Attempts were made to adapt STAI (Spielberger, 1983) to Korean culture. Participants were 8216 in total: high school students (385), junior college students (3,172), college students (4,452), and adults (207). In order to examine the reliability and validity of K-STAI, a variety of methods was utilized. More specifically, reliability was examined by item-total correlations, Cronbach's a, test-retest reliability. Validity was also examined by factor analysis, consistency estimation between Korean and American college students by the COMCONGC method, comparison of anxiety scores between exam period and non-exam period, and concurrent validity with MAS and MMQ. As a whole, its reliability and validity were revealed to be satisfactory. In addition, in order to construct norms, a subsample of 1000 from the total sample was selected by systematic sampling, resulting in a similar proportion to the general population. With this subsample, two forms of K-STAI were constructed: a Korean type of K-STAI, and an American type of K-STAI. Norms were established by gender, sex, and education as well as general population. When based on the American type of K-STAI, Koreans revealed a higher anxiety score than Americans did. In a similar fashion, females showed a higher level of anxiety scores than did males, as did those in their 10s, and 20s over those in their 30s. Finally, the present findings are discussed and future implications are suggested.
This paper illustrates the types of meditation and the state of meditation in terms of psychophysiological characteristics. In this paper we describe the methods of various meditation techniques, such as Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Transcendental Meditation (TM), Bensonian relaxtion response and Carrington's clinically standardized meditation (CSM). It is defined that meditation may be a process in which attention is manipulated through one-point concentration which leads to alteration of consciousness, and expands subjective awareness. In this process, volitional control of autonomic function and development of psychic abilities may be facilitated. Consistent with the subjective description of meditation as a very relaxed but, at the same time, very alert state--so called "sung-sung-juk-juk (惺惺寂寂)" in Buddhist Zen--it is likely during meditation that such factors as decreased cortisol and heart rate, increased five-fold plasma AVP elevation and EEG synchrony play a critical role in meditation. It would seem that meditation is an integrated response with peripheral autonomic changes subserving increased central nervous activity.
An integrative model of stress and coping is presented by noting some signs of stalemate or crisis in the area of stress and coping research, although there have been a vast number of publications on sires and coping. For this purpose, the present article is divided into four sections. First, a background knowledge of a control theory on which our integration model is based is provided. Second, an attempt is made to compare the concepts and findings from other researchers and those of a control theory. And it is shown that the concepts, principles, and mechanisms derived from a control theory are well workable to four levels of human being--physico-chemical, psychological, social, and spiritual levels. Third, as a basic tenets of a stress and coping theory, definitions of stress and coping, genesis and intensity of stress, and mechanisms of coping and coping styles are provided. Finally, we conclude by providing some research issues for future studies and by noting some limitations of the present model with some implications in future work.
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the effects of high self disclosure were moderated by goal and spontaneity of self-disclosure, and anger-in tendency 2 (goal of self-disclosure) × 2(level of spontaneity) × 2 (anger-in tendency) complete factorial design was used. Experimental data were obtained from 120 male college students, who had either high or low level of anger-in tendency. The results showed that in high self-disclosure condition, subjects with a goal of emotional expression experienced lower level of physiological arousal and negative emotion than those with a goal of cognitive understanding of failure experience. Subjects with a goal of cognitive understanding of the failure experience reported a more positive self-understanding. Especially, emotional catharsis effects were found to be more salient in the spontaneous self-disclosure condition. This tendency was found to be more salient when subjects had a goal of emotional expression. Subjects with a high level of anger-in tendency, under the high self-disclosure condition experienced more positive emotion and self-understanding. Implications of the results were discussed in relation to the previous studies, psychotherapy, and health psychology.
The present article reviewed a variety of studies on endorphin to understand properly the relation between endorphin and health. Endorphin is an endogenous morphine released for pacifying the body when a body is under pain or in need of oxygeon, and when a person is uncomfortable due to psychological shock. Its mechanism works in a way contrary to the understanding held by the general public, in which endorphin is released when a person is satisfied and cheerful. Thus, it is necessary to understand the function of endorphin properly.
Noise influences not only hearing but also the brain. High density noise, as a stressor, leads to increased level of excretion in catecholamine. For this reason, the level of catecholamine has been used as an indicator to stress, Specially, unexpected and repeated noise increased the level of catecholamine in urine. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of noise on catecholamine level in a white rat's urine. The subjects were subjected to an exposure of 90 dB noise for a period of 10, 30, 60 minutes, and 3, 12，and 24 hours. When catecholamine level was assayed with HPLC-ECD, after extracting urine with alumina, it was found that noise influenced the catecholamine level.
The purpose of this study was to develop empirically-based criteria, utilizing the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), to aid in the assessment and diagnosis of combat-related PTSD. Stated differently, the study was intended to develop an MMPI subscale for the assessment of combat-related PTSD in Korea. 105 patients were assigned to a PTSD psychiatric group (n=30), a non-PTSD psychiatric group (n=39), and a normal veteran group (n-32). In addition, 36 non-veteran schizophrenics were included in the study. Standard clinical profiles demonstrated that the PTSD group had no higher subscale than did the non-PTSD psychiatric group. But an MMPI mean profile of PTSD group revealed an 8-7-2 configuration. Furthermore, an MMPI PTSD subscale comprised of 39 items was finally developed in the present study. A discriminant function analysis based on MMPI 13 subscales plus a special PTSD subscale correctly classified 79.71% of the patients in the PTSD group and the non-PTSD psychiatric group. The correct classification ratio, based on PTSD scale only, was 68.12 percent. The discriminant validity of the PTSD subscale and the limitaions of this study are discussed.
This article reports the results of an investigation into the needs of smoking by college students in various smoking situations. Specifically, we measured the differences in the needs of smoking between sex, among personality dimensions (tough-mindness, introversion, extraversion, neuroticism), and smoking patterns (regular versus irregular smoker). Smoking situations were divided into low-arousal situations (boredom, relaxation, repetitive work, etc.) and high-arousal situations (emotional stress, anxiety, etc.). In general, studies concerned with smoking suggested that most of the smokers showed more desire for smoking when they were in low-arousal situations than when they were in high-arousal situations. That is, smokers showed more desire for smoking in boring situations or during breaks. The results of the present study seem to support previous studies. College student smokers tended to show more desire for smoking in low-arousal situations than in high-arousal situations. It should be noted, however, that college smokers showed more desire for smoking in low-arousal situations regardless of their sex and personality dimensions, whereas previous studies suggested that the smoking desire was different according to subject's sex or personality dimensions in different smoking situations. The present study suggested that smoking is not for decreasing stress or anxiety, but for seeking new stimulus.
The present study was designed to test the effects of Heart Rate (HR) biofeedback training on social anxiety and self-evaluation. Thirty undergraduate students were selected to high social anxiety subjects based on the Social Avoidance & Distress Scale. The subjects were randomly assigned into the two groups: the HR biofeedback training group (n=IS) and the waiting-list control group (n=IS). The results were as follows. The higher social anxiety subjects had more negative self-evaluation than the lower social anxiety subjects. In the HR biofeedback training group, anxiety level (self-reported social anxiety, HR) and negative self-evaluationin were more significantly reduced than in the waiting-list control group. These results showed that HR biofeedback training was effective in reducing social anxiety and negative self-evaluation. Finally, the limitations and implications of this study were discussed.
This study was designed to test the effects of hostility and commitment on anger and blood pressure in a hostile social context. High and low hostile 90 male undergraduate students, based on Cook and Medley Ho scale score, were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions based on commitment level. The major findings of the present study are as follows: High-hostility mal效 attribute co-worker's actions to be more on purpose and experience much more anger, and react with a higher diastolic blood pressure than low-hostility males. In systolic blood pressure, the higher the commitment level, the higher the systoloic blood pressure. But expected interaction effects (hostility * commitment) are not significant. Implications of the results of the present study are discussed in relation to previous researches.
This study examined the relationships between psychoticism of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and smoking behaviours. Subjects were divided into a Higher Psychoticism group (HP, N-10, M-5.1) and a Lower Pyschoticism group (LP, N-17, M-2.1). Subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire an smoking behavior patterns. The major findings were as follows. The subjects in HP began smoking earlier, were smoking more frequently, and showed lower motivation for abstenence than subjects in LP did It was suggested that HP-subjects' smoking behavior be regarded as a psychological resource which inhibits impulsiveness. Discussion is focused on the need of psychological study of smoking and ways to stop smoking.