Background: The Japanese word Ibasho—a place of being—was originally used to encompass the physical meaning only, but nowadays in most situations, is understood as having a variety of psychosocial meanings. Harada and Takiwaki (2014) developed the Ibasho Scale, consisting of two subscales: Social Ibasho, and Personal Ibasho. However, the scale’s two-factor structure has not yet been confirmed. In addition, whether the two factors are in a close relationship or in an inverse relationship has not yet been examined. Gender differences regarding the degree of experiences of each Ibasho also still need to be explored, as well as the relationship between each Ibasho and mental health among Japanese male and female youth. Purposes: This study aims at examining whether or not the Ibasho Scale has the two-factor model, whether the two factors are in a congruent or an inverse relationship, whether or not there are gender differences concerning each subscale score, and finally exploring whether each factor which comprises the Ibasho Scale is related to Japanese youth mental health for each gender. Methods: A questionnaire survey targeting Japanese university students was conducted in April 2023. The questionnaire included the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) to assess mental health, in addition to the Ibasho Scale. The validity of the Ibasho Scale’s two-factor structure was examined using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The t-test was applied to see gender differences concerning each subscale score. A partial correlation between the Social Ibasho and mental health was calculated by removing the effect of Personal Ibasho, and in the same way, a partial correlation between the Personal Ibasho and mental health was calculated by removing the effect of Social Ibasho for each gender, respectively. Results: Confirmatory Factor Analysis verified the validity of the Ibasho Scale’s two-factor model, and showed a significant positive co-variance between the two factors. Women were more likely than men to experience Social Ibasho, but there was no statistically significant difference between men and women in experiencing Personal Ibasho. The results of partial correlations between mental health and each Ibasho subscale differed depending on the respondent gender: for male respondents Social
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