[Conditions of effective correctional treatment for reducing recidivism: Focusing on risk principle].

Research on correctional treatment based on the risk principle (Andrews & Bonta, 2010) has found that the intensity of intervention matched with the risk level of offenders' recidivism is successful to reduce recidivism. However, there is no research dealing with this issue in a non-Western context. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the risk principle in rehabilitation for Japanese juvenile delinquents. The sample was 321 Japanese male inmates of the juvenile detention and assessment centers. They were followed for an average of 573 days after discharge to assess recidivism. Among high-risk juvenile delinquents, those who were treated in the juvenile training school showed significantly lower rates of recidivism than those who were placed under community supervision, while among low risk juveniles, there was no significant difference in recidivism between the two treatment conditions. The results indicate that the risk principle is valid for the correctional treatment of Japanese juvenile delinquents, suggesting its cross-cultural universality. Implications for juvenile justice policies and directions for future research are discussed.

[Negative evaluations and discrimination against smokers].

The present study examined the negative evaluations and discrimination against smokers among the Japanese. In Study 1, 52 students rated one of four target-persons differentially depicted in terms of gender and smoking habit using scales to measure coolness, sociability, intellectuality, and earnestness. The results showed that participants rated smokers more negatively than nonsmokers except for sociability. Those who perceived smoking as controllable rated smokers' earnestness even more negatively, suggesting that the negative evaluations are partially moderated by the perceived controllability of smoking. To examine a hypothesis that negative evaluations of smokers would mediate discrimination, in Study 2 we measured how participants (96 students) responded to target persons asking for a loan or a job, as well as their ratings of the targets on the Big Five personality dimensions. The results support the hypothesis of mediation.

[Causal attribution and conflict resolution in the Japanese language instruction setting].

Conflicts sometimes arise between the language teachers and foreign students in the Japanese language instruction setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of causal attribution and selection of conflict resolution strategies in such conflicts, and to explicate the characteristics of intercultural conflicts resolution strategies, especially paying attention to the teacher expectation of student strategy to resolve a conflict. A questionnaire was administered to 84 Japanese teachers, 214 Chinese students, and 154 Korean students. Results indicated that when students attributed the conflict to the teachers, they chose assertive strategies, and that when attributed to themselves, compromising strategies were used. Moreover, while Chinese students tended to use such compromising strategies as cooperation and obedience when they attributed the conflict to cultural differences, Korean students did not tend to use non-confrontational strategies. The teachers did not expect their students to use assertive strategies, and the large gap between teacher and student perception of assertive strategies could be one of reasons for difficulties that arise in such intercultural conflict resolution.