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[Background] An increasing number of adolescents are experiencing social maladjustment. This development may be due to serious conflicts regarding psychological independence. This study aimed to elucidate factors that influence psychological independence in adolescents and to clarify the relationship among coaching-based support from significant others, adolescent self-esteem, and adolescent psychological independence, in order to help prevent and treat social maladjustment in adolescents. [Methods] A total of 1814 students in all years at 2 universities and 1 junior college in A Prefecture, Japan, completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about the participants’ attributes, support relationships, psychological independence, and self-esteem. Coaching-based support was assessed by the Accelerate your Coaching Effectiveness scale; psychological independence by the Psychological Jiritsu Scale; and self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. [Results] Gender, grade, major, current living situation were found to influence psychological independence of adolescents. The most significant others who had the most influence on psychological independence were mothers, fathers, and friends for male adolescents, and mothers, friends, and fathers for female adolescents, in that order. In female, coaching-based support from significant others increased their self-esteem and promoted all the sub-scales of psychological independence. In male, coaching-based support boosted their self-esteem and promoted the following sub-scales; “future orientation”, “appropriate human relations”, “value judgment and execution”, “responsibility”, and “social perspective”, except for “self-control”. [Conclusion] We believe that coaching-based support from significant others can effectively help adolescents build their self-esteem and can promote their psychological independence.

We evaluated the effect of a video-phone network on peer support among frail elderly people living at home. We conducted a one-year trial of network formation among 14 people (five men and nine women, age range 78–85 years) through coordinator intervention and the use of ISDN video-phones. The purpose of the intervention was to support and improve the functional independence of frail elderly people at home and to widen their social network. During the study, the subjects made 1400 video-calls, lasting a total of 25,867 min. One subject made no calls. There was greater use of video-phones by those living outside the central city area. Calls between men and women were infrequent. The men generally had shorter call times and made fewer calls. The participants could be categorized into three groups: those using video-phones every day; those using them once per week; and those using them once per month. All subjects in the first group clearly expressed their satisfaction with the video-phone. A video-phone network appears to be helpful for elderly people in their peer support relationships.