2papers in this issue.
This study explored the emptiness experienced by female drug offenders using phenomenological research methods, targeting 3 out of 6 female drug offenders who agreed to participate in the study who completed the ‘Drug Treatment Course Order Program’ conducted by the researcher at the probation office. Based on Giorgi’s technical phenomenological method, the collected data attempted to grasp the semantic structure of the emptiness of female drug offenders. The participants’ statements were described as examples and classified into 3 topics and 7 sub-themes. As a result of the study, the emptiness experienced by female drug offenders was derived into 3 themes: ‘emptiness due to relationship disconnection’, ‘emptiness due to damaged self-esteem’, and ‘emptiness due to breakdown of the living world’. These were categorized into 7 sub-themes: ‘disconnection with family members, disconnection with relationships with neighbors’, ‘self-imposed stigma, loneliness due to comparison’, ‘relief due to stress coping measures and absence of healthy lifestyles, superficial relationships, and situations dependent on livelihood benefits’. The emptiness experienced by participants in the course of life was a factor that made them fall into a swamp of drugs, and the feeling of emptiness was further aggravated by drug use. Based on these findings, discussions and research directions for preventing recidivism of female drug offenders were presented.
This study aims to examine whether the effects of participating in the gaming addiction prevention program persists and to investigate whether close friend’s gaming influences gaming addiction in young adults. In total, 638 individuals (average age = 22.3±2.57 years) completed an online survey including items on the experience of participating in the gaming addiction prevention program in schools, and close peers’ gaming, and the gaming addiction scale (GAS). The scores of the GAS of the participants in the prevention program were significantly lower than those of the non-participants only in women, indicating long-term effects of the school-based prevention program. In men and women, individuals who reported that their close peers played games had significantly higher scores of the GAS than those who did not, indicating significant influences of close friends’ game use on gaming addiction in young adults. These results provide implications for the development of gaming addiction prevention programs.