In Study 1, Japanese version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) was developed and its psychometric properties examined. Reliability of the 8 simple-scale scores, pattern of intercorrelations among them, and reliability of the 8 ipsatized scores were all comparable to their counterparts in the original IIP. The hypothesized circumplex model was fitted to the 8 ipsatized scores and it was found that the circumplex structure was held, at least in the ordinal sense. In Study 2, interviews with 6 persons were conducted to examine how the Japanese version IIP described their interpersonal problems. The IIP, especially its circumplex profiles, seemed to successfully capture and delineate the features of interpersonal problems that were just fragmentarily told or indicated in the interviews. In future research, improvement of the inventory items and application of the scales to actual counseling situations to examine their merits are expected.

Key words: Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex scales, interpersonal problems, circumplex model, ipsatized score