Search

Psychological mindedness (PM) is a psychological construct that represents the tendency and ability to understand the relationships between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. This study examined the statistical properties, particularly the factor structure, of the Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS) in a non-clinical Japanese sample through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The relationship between PMS and depression was also examined for predictive validity. The results suggested that the PMS tested on a Japanese sample contains the following four factors: (a) belief in the benefits of discussing one's problems; (b) access to feelings; (c) openness to new ideas and capacity to change; and (d) interest in the meaning and motivation of own and others' behavior. Whereas the total PM score and Factors 2 and 3 had negative correlations with depression, there was a positive correlation between Factor 4 and depression. The 4-factor structure of the scale is deemed to be applicable to the Japanese population.

Services provided to rape victims by human service professionals are usually helpful but are occasionally very harmful in that the victim ends up feeling 're-victimized'. This may be caused by the attitudes of the professionals towards the victims based on beliefs regarding rape and gender roles. Japanese human service professionals were solicited for responses to the Rape Myth Scale (RMS) and the short form of the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes (SESRA-S). One interpretable factor was extracted according to an exploratory factor analysis. Impact of the participants' age, sex, residential area, and type of profession on rape myth acceptance were examined by four-way layout ANOVA. Nurses had significantly higher rape myth acceptance than any other professional group. Furthermore, a structural equation model showing the contribution of sex role egalitarian attitude to rape myth acceptance was established.

The psychometric properties of the short form of the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes (SESRA-S) were studied among human service professionals. An exploratory factor analysis yielded two factors interpreted as reflecting women's rights (e.g. women at home and men at work [a reverse item]) and women's independence (e.g. working outside is equally important for women [a non-reverse item]), respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit. Impact of participant age, sex, residential area, and type of profession on sex role egalitarianism were examined by four-way layout anova. Men in rural areas had the lowest score in the women's rights subscale and psychiatrists in rural areas had the lowest score in the women's independence subscale.