more than average to the relationship, while VIP values
below 0.8 make only a minor contribution to the model. A more
comprehensive description can be found in Henningsson et al., (2001),
• where the method is illustrated by its application to data from a
personality test.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was analyzed using AMOS 16

(SPSS, 2008) to evaluate the mediating effects of the variables
specified by models with path diagrams. This software performs
analyses of moment structures through maximum likelihood
estimation. To investigate whether a variable X (Self-Concept) is a
mediator between independent variable A (Attachment) and dependent
variable B (Mental Health) in the path analysis, a direct path from A to
B is drawn in a first analysis. In the next analysis, two paths are added,
one from A to X and the other from X to B. If X is a significant
mediator, the weight of the path from A to B will decrease in the
second analysis in comparison to the first one (Baron & Kenny, 1986).
The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) is considered a reasonable
statistical method for evaluating the model and assesses the fit between
the hypothesized model and the date. AMOS calculates all measures
that capture model evaluations that were selected based on the

36
different theoretical perspectives such as: CMIN/df (the minimum
value of sample discrepancy divided by its degree of freedom, smaller
values preferable, Holmers-Smith, 2000); GFI (The Goodness of Fit
Index, the measure of the relative amount of variance and covariance,
close to 1, over 0.9 is preferable, Jöreskog & Sörborn, 1993); AGFI
(the adjusted Goodness of Fit Index larger value, over 0.9 preferable,
Jöreskog & Sörborn, 1993); and RMSEA (the root mean square error
of approximation based on population discrepancy, smaller values,
below .08 preferable, Browne & Cudeck, 1993).

Procedure

In Paper I, all materials were originally produced in English and then

translated into Japanese and Swedish. The Japanese versions were
translated by the author, who has Japanese as the first language, and
the Swedish versions were translated by Swedish university students
who have Swedish as the first language. In Papers II and III, all
materials were originally produced in English, except the Youth Self-
Report (YSR) which was already produced in Japanese. All of the
other instruments were translated by the author whose first language is
Japanese. Back translation and pilot studies were carried out and
translations were modified by school teachers for the materials in
Papers I, II, and III.
In Papers I, II, and III, school classes were selected by the school
director based on the students’ class schedules. The students filled in
the questionnaire during regular class hours reserved for the study. It
took approximately 30 minutes to complete. Only information about
the gender and age were marked, and the participants had the
opportunity to give or withhold consent. The questionnaires were
conducted during the spring 2003 (Paper I) and summer 2005 (Papers
II-IV) except for the data from Greece, Russia, and Sweden in Paper
IV.
In Paper IV, the YSR was validated in all of the countries, and the
data was collected by researchers for their original studies. Their
studies were designed and conducted following ethical manner.

37
 RESULTS
Paper I: Cross-cultural Validation of Adolescent Self-
Concept in Two Cultures: Japan and Sweden.

The reliability coefficients for the eleven scales in both countries were
acceptable (for Japan range= .71 to .94, Mdn = .83; for Sweden range
= .74 to .92, Mdn = .86). Internal consistency for the Total Self scores
was .93 for Japan and .91 for Sweden. In the confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) performed separately for Japan and Sweden, most of
the factors loaded on the designed factor. However, some factors
loaded at the same component. The Univariate F-test showed
significant effects for Appearance, Same-sex, Opposite-sex, Parent,
Emotional, Honesty, Verbal, School, Self-esteem, Total-self,
Academic, and Non-academic Self, indicating that Japanese
adolescents generally reported a lower self-concept in those scales
compared to the Swedes. There were no significant differences in
Physical and Math self-concepts between the countries. There were
some stereotypical gender differences only among Swedish
• adolescents (e.g., boys scored more positive Appearance than girls,
while girls scored more positive Honesty self-concept).
The independent sample t-test revealed significant differences in the
total score of Actual-self and Ideal Self. Swedish adolescents reported
a higher mean rate on Actual-self and Ideal-self than Japanese
counterparts. Swedish youths also rated higher than Japanese on
“independent” for Actual-self and Ideal-self. Japanese had
significantly larger actual-ideal discrepancy than Swedish students.
Girls from Japan and Sweden had larger Actual-Ideal discrepancies
compared to the boys. There were negative associations between self-
discrepancy and the self-concept scales across the country.
In conclusion, the fact of the sufficient psychometric properties of
the SDQII in both Swedish and Japanese makes those instruments
useful for further investigation. However, the favorability bias and
different response style in self-concept in the cross-cultural
comparison must be kept in mind. The gender differences were smaller
compared to the influences from culture.

38
Paper II: Influence of Perceived Parental Rearing on
Adolescent Self-Concept and Internalizing and
Externalizing Problems in Japan.

Correlational analysis indicated that dysfunctional parental rearing,

particularly Rejection and Overprotection, and insecure peer
attachment (i.e., Avoidant and Ambivalent) were associated with a
negative self-concept and more mental health problems. The PLS
(Partial Least Squares Regression) analysis showed that insecure
attachment styles (i.e., Avoidant and Ambivalent) and perceived
Rejection from both fathers and mothers were predictors of
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among boys, while all
dysfunctional parenting (Rejection, Overprotection and Anxious
Rearing) were determinants of these problems among girls. Non-
Academic self-concept (social, emotional, and physical) was a
predictor of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems. Power of the
prediction of these problems was greater for girls than boys despite the
small sample size of girls. The independent t-test showed that girls
rated significantly higher Emotional Warmth from mother compared to
the boys. All ratings of both positive and negative parenting of mothers
were significantly higher than those of fathers.
In conclusion, there seem to be a unique influence on mental health
problems from parent-adolescent relationships depending on the
gender of the parents and adolescents. The results illustrated rather
universal aspects of parental rearing (e.g., associations between peer
attachment, self-concept, and mental health), yet there also seem to be
cultural-specific aspects of parenting, which are important to consider.

Paper III: Contribution of Attachment and Self-Concept on

Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among Japanese
Adolescents.

The main results were that securely attached adolescents reported

fewer mental health problems and a more positive self-concept than
those who reported insecure peer attachment. Some patterns of
associations among variables appeared to be different across gender.
Associations between Academic Self and mental health problems (e.g.,

39
 Externalizing Problems) among boys than girls. Mean scores of Total
Problems (sum of the syndrome scales) were similar to the US norms.
However, high standard deviation showed that there were individuals
with high levels of mental health problems.
Based on the theoretical view, we evaluated two models regarding
both direct and indirect relationships between Attachment and Mental
Health via Self-Concept. In the first model, the path for the Academic
Self did not reflect shared variance in Self-Concept. The path between
Self-Concept and Mental Health was not significant. In addition,
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems failed to explain the shared
variance of Mental Health. The paths in the second model were all
significant, and gave support to the mediating role of Self-concept in
influencing the relationships between Attachment and Internalizing
Problems, but not for Externalizing Problems. The paths for the model
were significant across gender.
In conclusion, the results promote understanding of psychological
processes that influence the relationships between peer attachment and
psychological well-being among high school adolescents. Adolescents’
actual perceptions of their relationships play a role in how they feel
• about themselves and their emotional/behavioral problems. The model
provided in the present study seems to be valuable for intervention and
prevention in counseling practice.

1.00** -.38**

Attachment Self-Concept Internalizing e7

.54**
Externalizing e8

.70** -.66** -.45** .44** .65**

Self-
Secure Avoidant Ambivalent Academic Non
esteem Academic

e1 e2 e3 e4 .41** e5 .32** e6

.44**

Figure 2. Structural Equation Model

Note: All paths significant (** p<.001) unless indicated (ns). X² (df18)=33.16; CMIN/DF=1.84;
GFI=0.96; AGFI=0.92; RMSEA=0.67.

40
Paper IV: Mental Health Problems Reported by Adolescents
in Four Countries: Greece, Japan, Russia, and Sweden.

Comparison of problems reported by adolescents from Greece, Japan,

Russia, and Sweden (n = 812) yield a small effect size (Cohen, 1988)
of 4.8% for cross-cultural variations in YSR Total Problems scores.
The deviations above the overall mean (42.16) for the Total Problems
score were for Greece and Russia, while they were below the mean for
Japan and Sweden. The effect sizes of country for narrowband and
broadband scales were small or medium. There were tendencies of
Greek reporting more on Internalizing Problems, Russian reporting
more Externalizing Problems including Delinquent and Aggressive
Behavior, and for Japanese scoring lower in those scales. Gender
differences within countries (i.e., girls reporting more Internalizing
Problems) were shown except for Japanese. In the Total Competence
(sum of competencies), Greek scored significantly higher than the
Japanese and Swedish adolescents. There were several negative
associations between syndrome scales and competence scales across
countries. Among the Japanese and Swedish, the Academic and Social
Competence scales were negatively associated with the Total
Problems. These results were not shown among Greek adolescents.
In conclusion, the present study provides a certain picture of
adolescent mental health across different countries. Analysis within
and between countries pointed out some particular problems that might
be more or less common in some countries than others. By using the
same instrument in distinctly different societies, the findings would
help to improve the care methods for adolescents from different
countries.

Qualitative notes from the Japanese adolescents from the

YSR

In YSR, there are open questions such as “Please describe any

concerns or problems you have about school” and “Please describe any
other concerns you have” Even though not many students wrote
something down, there were some interesting statements. There were
students, especially boys who mentioned their worry about school and
university entrance exam (n=20 for boys, n=4 for girls) such as;

41
  “I got a bad grade on exams.” (a boy, first grade)
 “I worry if I can follow my classes.” (a boy, first grade)
 “I worry about failing entrance exams for university.” (a boy,
second grade)
 “I am worrying if I fail the certificate test for bookkeeping.” (a
girl, second grade)

Apart from school and study, some students made statements about
their worry about relationships with their friends and their future.
Some of them complained about strict school regulations.

 “My relationships with friends don’t go well. I can’t make them

understand how I think.” (a girl, third grade).
 “I don’t know what I want to do in the future.” (a girl, first
grade).
 “School regulations are important, but it is too strict (hair style
• and school uniform, etc).” (a girl, second grade).
 “I have found what I want to do in the future, but it costs
money. I worry if I cause a problem for my parents because of
that.” (a boy, first grade).
 “I only have a little experience with love, so it does not often
go well. Thinking about a boy seems to be heavy and it makes
me very worried.” (a girl, second grade).
 I get easily angry and irritated (a girl, first grade).

In a question of YSR “Please describe the best thing about yourself”,

descriptions by the students were similar and in terms of their
relationships with others such as;

 やさしい (kind and gentle, 16 boys, 3 girls)

 誰とでも仲良くなれる (get along with anyone, 9 boys, 7 girls)
 明るい (lively and amicable, 6 boys, 8 girls)
 最 後 ま で あ き ら め な い で や り と げ る (finish doing the things
without giving up, 6 boys, 5 girls)
 人のことを考えられる (think about others, 4 boys, 1 girl)
 いつも笑顔 (always smiling, 4 girls)

42
DISCUSSION
The studies presented in this thesis explored the self-concept, and
emotional/behavioral problems, and their associations to interpersonal
relationships such as peer attachment style and perceived parental
rearing in healthy adolescents in Japan. In the first and last papers,
comparisons between Japan and others countries were conducted. The
understanding of the context of adolescents’ inner world included
theoretical, interpersonal and cultural factors.

Self-concept

The present thesis suggests that multidimensional self-concept is

useful for adolescents in Japan and Sweden. The comparison between
Japanese and Swedish adolescents using the SDQII showed not only
differences but also similarities across countries. Swedish adolescents
in general reported a more positive self-concept in most of the scales in
SDQII, indicating a cross-cultural difference in the rating of actual
perceptions of the domain specific self-concept. This corresponds to
earlier studies of self-concept (e.g., Wästlund et al., 2001), and self-
esteem (e.g., Farrugia et al., 2004). Similar levels of the Physical and
Math self-concept across countries may reflect the notes that Japanese
value physical competition in specific activities such as sports
(Kanagawa et al., 2001), and a decrease of mathematic achievement in
both countries (Mullis, Martin, Gonzales, & Chrostowski, 2004). The
findings pointed out that when being focused on unidimentional self-
esteem or multidimensional self-concept, Japanese adolescents’
response style appeared as a distinct difference in comparison to their
Western counterparts such as the Swedes.
Gender differences in the mean score of self-concept from the
SDQII were shown only among Swedish adolescents, i.e., boys
reporting more positive Appearance and Opposite-sex self-concept,
while girls reported more positive Honesty self-concept. This finding
was in agreement with early studies (e.g., Marsh 1989, 1992).
However, there were no gender differences among Japanese
adolescents either on SDQII or SDQII-S (Papers 1, II, and III). Gender
differences in self-concept seem to be smaller when compared to the

43
 influence of culture (Kashima et al., 1995), or there may be other
explanations.
The studies (Papers I, II, and III) showed that Japanese adolescents
had a similar self-concept across different ages. This result is
supported by the other studies, which showed that self-concept
generally decreases with an increase in children’s ages (e.g., Marsh,
1989). One possible explanation for this result is that the age range
(14-15 and 15-18 years) was too small to perceive the age differences
in the present studies. The results from groups 14-15 and 15-18 years
old could not be compared due to the different form of the instruments.
In the Actual-Ideal Questionnaire, the Swedish adolescents rated
significantly higher than Japanese on the total scores of Actual and
Ideal Self. There was no difference in Japanese students on the trait
“shy vs. not shy” (scale 2), which means that Japanese adolescents
seemed to value the term rather positively. In the pair concerning
“independent vs. interdependent”, Swedish adolescents rated higher on
“independent” in contrast to the Japanese who rated more on the trait
on “interdependent”. The Japanese also rated higher on
“interdependent” regarding their “Ideal-self”, in contrast to the
• Swedish adolescents who rated more on “independent” for their “Ideal-
self”. Consistent with an early study (Hankin, Roberts, & Gotlib,
1997), girls from Japan and Sweden had larger actual-ideal
discrepancies than boys in their countires.
Supporting the early studies (Choi & Lee, 1999; Moretti & Wiebe,
1999), the domains of self-concept were associated with Actual-Ideal
discrepancies among Japanese and Swedish adolescents. The larger
Actual-Ideal discrepancy reported by the Japanese rather than the
Swedes is in agreement with the study of Heine and Lehman (1999).
The magnitude of these associations was smaller among the Japanese
than the Swedes. One possible explanation for this result is that seeing
further away from one’s ideal is a way of self-improvement; therefore,
it is less distressing for Japanese people (Heine & Lehman, 1999). This
different attitude can be also seen from daily conversations in Japan
with a Japanese concept of “ganbatte (work hard)”, which is often
translated as “good luck” in English or “lycka till” in Swedish.

44
Interpersonal relationships

Concerning which self-concept domain is related to interpersonal

relationships among Japanese adolescents, the present thesis suggests
that the adolescents’ actual perceptions of their relationships with their
friends, peers, and parents play a role in how they feel about
themselves. The results reported in the present studies are in line with
the notions on attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980), and
interpersonal theory (Sullivan, 1953). These associations seem to be
universal. Non-academic Self is more related to attachment style than
with Academic Self, which is the school and academic areas of self-
concept. Sense of self-worth highlighted an impression of rejection by
others. Such cognitions make adolescents reliant on gaining acceptance
from others and more sensitive to social standards. Negative parenting
styles were associated more with Externalizing Problems than with
Internalizing Problems (Muris et al., 2003b; Pereira et al., 2008),
showing the importance of parent-adolescent relationships in
Externalizing Problems. When adolescents perceived their parents as
controlling and restrictive, they tended to report a negative self-
concept, insecure attachment style, or emotional/behavioral problems.
These associations seem to be bi-directional.
Despite the fact that Japanese boys and girls viewed their parental
behavior in a similar way, there were gender specific associations
between perceived parenting and mental health problems. This result
was in contrast to the Western study (Muris et al., 2003b) that found no
gender differences. Especially for girls, negative parenting styles (i.e.,
Rejection, Overprotection and Anxious Rearing) were the predictors of
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems, which indicated that parental
influence on mental health was stronger among the girls than boys.
These results agree with the interpersonal sensitivity of females (Kim,
2003; Rizzo, Daley, & Gunderson, 2006), and appear to suggest that
adolescent girls seem more sensitive to their parents’ behaviors, or
parents are more sensitive to their daughters’ behaviors.
In different gender socialization processes, girls are more likely to
perceive their maternal emotional warmth than boys (Uji et al., 2006).
Boys and girls reported both positive and negative parenting by
mothers than those by fathers. It may reflect the absent father of the
Japanese family, and that the mother has more interaction with the
children (Matsumoto, 2002). However, the results showed that the

45
 fathers’ behavior toward Japanese adolescents is as important as the
mothers’ regarding the adolescent self-concept and development of
mental health problems. This agrees with the previous studies in the
USA (Rogers, Buchanan, & Winchell, 2003), the Netherlands (Roelofs
et al., 2006), and China (Shek, 2007). Control and demand of
obedience by parents are emphasized in a group-oriented society such
as Japan (Rothbaum, Plott, Miyake, & Weisz, 2000). Therefore,
children are accepting when their parents are controlling and discipline
them as the responsibility of parents and as an expression of parental
care and love. It can be said that Japanese parents are anxious in a
Western sense, but responsible and caring in a Japanese sense. This
would help to explain why the Anxious Rearing scale in EMBU-C in
Japanese shared loading of “care” with “rejection”.
A note from the qualitative data, “I have found what I want to do in
the future, but it costs money. I worry that it would cause a problem
for my parents because of that” suggests a strong connection with
parents in regard to adolescents’ future plans. In Japan, adolescents
remain closer to their parents than Americans and do not feel as much
need of autonomy from their parents (Rothbaum et al., 2000). Research
• showed that in the question “One should follow one’s parents’
opinions as much as possible”, more respondents from Japan and
Korea agreed than disagreed, in contrast to the Swedish adolescents
who disagreed more than they agreed (Director General for Policy
Planning and Coordination, 2004). Most Japanese parents are
responsible for their children’s higher education and it is common for
children to live with their parents even after adolescence. Despite the
fact from the West that autonomy is an important developmental goal
in childrearing (Decoviv & Meeus, 1999), the value of emotional
autonomy and the way it is related to adolescents’ relationships with
their parents may be different in Japan.
Associations between perceived parenting and peer attachment were
rather weak (Paper II), even if these associations are in support of
attachment theory (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1980). A study
found that adolescent attachment to parents and peers differed across
adolescent transition (Nikerson & Nagle, 2005). During adolescence,
parental attachment changes as communication and trust for parents
decrease. Secure attachment to parents may allow increasing security
in other relationships, whereas insecure attachment to parents may
foster the desire to feel security with friends (Nikerson & Nagle,
2005). These aspects seem to support why the magnitude of

46
associations between perceived parenting and peer attachment were
small in the present study. So far, few studies have examined how
adolescents describe their attachment to their parents, and peers, and
the relationships exist between parent and peer attachment.

Emotional and behavioral problems

The mean scores of the YSR reported by the Japanese adolescents

were similar with those of the US norm (Achenbach, 1991a). However,
even among the healthy adolescents who normally go to school, there
are individuals who reported mental health problems. Internalizing and
Externalizing Problems were reported by adolescents with an insecure
attachment style compared to the securely attached adolescents.
In contrast to the Western study (Marsh et al., 2004), there were
gender specific associations between self-concept and mental health
problems among Japanese adolescents. One possible explanation for
this result is gender socialization in Japan where boys have higher
parental expectations regarding higher education (Yamaoka et al.,
2003). It also corresponds to the result that Academic self-concept is
more associated with mental health problems among boys than girls
(Paper II), and in the qualitative results in the Japanese boys saying
they were worried about their school grades and university entrance
exams.
In comparing mental health problems among Greek, Japanese,
Russian, and Swedish adolescents, the Greeks and Russians were
placed among those who had more problems, while Japanese and
Swedish youths were placed among those who had fewer problems.
This finding is consistent with the result measured by parental reports
(Rescorla et al., 2007). Japanese adolescents reported significantly
lower Externalizing Problems, including Aggressive and Delinquent
Behavior compared to the adolescents from the other countries. In
contrast, Russian adolescents scored the highest on Externalizing
Problems, including Aggressive and Delinquent Behavior than their
counterparts. This may be explained by the cultural sanction and
cultural facilitation model (Weiz, Weiss, Suwanlert, & Chaiyasit,
2006). “Cultural facilitation” refers to a particular cluster of behaviors
encouraged in one population group more than another and leading to
the co-occurrence of these behaviors within the group’s behavioral

47
 repertoire, while “cultural sanction” refers to a particular cluster of
behavior that is verbally disapproved, negatively sanctioned or
punished. Japanese culture emphasizes avoidance of physical
aggression and rule-breaking behavior, and there is an obligation to
their parents and social control regarding delinquency (Tanioka &
Glaser, 1991). Some countries, like Japan, do not often discuss minds
or mental status openly or explain their actions.
In Russian culture, on the other hand, delinquent behaviors are more
valued as promotion status and popularity (Slobodskaya, 1999).
Furthermore, it seems that aggressive rule-breaking behaviors are
negatively sanctioned in Japan, while socially facilitated among
Russians. Gender differences were similar across countries except for
Japan. Consistent with various studies (e.g., Verhulst et al., 2003), girls
from Greece, Russia and Sweden scored higher on Internalizing
Problems than boys in their countries. There was no gender difference
among the Japanese corresponding to the recent result from China
(Tepper et al., 2008). An interesting tendency was that, in contrast to
the traditional psychopathology, the present study showed that girls
from Japan and Sweden reported slightly more Externalizing Problems
• than boys. A Norwegian study found that girls had more Delinquent
Behavior than boys (Kvernmo & Heyerdahl, 2004). Scholars (Hurtig,
Taanila, Ebeling, Miettunen, & Moilanen, 2005) explained this finding
that girls in Nordic countries are allowed to express their emotions.
The same result received among the Japanese was surprising since it is
most evident that Sweden is one of the gender equal or feministic
countries, in contrast to the Japanese culture that emphasizes a
traditional gender role. One possible explanation is that both Japan and
Sweden are countries with modern industries and high technology, and
girls in those societies may be adopting male behaviors. It may also
reflect a changing society in Japan. An interesting tendency, even
though not significant, was that girls from Japan, Russia, and Sweden
tended to report more Aggressive Behavior than boys. Of the items of
Aggressive Behavior, Japanese girls reported verbal oriented
aggression (e.g., “I talk too much”), while boys reported physical
aggression (“I destroy my own things”) showing differences within
scale. Age differences were less consistent, with a small range of age
groups, although there were some significant age-by-country effects.
Generally, most of countries scored higher on most scales with
increasing age.

48
 The present studies showed associations between the competence
scales and the specific syndrome scales among adolescents especially
Japanese and Swedish (Paper IV). This result supports the validity of
the scales and corresponds well with early studies (e.g., Broberg et al.,
2001; Sandval, Lemos, & Vallejo, 2006). Perception of competence,
which is a sense of one’s personal skills and abilities as well as one’s
success in relationships, is important throughout childhood and
adolescence (Harter, 1999). The Academic Competence was associated
with Total Problems among Swedish and Japanese youths. One of the
explanations for this finding may be that Swedish and Japanese
students feel stress or pressure connected to school work (Matsumoto,
2002; Ollfors & Andersson, 2007). Greek adolescents reported a
higher rate of not only Total Problems but also of Total Competence
than Swedish and Japanese students. However, no associations were
found between the syndrome scales and competencies. It seems to be
important to keep in mind positive biases in self-perception, and
response style appears when comparing the mean score of Total
Competence across countries. Low competence scored by the Japanese
corresponds to the results in comparison to the self-concept (Paper I).
The present thesis can suggest that the poor self-concept is related to
adolescent perceptions of dysfunctional parenting and insecure
attachment, which in turn is related to Internalizing and Externalizing
Problems. Dysfunctional parenting styles (e.g., Overprotection,
Rejection) and Non Academic Self was a predictor of mental health
problems, but not the Academic Self (Paper II). Self-concept played a
mediating role through attachment style for Internalizing Problems, but
not Externalizing Problem (Paper III). Internalizing and Externalizing
Problems are theoretically different constructs (Achenbach, 1991a).
This would help explain why the path between Self-concept and
Mental Health was not significant when both Internalizing and
Externalizing Problems were linked in shared variance for Mental
Health. A non significant path between Self-concept and Externalizing
Problems may be the case of different associations in gender. Only
Self-esteem was associated with Externalizing among girls, while
ambivalent attachment and the other self-concept scales were
associated with Externalizing Problems among the boys. Antisocial
behavior is maladaptive, but antisocial adolescents may be more likely
to achieve success in enhancing relationships (PDM Task Force,
2006). The link between antisocial behavior and self-esteem is
complicated. Some researchers suggest that aggression and antisocial

49
 behavior in children and adolescents are an expression of their low-
self-esteem (low self-esteem hypothesis; e.g., Donnellan,
Trzesniewski, Robins, Moffitt, & Capsi, 2005), while others suggest
that aggression stems from a high self-esteem disputed by others
(disputed self-esteem hypothesis; e.g., Baumeister, Bushman, &
Campbell, 2000). Another study showed that either low or exaggerated
but disputed self-esteem is related to children’s aggression
(Diamantopolou, Rydell, & Henricsson, 2008).
The results seem to suggest that Externalizing Problems may be
associated more with parent-adolescent relationships than with peer
attachment, as Externalizing Problems are disruptive for the family
(Buist et al., 2004), and it was also shown in associations between
parenting behavior and Externalizing Problems (Paper II). In the case
of Internalizing Problems, peer attachment is connected to the self-
concept, and when adolescents perceive their social world as
untrustworthy and undependable, they are more likely to develop
depression and anxiety, and withdraw from social interaction. The
model provided in the present study (Paper III) seems to be valuable
for choosing a focus in intervention and prevention in counseling
• practice.

Culture and well-being in adolescence

One of our studies showed that Japanese adolescents’ self-concept was

lower than Swedish adolescents (Paper I); however their mental health
problems were rather similar to the Swedish adolescents (Paper IV).
These results may suggest that a more negative self-concept among
Japanese compared to, e.g., Swedish adolescents, does not mean that
Japanese youth are more psychologically unhealthy. When Japan is
compared to its Western counter-parts in the positive aspects of self-
esteem or self-concept, it appears as a tendency of the Japanese modest
response style, which makes significant differences. When comparing
mental health problems, the similarities and differences measured by
the standardized assessment in different cultures illuminated the
cultural-specific and universal aspects of psychopathology (Crijenen,
Achenbach, Frank, & Verhulst, 1999). By identifying the kinds of
syndromes or problem behaviors that are common or uncommon in a
specific country, it helps us to find out specific interventions for

50
adolescents with different cultural backgrounds. The results appeared
as cultural or gender differences in expression or perception of the
problem behaviors. Differences may be due to methodological factors
related to assessment, methods and factors related to psychopathology,
and biological or environmental factors (Verhulst & Achenbach,
1995). Absence of gender differences in self-concept and mental health
among the Japanese contrasts common theoretical assumption in self-
concept and mental health.
Despite the response style appearing in the self-concept assessments
in the Japanese, there are adolescents who mentioned their positive
features of themselves. Their descriptions were interpersonal oriented
such as “kind and gentle”, “get along with anyone”, “lively and
amicable”, as Shimizu (2000) noted that behaviors like being kind to
others and empathetic to others are valued among the Japanese.
Even though Japanese adolescents rated their actual-self as less
individualistic and more collectivistic than Swedish adolescents (Paper
I), debates about the Japanese as more individualistic or independent
(e.g., Brown, 2005; Matsumoto, 2002) cannot be ignored. Changing
Japanese culture (Matsumoto, 2002) influences adolescents’ lives
while Japan still keeps its traditions. Japanese adolescents can share
the experience with people world wide through a globalization of
media. Globalization influences functioning among adolescents around
the world, and identity confusion may be increasing in non-Western
cultures (Arnett, 2002).

Limitations of the studies

It is important to acknowledge the limitations of the studies. There

were some item biases associated with ambiguous item meanings in
the instruments. In the trait “shy vs. not shy” (scale 2 in the Actual-
Ideal Questionnaire, Paper I), the value judgment from a Swedish point
of view was that adjective “shy” had a negative loading. However,
Japanese adolescents seemed to value the term rather positively. This
is a good example of the difficulty in identifying different meanings of
the same words. The excluded item of EMBU-C “My parent allows me
to do everything” may be perceived differently by Japanese
adolescents (Paper II). Even though YSR is used for all of the four

51
 countries in Paper IV, translations and sampling may be one of the
variations.
The AQC (Papers II and III) may be sensitive to underreporting of
attachment patterns (Muris et al., 2003b), and does not assess the four
major attachment styles, i.e., secure, fearful avoidant, ambivalent, and
dismissing avoidant (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). On the other
hand, the percentage of Japanese adolescents who rated themselves as
neither avoidantly or ambivalently attached (32.9%) was comparable
to the 32% reported by Sharpe et al. (1996).
All studies in the present thesis were designed to be cross-sectional
and hence do not provide directions of causal effects. Buist et al.
(2004) found that attachment and Internalizing Problems seem to
influence each other longitudinally. There may also be bidirectional
links with dysfunctional parenting styles resulting in emotional
problems and a negative self-concept, which in turn further promotes
negative parental relationships. Some longitudinal studies have
indicated that parental rejection tends to precede the development of
behavioral problems among adolescents (e.g., Chen, Rubin, & Li,
1997). The present studies were based on self-reports of non-clinical
• adolescents. There is a lack of additional information from parents or
teachers about adolescents’ mental health problems and parenting
behavior.
The sample sizes used in the present studies are relatively small and
cannot be viewed as representative of the entire population. The result
from the factor analysis in Paper I could have shown a better result if
the sample size had been greater and using only two countries for
comparison limits comprehensive investigation of the cross-cultural
difference. There were more boys than girls in Papers II and III. There
were only 15-16 year olds and no competence scales in the Russian
sample (Paper IV). An early study reported that Russian children and
adolescents reported lower Total Competence than Americans
(Slobodoskaya, 1999).
The small range of age groups of the adolescents limits age effects.
The overall deviations in different adolescent developmental stages
across countries are a major question remaining to be further
investigated.
Other factors (e.g., genetic, cognitive, life stress, and pubertal status)
may be involved in emotional and behavioral problems among
adolescents.

52
Main conclusions

If the role of self-concept is examined in different contexts, it can

predict a wide variety of behaviors to provide outcome measures for
interventions. The present thesis suggests that the aspects of the
perceived parenting in relation to adolescent well-being seem to be
universal. Adolescents in every culture need emotional support from
their parents. Yet it is important to take the cultural difference in
parenting into account. When adolescent’s psychological well-being
such as self-concept and mental health problems are compared across
countries, cultural background and response style must be taken into
account. Adolescents’ perceptions of themselves, interpersonal
relations, and mental health problems influence each other. It is
important to consider gender differences to understand more about
these associations. Perceptions of positive friends, peers and parents
constitute positive working models of self. However, when adolescents
perceive the relationships with them as negative those behaviors
reinforce the self-concept in a negative way. Negative self-concept was
expressed as such problem behaviors as anxiety, depression,
aggression, delinquency and insecure peer attachment. It brings up a
question that is important to keep considering; “How can these
circumstances function in a better way in adolescents’ lives?”
Matsumoto (2002) noted that currently Japanese youth lack
socialization. Thus, many Japanese parents perceive difficulties in the
upbringing of their children, especially for teaching their children the
proper social behaviors. Many Japanese parents reported the reasons
for that are because of overemphasis on education and academic
pressure, as well as more affluent life styles and declining parental
authority (Matsumoto, 2002). By seeing how the different domains of
the self-concept are related to various aspects of mental health
problems, it gives idea for the intervention and clinical practice for the
adolescents who survive the period of storm and stress. Supporting and
providing help to enhance a positive self-concept in various areas may
be important for well-being among adolescents.

53
 Implications for further studies

The present studies showed good psychometric properties of

instruments. However, there have also been errors with wording in
some items. Further development and validation of self-report (SDQII-
S and EMBU-C) with a large sample size are an important task. It will
also be interesting to investigate the Swedish version of these
instruments. Birth order and gender of children influence parenting
style in Japanese society (Someya, Uehara, Kadowaki, Tang, &
Takahashi, 2000). Furthermore, it will be necessary to examine the
influence of adolescents’ birth order and gender on their perceived
parenting. Further investigation of Actual and Ideal self-discrepancy
including different aspects of the self (e.g., false-self, fared-self, and
possible-self) shown in different people in different situations, and
relationships to the mental health problems may help to increase our
knowledge about the link between adolescents’ descriptions of
themselves and their well-being.

54
SUMMARIES IN JAPANESE
主 要 論 文 の 概 要

論文１ 「 日本とスウェーデン２カ国の青年期のセルフ・コンセプト 比較調査 」 では、英語

版の SDQII (Self-Description Questionnaire-II; Marsh, 1992) をスウェーデン語と日本語に
翻訳し心理測量を調べ、日本とスウェーデンの中学生のセルフ・コンセプトの比較することを
主な目的とした。日本 144 名、スウェーデン 96 名 (14 歳-15 歳)の中学生が日本語またス
ウェーデン語の SDQII と Actual-Ideal Questionnaire に回答した。 主な結果は、日本の中学
生がスウェーデンの中学生よりも低いセルフ・コンセプトの得点を有した。日本の中学生が
スウェーデンの中学生よりも 「 今の自分 」 と 「 理想の自分 」 の差異 ( セルフ・ディスクレ
パンシー ) が大きかった。セルフ・コンセプトとセルフ・ディスクレパンシーの逆相関が両国の
間で見られた。セルフ・コンセプトの得点の男女差は文化の影響力に比べると比較的小さか
った。

論文２ 「 日本の青年期の親の養育態度が及ぼすセルフ・コンセプトとメンタルヘルスへの
影響 」 では、日本の思春期の青年の親の養育態度がアッタチメントスタイル ( 愛着 )、セ
ルフ・コンセプト、メンタルヘルス問題にどのように影響しているのか調べた。計 193 名の高
校生 （ 男子 143 名、女子 50 名、平均年齢=16.4 ） が自己記述式質問紙に回答した。PLS
回帰分析では、不安定なアッタチメント （ 回避型と躊躇型 ）と親からの拒絶感が高校生の
内向的・外向的問題を予測するという結果が出た。ノンアカデミック・セルフ尺度 （ 感情的、
社会的、身体的セルフコンセプト ）は、内向的・外向的問題の両方を予測した。養育態度と
思春期のメンタルヘルス問題との関連性は、親と子供それぞれの性別に応じて違った影響
力があるようだ。

論文３ 「 青年期のアッタチメントとセルフ・コンセプトによる内向的問題と外向的問題への貢
献分析 」では、高校生のアッタチメント・スタイルとセルフ・コンセプトがメンタルヘルス問題
にどのように貢献しているのかを考察した。計 228 名の高校生 （ 男子 186 名、女子 82 名、
平均年齢=16.4 ）が自己記述式質問紙に回答した。主な結果は、安全型アッタチメントスタイ
ルを有する学生は、不安定なアッタチメント （ 回避型と躊躇型 ） を有する生徒に比べメンタ
ルヘルス問題が少なく、セルフ・コンセプトの得点が高い傾向にあった Structural Equation
Modeling ( 構造方程式モデル ) によって、アタッチメントとセルフ・コンセプトが仲介役となり

55
 内向的問題に貢献していることがわかった。モデルの中の外向的問題には関連性がなかっ
た。

論文４ 「 青年期のメンタルヘルス問題国際比較研究:ギリシャ、 日本、ロシア、スウェーデ

ン 」 では、ユースセルフレポート ( YSR ) を使って４カ国 ( ギリシャ、日本、ロシア、スウェー
デン ) の青年期のメンタルヘルス問題を比較することを目的とした。計 812 名 ( 15−17 歳 )
の各国の中高生が標準化されたそれぞれの言語の YSR に回答した。主な結果は、ギリシ
ャとロシアがトータル・プロブレム ( 問題行動の全得点 ) の得点が高いグループに属し、ス
ウェーデンと日本が低いグループに属した。外向的問題の得点はロシアはが高く、日本は
低かった。ギリシャはトータル・コンペテンス ( 適応能力尺度の全得点 ) が日本とスウェーデ
ンの若者に比べ高かった。メンタルヘルス尺度と社会・学力適応能力尺度の逆相関が日本
とスウェーデンで見られた。言語や文化の違う国々を同じ質問紙を使用し比べることで各国
のメンタルヘルスの傾向が映し出される。

• まとめ

本研究では、セルフ・コンセプト尺度を取り入れることで様々な行動的・心理学的な問題が
予測できることがわかった。また、セルフ・コンセプトやメンタルヘルスを言語や習慣の異な
る国を比較調査する際は、レスポンス・スタイル ( 回答の仕方 ) の違いが平均得点の差に
影響することも考えなければならない。親からの心理的サポートはどこの国の若者にも必要
である。しかし、養育態度は文化によって違ってくることも心にとめておく必要がある。若者
の自分自身の認識、対人関係、そしてメンタルヘルス問題はそれぞれ影響し合っている。友
人や両親との関係が肯定的であると、セルフ・コンセプトも肯定的になる。一方、対人関係を
否定的にとらえる若者は、セルフ・コンセプトも否定的になる。否定的なセルフ・コンセプトは、
不安、気分の落ち込み、攻撃性、非行などの問題行動と関連している。 「 そのような青年期
の実態をどのようにして改善できるか？ 」 ということが今後の課題である。セルフ・コンセプ
トを高めるための支援することは青年期のウェル・ビーイングには重要ということがわかった。
セルフ・コンセプト尺度それぞれがどのようにメンタルヘルスや対人関係と関連しているかを
考査することにより青年期の問題行動の予防、また臨床研究でも役に立つことが望まれる。

56
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all of you encouraged me during my stay in
Sweden. Firstly, I’d like express my gratitude to my supervisor
Elisabet Sundbom, Professor in Medical Psychology at Umeå
University, for all the support and sharing her knowledge in this
research area. I also appreciate her maternal warmth. As Japanese
saying, ichi-go ichi-e ( 一 期 一 会 one opportunity, one encounter),
which means there is only one chance in life, so we have to appreciate
every moment. I appreciate this encounter with you.

My deep appreciation goes to Bruno Hägglöf, Professor in Child and

adolescent Psychiatry, Umeå University. Despite his busy schedule, he
always had time to give me the necessary guidance, and share inspiring
discussions. I have been happy to have Elisabet and Bruno as my
scientific “mamma och pappa”. I am also very grateful to Torsten
Norlander, Professor in Department of Psychology at Karlstad
University, for the early guidance.

I am very grateful to Spyridoula Lekkou and Anna Zashikhina at

Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for their interests in my
research and for making our cross-cultural comparison possible. I have
learned a lot from interesting discussions with both of you. I am also
grateful to Per Fransson, Department of Psychology for the warm and
friendly support, and Olof Semb and Lotta Strömsten, PhD students
from Clinical Sciences, for sharing my bright and dark times, and
teaching me Swedish.

Thank you all to the Department of Clinical Sciences, division of

Psychiatry, Professor Lars Jacobsson, Associate Professor Ellinor
Salander-Renberg, Associate Professor Jayanti Chotai, Associate
Professor Ove Bodlund, Professor Gunnar Kullgren, Associate
Professor Per Allard, Niclas Kaiser, Maja Hansson, and PhD students
from around the world for encouragement and providing an
inspirational environment. Thank you also to Margaretha Lindh and
Doris Cedergren, staff at the Division of Psychiatry, and Birgitta
Bäcklund at the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for their
kind and friendly support.

57
 I would like to thank all my friends, especially those in Sweden, and
their families for making my life here enjoyable. My thanks go to
Barbara Roseborg for the language support. My thanks also go to Sean
Michael Wilson for the language support and sharing his creativity,
and Susanne and Cicero Danielsson for making me happy every day.

Thank you for all the students who have contributed to this thesis and
the directors of the school and teachers for their support for data
collection especially Kayoko Hamada and Masashi Saito. My thanks
go to Yuriko Uno for support in the Japanese language, and Masahiro
Nishikawa and Kenta Nishikawa for always being there as my brothers.

Finally, I’d like to thank my parents Masatoshi and Kyoko Nishikawa

for all support, understanding and allowing me to go off on a long
journey.

58
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 APPENDIX

A Summary Description of the Scales From the Self-concept

Instruments (SDQII and SDQII-S)

1. Physical: Self-perceptions of skills and interest in sports and

physical activities
2. Appearance: Self-perceptions of their physical attractiveness.
3. Same-Sex Relations: Self-perceptions of their popularity
with peers of the same sex
4. Opposite-Sex Relations: Self-perceptions of their
popularity with peers of the opposite sex
5. Parent Relations: Self-perceptions of interactions with
parents.
6. Honesty: Self-perceptions of truthfulness and dependability
7. Emotional: Self-perceptions of emotional well being and
• freedom from psychopathology
8. Math: Self-perceptions of ability, enjoyment, and interest
in mathematics and reasoning
9. Verbal: Self-perceptions of ability, enjoyment, and interest in
English (Japanese/Swedish) and reading
10. School: Self-perceptions of school ability, enjoyment, and
interest in school subjects
11. Self-esteem: Self-perceptions of self-worth, self
confidence, self satisfaction

Three derived scales: Total Self (sum of the 11 individual scales which
reflect an adolescent’s self ratings in various areas of self-concept;
scale 1-11), Academic Self (particular school subject areas; scale 8-
10), and Non-academic Self (social, emotional, and physical self-
concepts into more specific areas; scale 1-7).

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