The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between behavioral activation system (BAS) or behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and the alcohol use, especially problematic drinking, investigated how are BAS/BIS related to motivation for alcohol use among college students. The participants were 542 college students (235 males and 307 females) whose ages ranged from 17 to 32 (M=20.92, SD=2.38). The questionnaires and psychological tests used in this research included the following: Korean Version of BAS/BIS Scale, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), Cooper's Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire, and Inventory for Family Alcohol Use. Results indicated students who showed higher level of BAS and lower level BIS were the most likely to be problematic drinkers, while students who showed lower level of BAS and lower level BIS were the least likely to be problematic drinkers. Students who had higher level of BAS showed higher level of social motives and enhancement motives to drink. There was significant positive relationship between BAS and problematic alcohol use only in male students. Reward responsiveness, drive, and fun seeking were positively related to most of variables in motivation for alcohol use, while behavioral inhibition was positively related to conformity motives only. A regression analysis revealed that gender, family history, motivation for alcohol use except conformity motives, and fun seeking were predictors for problematic alcohol use, but BAS and BIS accounted for around 5% variance of problematic alcohol use only. These findings reiterate the importance of motivation for alcohol use in alcohol consumption and suggest a role for behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition.
This study was performed to identify what demographic factors influence the performance of the Digit Span and Corsi Block test as a known measure for short-term memory or working memory. The participants were 85 normal old person recruited from Seoul, Korea. Age range of the participants was 59~85 years (M=69.9 years), and educational level range was 0~16 years (M=7.99). Age and educational level were highly correlated. But only educational level was associated with digit span performance. On the other hands, Corsi Block test was not associated with both age and educational level. These results suggest that we must consider demographic variables when we constitute test reference.
The purpose of this study was to find out the important social psychological factors of successful aging in Korean elderly. We assumed in this paper that two cardinal criteria of the successful aging would be both of physical health and subjective well-being. The main hypotheses of this study was that the important 12 social psychological factors would contributed to discriminate among the successful aging elderly from both of the average and the unsuccessful aging elderly. We collected the survey data from 1,826 elderly(mean age of 72.41 years old) through face to face interview in Seoul and Chun-cheon regional areas in Korea. The results of the discriminant analysis showed that 11 social psychological variables except the religious attitude contributed to discriminate among the successful aging elderly, average group and the unsuccessful aging elderly. The successful aging elderly were higher level of economic status, marital satisfaction, satisfaction with the offsprings, social support, fulfillment of social and self-esteem need, exercise, drinking alcohol and positive emotional experience in everyday life, but lower level of past illness, expectation of support from the offsprings and negetive emotional experience in everyday life. The result also revealed that at least 83.6% percentage of the exact classification hit to discriminate among the successful elderly, the average elderly and the unsuccessful aging elderly. The conceptional assumption about successful aging and the results of this study were discussed in terms of the previous studies performed in Korea and abroad and the suggestions for further study were also proposed.
The present study was to investigate job burnout in regards with diabetes that is a fast growing disease in adults over the world. Using data from healthy employees and employees with diabetes, the study conceptualized the health-work conflict that explains conflicts between the private role of illness management and the public demands from work. The study also investigated distress in diabetes as a local stressor of employees with diabetes and examined the effects of both the conflict and the distress on job burnout. Results revealed that the health-work conflict was highly reliable concept although there was a slight difference between healthy employees and diabetic employees. The conflict and distress were found to have close relationships with job burnout. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications were provided.
For several decades, there have been endeavors to search for and examine personality characteristics that predispose to a variety of addictive behaviors – addiction-prone personality. The purpose of this paper is to critically review and evaluate the research literature carried out thus far dealing with the addiction-prone personality. The definition of terms and the arguments for and against the addiction-prone personality together with their intellectual backgrounds are introduced. Comorbidity across addictions section discusses how and why the addiction occurs concurrently with another addiction and suggests possible hypotheses. Common personality characteristics that are frequently manifested in people who are addicted to substances/activities are discussed in next section. The following conclusions are drawn from the literature review. First, the trait of addiction-prone personality exists, which is characterized by its heterogeneity. Second, the trait negative emotionality or neuroticism characterizes almost all addictive and compulsive behaviors. Third, a multi-dimensional perspective is suggested in understanding this concept; each addiction or compulsive behavior can be placed onto different dimensions of certain personality traits
The present study was designed to test the chronic patients' construing of pain by means of the Rep Grid technique from Personal Construct Psychology. The subjects were 40 chronic pain patients. The instruments were the 12 constructs × 12 elements Rep Grid, Pain Questionnaire, SF McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Korean CES-D. The data were analysed by the INGRID Program. The main results were as follows: First, for chronic pain patients the pain was superordinate construct. Second, for chronic pain patients, self now with pain offered the more implications than other elements. Third, chronic pain patients had difficulty in expressing or inhibited anger, depression, and sensitivity toward themselves and others. Finally, the results were discussed with reference to the literature and suggestions are made for future research areas.
The purpose of this study was to find out the important social psychological factors of successful aging in Korean elderly. We assumed in this paper that two cardinal criteria of the successful aging would be both of physical health and subjective well-being. The main hypotheses of this study was that the important 12 social psychological factors would contributed to discriminate among the successful aging elderly from both of the average and the unsuccessful aging elderly. We collected the survey data from 1,826 elderly(mean age of 72.41 years old) through face to face interview in Seoul and Chun-cheon regional areas in Korea. The results of the discriminant analysis showed that 11 social psychological variables except the religious attitude contributed to discriminate among the successful aging elderly, average group and the unsuccessful aging elderly. The successful aging elderly were higher level of economic status, marital satisfaction, satisfaction with the offsprings, social support, fulfillment of social and self-esteem need, exercise, drinking alcohol and positive emotional experience in everyday life, but lower level of past illness, expectation of support from the offsprings and negetive emotional experience in everyday life. The result also revealed that at least 83.6% percentage of the exact classification hit to discriminate among the successful elderly, the average elderly and the unsuccessful aging elderly. The conceptional assumption about successful aging and the results of this study were discussed in terms of the previous studies performed in Korea and abroad and the suggestions for further study were also proposed.
For several decades, there have been endeavors to search for and examine personality characteristics that predispose to a variety of addictive behaviors - addiction-prone personality. The purpose of this paper is to critically review and evaluate the research literature carried out thus far dealing with the addiction-prone personality. The definition of terms and the arguments for and against the addiction-prone personality together with their intellectual backgrounds are introduced. Comorbidity across addictions section discusses how and why the addiction occurs concurrently with another addiction and suggests possible hypotheses. Common personality characteristics that are frequently manifested in people who are addicted to substances/activities are discussed in next section. The following conclusions are drawn from the literature review. First, the trait of addiction-prone personality exists, which is characterized by its heterogeneity. Second, the trait negative emotionality or neuroticism characterizes almost all addictive and compulsive behaviors. Third, a multi-dimensional perspective is suggested in understanding this concept; each addiction or compulsive behavior can be placed onto different dimensions of certain personality traits.
The present study was to investigate job burnout in regards with diabetes that is a fast growing disease in adults over the world. Using data from healthy employees and employees with diabetes, the study conceptualized the health-work conflict that explains conflicts between the private role of illness management and the public demands from work. The study also investigated distress in diabetes as a local stressor of employees with diabetes and examined the effects of both the conflict and the distress on job burnout. Results revealed that the health-work conflict was highly reliable concept although there was a slight difference between healthy employees and diabetic employees. The conflict and distress were found to have close relationships with job burnout. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications were provided.
The purpose of this study is not only to examine the usefulness of a yoga program, but also to prove its psychological effects for women in poverty who have currently undergone physical and psychological difficulties. Feminization of poverty has been severely progressed in Korea these days. In order to help women in poverty be self-supportive, they should be given social and psychological supports. Women in poverty need to maintain their physical and psychological health in order to enhance their self-support and self-healing abilities. The participants in this study were 16 middle-aged women (8 in the experimental treat group and 8 in the control group). They participated in a self-supportive assistant program sponsored by the K Self Sufficiency Promotion Agency in Seoul. The yoga program consisted of a twelve-week yoga series, of one and a half hour sessions, once a week which included postures, breathing exercises and relaxations techniques. The psychological test used for this study included the following : somatization, trait anxiety, and purpose in life. This study exhibited the following results. First, the yoga program significantly reduced somatization of the participating women. Second, the yoga program meaningfully decreased their trait anxieties. Third, the yoga program increased the meaning of life in a positive manner, however the increase was not statistically significant. In Korea, this study is important in that it is the first research on psychological effects of yoga program for women in poverty. The significance of the study proved that the yoga program consisted of postures, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques has been positively effected to the psychological change of women in poverty.