The present study aims to develop and examine the reliability, internal validity, and criterion validity of the Life Skills Scale for Adolescents and Adults (LSSAA) that would enable measurement of the level of life skills in Japanese adolescents and adults. In study 1, 238 university students completed a 41-item questionnaire for the LSSAA based on a previous study (Kase et al., 2016). Exploratory factor analysis was divided into four sub-scales: decision-making (8 items), interpersonal relationships (5 items), effective communication (5 items), and coping with emotion (3 items). In study 2, the reliability, content validity, and criterion validity of the LSSAA were examined by administering the questionnaire to 500 Japanese adolescents and adults. Confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis showed that the LSSAA had high reliability and validity. Additionally, it was confirmed that the LSSAA was effective for measuring the life skills needed for a satisfactory social life for a wide range (based on sex and/or age) of Japanese adolescents and adults.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among anxiety prior to actual performance (music performance anxiety, MPA), mental and physical negative responses during performance (agari), and depressive tendencies in Japanese college students majoring in music. Participants were 171 music majors (33 males, 138 females, 20.6±1.7 yrs). They rated the degree of self-perceived MPA before their performance on a scale ranging from 0-100%. The Features of Agari Experience Questionnaire was used to assess agari response levels during standard performances, and the Japanese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) was used to measure depressive tendencies. Path analysis showed that MPA levels were positively related to agari scores, which were positively related to CES-D scores. Mediation analysis found a significant indirect effect of MPA scores on CES-D scores via the agari scores. These results suggest that MPA first occurs before an actual music performance and evokes agari, which in turn may cause an increase in depressive tendencies.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the psychophysiological responses and playing time of professional pianists during concerts. The participants were two female pianists. The Features of Agari Experience Questionnaire (FAEQ) was used to assess their negative psychological reactions during an actual performance and their heart rate (HR) was recorded to evaluate their physical reactions during a performance. The results suggested that, in 12 pieces of music played by the two pianists, the playing time in two pieces became longer during the actual performance than during practice, whereas it was similar for two other pieces during the actual performance and practice. The other eight pieces became shorter during the actual performance than during practice. We calculated how much the playing time changed during an actual performance compared to during practice (i.e., the playing time change rate; PTCR). A correlation analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between the PTCR and HR, but the PTCR was negatively correlated with the FAEQ (r = -.63, p< .05). These findings suggest that the playing time became shorter when negative psychological reactions were higher, although the playing time was not affected by the HR.
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