[Assessment of adaptation to on-board conditions on "The Ship for World Youth"].
The adaptation process of youth from 13 countries on board "The 3rd Ship for World Youth" cruise which was held from January 18 to March 20 in 1991 was analyzed. The age of almost all of the participants was in the 20's (average age was 24.9 yrs), and there were 103 participants (47 males, 56 females) from Japan, 171 participants (86 males, 85 females) from North, Middle and South America, and Oceanian countries for total of 274 participants (133 males, 141 females). The living environment on board differed significantly from daily living conditions of the participants, particularly due to the need to communicate in a foreign language, and to live in harmony with different cultures in a confinement situation, such that they were inevitably susceptible to various stressors. Among the participants there were some who needed psychiatric care and treatment. In order to assess quantitatively psychosomatic reactions to those stressors, a 28-item scaled GHQ (= General Health Questionnaire) assessment was performed four times on board with the following findings: 1. Highest scores were seen shortly after embarkment and decreased as the participants got accustomed to the living conditions on board. 2. The scores of the Japanese participants were higher than those of foreign participants, possibly indicating awkward adaptational skill on the part of Japanese participants especially during the first stage. 3. Japanese females scored slightly higher than Japanese males throughout the course of the program. 4. No clear difference in scores between Japanese participants aged under 25 y and over 26 y was observed. 5. A large proportion (77.3%) of Japanese participants had Y-G personality test results classifying them in the 'stable positive' group (D group). These participants had significantly lower scaled GHQ scores than those in the non-D group, indicating a high adaptational ability of D group participants.
Kuramoto
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H
Doctoral Program in Medical Science, The University of Tsukuba.
Kurabayashi
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L
Yamato
H
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Inamura
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H
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012767:Ships; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology