This study examined the mediating influence of gender-role traditionality (GRT), ambivalent sexism, and victim injury and frequency of assault on domestic violence (DV) perception differences between Japanese and American college students. As predicted, Japanese tended to minimize, blame, and excuse DV more than did Americans, and these national differences were mediated by GRT. Participants viewed the DV incident more seriously when the victim presented injury or when the incident had occurred frequently. Those high in benevolent and hostile sexism were more likely to minimize DV, whereas those high only in benevolent sexism were more likely to blame the victim.

Aim: A mega-earthquake and tsunami struck the northeastern coast of Japan, and many survivors were forced to evacuate to temporary housing due to rising radiation levels. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and poor general health among survivors, to test the predictive roles of resilience on mental and physical health, and to examine the predictive sociodemographic factors on resilience.Methods: Two hundred and forty-one evacuees (men/ women: 116/125) from Hirono, Fukushima participated in the study. They were asked to complete the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Zung SelfRating Depression Scale, the Impact of Events ScaleRevised, and a demographic questionnaire.Results: Among all participants, 53.5% exhibited the clinically concerning symptoms of PTSD, and among them 33.2% indicated clinical PTSD symptoms. Additionally, 66.8% reported symptoms of depression, and among them 33.2% showed mildly depressive symptoms, while 19.1% and 14.5% demonstrated moderate and severe depressive symptoms, respectively. Resilience was a significant buffer for depression, PTSD, and general health. Additionally, employment status, eating/exercise habits, and drinking habits predicted resilience. Conclusion:The results indicated that depression and PTSD are prevalent among the survivors of massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and accidents from nuclear power plants. However, the results also showed that some survivors managed to endure the traumatic events relatively well, and resilience was a significant protective factor in dealing with such events. Therefore, it is crucial to assist survivors in improving their resilience by providing job opportunities and encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

This study explores the roles of benevolent sexism (BS), hostile sexism (HS), and gender-role traditionality (GRT) in minimizing rape, blaming the victim, and excusing the rapist. As predicted, hostile sexists minimize the seriousness of the rape in both stranger and date-rape scenarios. In the victim-blame scale, both BS and GRT significantly moderate victim blame in a date but not stranger scenario. BS and GRT moderate the perpetrator-excuse measure in a date scenario but HS is the significant moderator in a stranger scenario. These results show that external observers make different assumptions about a rape incident based on their GRT, BS, and HS levels in different victim-perpetrator relationships.

Researchers in this study examined the attitudes toward domestic violence, the victim, and her perpetrator. A total of 194 participants were randomly assigned to one of 4 hypothetical scenarios to evaluate how observers' perceptions were influenced by their own sex and myths about domestic violence, by the victim's decision to return to the abusive relationship, and by the relationship status of the victim (dating or married to the perpetrator). Results demonstrated significant main effects of participant's sex, domestic violence myths, and of the victim's relationship status and decision to return. That is, participants blamed the victim who reportedly returned to her abuser more than the victim about whom there is no such information. Further, participants with greater domestic violence myths tended to blame the victim more than those with less myths, and male participants blamed the victim and minimized the incident more than female participants. Implications, limitations of the study, and future research are discussed.

Modeling after Vandello and Cohen’s American Collectivism Index, the researcher developed a scale to measure collectivism in prefectures (similar to U.S. states) in Japan. The new scale was evaluated against results from the Japanese General Social Survey, a national survey of individuals conducted annually, and was tested for association with common correlates of cultural syndromes. As expected, the Japanese Collectivism Scale (JCS) was reliable and was significantly associated with results of the individual-level attitudinal survey and the correlates of collectivism. The JCS also showed within-culture variations of collectivism in Japan—variations that are important to consider when interpreting cross-cultural differences in attitudes and behavior.