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The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relative validity of food and nutrient intakes and overall diet quality scores derived using a newly developed dietary assessment questionnaire (food combination questionnaire, FCQ). Dietary data were collected from 222 Japanese adults (111 for each sex) aged 30–76 years using the online FCQ and then the 4-non-consective-day weighed dietary record (DR). The median of Spearman correlation coefficients for sixteen food groups was 0⋅32 among women and 0⋅38 among men. The median of Pearson correlation coefficients for forty-six nutrients was 0⋅34 among women and 0⋅31 among men. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the total scores of Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) derived from the DR and FCQ was 0⋅37 among women and 0⋅39 among men. The corresponding value for the Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9.3 (NRF9.3) total scores was 0⋅39 among women and 0⋅46 among men. Bland–Altman plots for these diet quality scores showed poor agreement at the individual level, although mean difference was small for the HEI-2015 (but not NRF9.3). Similar results were obtained using the paper version of FCQ, which was answered after conducting the DR, except for somewhat high Pearson correlation coefficients for the total scores of HEI-2015 (0⋅50 among both women and men) and NRF9.3 (0⋅37 among women and 0⋅53 among men). In conclusion, this analysis may lend support to the possible use of the FCQ as a rapid dietary assessment tool in large-scale epidemiologic studies in Japan, but further refinement of this tool should be pursued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defense styles have a close relationship with ego development and psychopathology. The purpose of the present paper was to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese edition of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40; Andrews et al. 1993). Six hundred and six Japanese university students (348 female) completed the DSQ-40 and Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI). The neurotic tendency had positive correlations with immature and neurotic defense styles and a negative correlation with the mature defense style. The extroversion tendency had positive correlations with the mature and neurotic defense styles and a negative correlation with the immature defense style. There was a significant test–retest correlation for all items of the DSQ-40 ( n = 284). The results show that the Japanese version of the DSQ-40 had concurrent validity with the MPI and a test–retest reliability of 2 months, although there was some doubt about the validity of the factor structure of the DSQ-40. Therefore, the DSQ-40 is a useful scale in Japan to measure ego development and ego function through defense styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]