To examine the relationship lifestyle factors, personal character, mental health status, and job strain a self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among employees of a leading electrical manufacturing company in Japan. A total of 2, 327 workers (Male=1, 668, Female=659) responded to the survey. We analyzed the relationships of health practices based on such factors as: Free child (FC) from the Egogram, the Working-life satisfaction, and the General Health Questionnaire-28 through Path-analysis techniques.The following results were obtained: The mental health status was significantly affected by such factors as health practices, Working-life satisfaction, personal character (FC), life satisfaction, and age. Health practices and personal character (FC) showed a direct relationship to the mental health status and an indirect relationship to the Working-life satisfaction and life satisfaction. The variances accounting for mental health status were 41.8% in male workers and 43.8% in female workers.Path-analysis data suggested that mental health status was affected about 40% by lifestyle, personal character, Working-life satisfaction, and life satisfaction. It was suggested that there might be important factors affecting mental health status but which are unknown to us by as much as 60% in the present day. These findings suggested the necessity of further investigation of the relationship among lifestyle factors, mental health status, and job strain among employees of a reputable company in the present day.
Mental Health ; life satisfaction ; workforce ; Personality Character ; Life Style

PURPOSE: The present study investigated the validity of personality classification using four pillars theory, a tradition in China and northeastern Asia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four pillars analyses were performed for 148 adults on the basis of their birth year, month, day, and hour. Participants completed two personality tests, the Korean version of Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised-Short Version (TCI) and the Korean Inventory of Interpersonal Problems; scores were correlated with four pillars classification elements. Mean difference tests (e.g., t-test, ANOVA) were compared with groups classified by four pillars index. RESULTS: There were no significant correlations between personality scale scores and total yin/yang number (i.e., the 8 heavenly or earthly stems), and no significant between-groups results for classifications by yin/yang day stem and the five elements. There were significant but weak (r=0.18-0.29) correlations between the five elements and personality scale scores. For the six gods and personality scales, there were significant but weak (r=0.18-0.25) correlations. Features predicted by four pillars theory were most consistent when participants were grouped according to the yin/yang of the day stem and dominance of yin/yang numbers in the eight heavenly or earthly stems. CONCLUSION: Although the major criteria of four pillars theory were not independently correlated with personality scale scores, correlations emerged when participants were grouped according to the composite yin/yang variable. Our results suggest the utility of four pillars theory (beyond fortune telling or astrology) for classifying personality traits and making behavioral predictions.
Adolescent ; Adult ; *Character ; China ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Personality/*classification ; Personality Inventory/*statistics & numerical data ; Reproducibility of Results ; Republic of Korea ; *Temperament ; Young Adult

We aimed to examine the potential relationship between season of birth (SOB) and clinical characteristics in Korean patients with unipolar non-psychotic major depressive disorder (MDD). Using data from the Clinical Research Center for Depression (CRESCEND) study in South Korea, 891 MDD patients were divided into two groups, those born in spring/summer (n=457) and those born in autumn/winter (n=434). Measurement tools comprising the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Clinical Global Impression of severity, Social and Occupation Functional Assessment Scale, WHO Quality of Life assessment instrument-abbreviated version, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, and Temperament and Character Inventory were used to evaluate depression, anxiety, overall symptoms, suicidal ideation, global severity, social function, quality of life, drinking, and temperament and character, respectively. Using independent t-tests for continuous variables and χ2 tests for discrete variables, the clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared. MDD patients born in spring/summer were on average younger at onset of first depressive episode (t=2.084, p=0.038), had greater loss of concentration (χ2=4.589, p=0.032), and were more self-directed (t=2.256, p=0.025) than those born in autumn/winter. Clinically, there was a trend for the MDD patients born in spring/summer to display the contradictory characteristics of more severe clinical course and less illness burden; this may have been partly due to a paradoxical effect of the 5-HT system.
Adult ; Age of Onset ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; Bipolar Disorder/*diagnosis/*ethnology/psychology ; Character ; Cost of Illness ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major/*diagnosis/*ethnology/psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data ; *Quality of Life ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; *Seasons ; Temperament