[The development of the Japanese Irrational Belief Test]

Japanese Irrational Belief Test (JIBT), a self-report type measure was developed as a means to aid the controlled clinical research on rational-emotive therapy. A five point scale questionnaire consisting of 107 items was administered to 211 Japanese university students, analyzed by factor analysis and item analysis, and seven scales of 10 items each were finally constructed. Seven scales measure the testee's beliefs on self expectation, problem avoidance, ethical blame, helplessness over inside, dependence, cooperativism and helplessness over outside. Coefficients of internal consistency of seven scales were 0.725 to 0.882. Both the JIBT and the STAI were administered to 208 normal subjects to examine their relationships, and the JIBT was also administered to 98 neurotic subjects to compare with the normal subjects. The results showed that for the normal subjects the beliefs on problem avoidance, helplessness over inside, dependence, cooperativism and helplessness over outside were highly correlated with anxious proneness, and statistically significant differences between the normal subjects and the neurotic subjects were found in the beliefs on self expectation, problem avoidance, helplessness over inside, dependence and helplessness over outside.