The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on anxiety thought, anxiety sensitivity, and acceptive attitude in regards to public speaking anxiety in university students. Twenty-eight female participants who suffer from public speaking anxiety in D female university were selected and randomly assigned to one of the experimental and control groups, respectively. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy consisting of 8 sessions was performed for two hours in every session. Results showed that an experimental group reported lower anxiety sensitivity and thought for public speaking anxiety and higher acceptive attitude than the control group. These results suggest that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy influences the improvement of subjective control in anxiety by facilitating psychological acceptance, which makes participants contact on the moment in themselves fullness instead of avoiding their experiences. Finally, a number of limitations and implications of the present study were discussed.
The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of alcohol problems among college students, and examine the effects of self-efficacy of alcoholics as well as mindfulness to alcohol problems. Seven hundred twenty eight college students were subjects of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). The results show that 24.2% (177) of the subjects had alcohol problems (AUDIT: more than 12). For the study, a multiple regression was utilized for finding the relationship among the degree of alcohol problems, the level of alcohol abstinence self-efficacy and the mindfulness among college students with alcohol problems. Moreover, a stepwise regression was used for finding a relationship between the level of alcohol abstinence self-efficacy and mindfulness among college students with alcohol problems. The result of this study revealed that alcohol abstinence self-efficacy is positively related to the degree of alcohol problems. However, the mindfulness factor had an insignificant effect to the alcohol problem. Also, alcohol abstinence self-efficacy is positively related to mindfulness. Based on these results, the limitations and suggestions for future study are discussed.
This study intends to verify the effect of a Mindfulness Based Teenager Suicide Prevention Program (MBTP) on suicidal ideation, depression and self-esteem. In order to accomplish this, 4 institutions such as youth consultation centers and 4 middle/high schools in Seoul and Incheon were selected. Also, after notice regarding MBTP program was sent and previous presentation was held, 23 participants who showed an opinion of participation through the telephone and email were arranged into an experimental group (n=12) and a control group (n=11) randomly. Questionnaires (e.g., suicidal ideation, depression, self-esteem, mindfulness) were completed by participants and before/after evaluations as well as an evaluation for 6 months after were also completed on order to verify the effects of the program. The MBTP program was organized a total of 10 times and 2 hours per week so as to practice the core technology based on mindfulness. From the results of material analysis, the score of suicidal ideation and depression of groups participating in the MBTP program reduced significantly and the score of self-esteem and mindfulness increased significantly. On the other hand, the control group didn't show any significant change. This implies that the MBTP program is effective as the self-control program for youth's suicidal ideation and depression. In the evaluation 6 months following the program, the standard of self-esteem and mindfulness was firmly maintained, so continuous effects of the program were confirmed. Finally, limitations and future study directions regarding this study were discussed.
The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Korean Problem Internet Gambling Behavior Indicators in different types of internet gamblers. The KPIGBI is a 11-item self-rated scale designed to assess gambling behavior symptom severity. The factor structure, reliability, item property and criterion-related evidence of validity are analyzed for 694 adults. The KPIGBI displays a stable one factor structure and high reliability(Cronhach's alpha=.90∼93), showing good convergent validity(level of gambling addiction - NODS r=.543, p<.001; CPGI r=.652, p<.001; frequency of gambling behaviors r=.431, p<.001). Findings suggest that the KPIGBI is reliable and valid in assessing behavior symptoms during a problem internet gambling. Ideas about applications of KPIGBI as a educational and preventive instrument were suggested.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnosis of pathological gambling, gambling motive, irrational gambling beliefs of 881 gamblers visiting gambling treatment center. This study is focused to understand psychological and cognitive characteristics of pathological gambler and to establish a basis for the prevention and treatment of pathological gambling. Findings are as followings: Frist, The most popular age to first encounter gambling was the twenties, but the biggest population of pathological gamblers was in thirties and forties. Second, on average, most pathological gamblers had been regularly involved in gambling for 8.7 years. However, they explained that they felt they had lost the sense of self-control for approximately 3.4 years. Third, sports toto and internet gambling users continuously increase since last 3 years. Especially internet gambling was the most common gamble in twenties and thirties. Forth, the researchers concluded that maximum of 96.5% to minimum of 83.3% of 881 gamblers were diagnosed to have a serious pathological gamble addiction through three kinds of pathological gambling screening scales. Fifth, The significant motive among pathological gamblers was from monetary problem followed by other factors such as excitement, pleasure, and socialization. Finally, they tended to overestimate their skill efficacy, but the majority of the group did not suffer from cognitive error or irrational thoughts. Based on these results, the limitations and suggestions for the future pathological gambling study were discussed.
The irrational gambling belief has been considered a critical factor which makes people develop or maintain gambling behavior. This study aimed to investigate the effects of irrational gambling belief and reports of wins on gambling behavior. For this research, 505 university students were asked to answer the Gambling Belief Questionnaire (GBQ) and were divided into two groups according to level of irrational gambling belief representing the possible combinations of GBQ. In the experimental study, the participants in each group were assigned to one of two experimental conditions, according to existence of reports of wins. The results showed that there was significant interaction between irrational gambling belief and reports of wins on gamble. Finally, the limitations and suggestion for further research were discussed.
This study investigated how phone addiction and internet game addiction are related to the stress responses of adolescents. The study examined the mediating effects of sleep deprivation between these relationships. The participants were 475 male and female high school students, whose ages ranged from 14 to 19. Researchers developed items to measure phone addiction. The addiction to internet game, sleep deprivation, and stress responses were also measured. In the different types of phone addiction, gender differences was found. Futhermore, males were more likely to show an addiction to internet games more than females, whereas females were more likely to experience sleep deprivation more than males. The correlational analysis results indicated that both phone addiction and internet game addiction were positively correlated with sleep deprivation as well as stress responses. Sleep deprivation shared approximately 16% of the variance with stress responses. In the hierarchial regression analyses, sleep deprivation was the mediating variable of phone addiction or internet game addiction and stress responses. It partially mediated these relationships. These results suggest that if high school students become addicted to the phone or to internet games, they easily become sleep derived, and thus, they portray various kinds of stress reponses.
The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean Forgiveness Scale-Short form (KFS-S) for high school students. The sample consisted of 1,114 10th grade students. The measures included the KFS-S, one-item forgiveness question, Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM), Spielberger Anxiety and Anger Scale, and CES-D. The results showed that the KFS-S had a relatively good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=.87) and an acceptable test-retest reliability (r=.73). Both explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the KFS-S had one factor which explained 42.27% of the total variance. The KFS-S was highly correlated with the one-item forgiveness question. It also had significant correlations with other forgiveness measures (HFS and TRIM). In addition, the forgiveness group had significantly higher KFS-S scores than the non-forgiveness group. Finally, the KFS-S was negatively correlated to anger, anxiety, and depression. These results suggested that the KFS-S had good reliability and validity for high school students.
Forgiveness is a coping strategy to improve psychological health as well as to enhance interpersonal relationships by positively resolving a variety of hurts and conflicts in everyday life. The current study is aimed to explore the impact of forgiveness and interpersonal trust on the subjective well-being. To pursue this goal, Korean adults between the ages of 25-64 participated in the current study. They were interviewed face-to-face to obtain information on forgiveness, interpersonal trust, and subjective well-being. The forgiveness levels among Korean adults are not associated with gender, educational level, or family income. The longer the period of the past hurt, the lower the forgiveness level. Male adults nominated employers/employees/coworkers as offenders, whereas female adults nominated relatives or neighbors. Forgiveness is positively related to the subjective well-being. This subjective well-being is significantly explained by health, interpersonal trust, and forgiveness. The relationship between forgiveness and the subjective well-being is completely mediated by an interpersonal trust. A psychological education on forgiveness education should be developed and utilized for adults in need of help.
This study examined how resentment and forgiveness are related to the subjective well-being of the elderly. The subjective well-being of the elderly was investigated during the process of forgiving. Participants included 169 elderly men and women living at senior housings in Seoul, Hanam and Seongnam, who were at least 60 years of age, the average of age was 82.39 (SD=8.52). For this study, resentment and forgiveness, the forgiveness processes, negative/positive emotion, life satisfaction, and the subjective happiness of the elderly were measured. Results indicated that resentment during senescence was positively related to negative emotion and negatively to subjective happiness, whereas forgiveness during senescence was negatively related to negative emotion and positively to subjective happiness. Among the process of forgiveness, the stage of hatred was positively related to negative emotion and positively to positive emotion, life satisfaction, and subjective happiness. The stages of stabilization, redefinition, forgiveness, and maturing were positively related to positive emotion and subjective happiness. In particular, the highest life satisfaction and the lowest negative emotion of the elderly were shown in the stabilization stage; the highest subjective happiness was demonstrated in the redefinition stage. Resentment during senescence accounted for around 15.8% of the variance of negative emotion, and forgiveness accounted for 3.0% of its variance additionally. Forgiveness during senescence accounted for 19.0% of the variance of subjective happiness, and additionally resentment accounted for 6.1% of its variance. This study suggested that there are portions of resentment and forgiveness, which could independently account for the subjective well-being of the elderly. Moreover, an intervention of resentment and forgiveness contributes to the improvement of the quality of life during senescence.
The aims of this study were to explore religious variables which have effects on gratitude and to investigate whether religious coping play a mediating role in the relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and gratitude. A sample of 216 Christians(97 men and 119 women) were completed the scale of each variable for this study. The results showed that gratitude was correlated with religious sincerity like the frequency of a private pray and influence of religion to life. Also gratitude was correlated with intrinsic religious orientation and positive religious coping. Result of testing mediation indicated that positive religious coping do the role of a partial mediator between intrinsic religious orientation and gratitude. This means a mature attitude religiously is an important factor for gratitude, and choosing a desirable coping in religious can advance on gratitude in daily life. Also the gratitude intervention will need to promote to choose positive religious coping. Finally, the limitations of this study directions of future study were discussed.
Precocious puberty among females refers to the development of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years. Studies suggest that sexual precocity may increase the risk of psychological maladjustment in these young females, a phenomenon that has yet to be explored among the Korean population. This study examined the psychological characteristics among a group of girls with precocious puberty (N=87) relative to those of normally developing peers (N=39). Participants completed the Maturity Fears Scale (MFS), the Revised Body-Esteem Scale (BES) and an emotional adjustment questionnaire; their parents filled out the epidemiological questionnaires. The precocious pubescent female group scored higher than the controls on the MFS, while no significant differences were found between the two groups for the body-esteem and emotional adjustment. These results are in contrast to the findings from previous studies. The possible explanations for the discrepant findings, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed.
Previous cognitive studies regarding the attentional biases and memory biases for somatic-symptom words in somatizing patient groups have not demonstrated consistent findings. The aim of this study, which was administered to complement these findings was to investigate that the somatizing patients group would have both attentional biases and memory biases for somatic-symptom words because of having both anxiety and depressive states in the clinical setting. Also, the aim of this study was to investigate that the somatizing patients group would have decreased attention and memory such as anxiety and depressive patients. For these purposes, a modified Stroop task, a delayed free recall task, and a recognition task using computer-presented word lists were performed to a clinical sample of 21 patients suffering from multiple somatoform symptoms, as well as 21 healthy controls. The major results and the implication of this study are as follows. First, the somatizing patients group presented significant Stroop interference effects for somatic-symptoms words. Second, the somatizing patients group better remembered and more accurately recognized the somatic-symptom words, and more sensitively responded to the somatic-symptom words than the neutral words. Third, the free-recall ratio of somatic-symptoms words was higher than that of neutral words in the somatization group. These results suggested that the somatizing patients group have both attentional biases and memory biases for somatic-symptom words. Fourth, the somatizing patients group demonstrated decreased attention and memory. However, the hypothesis that the somatizing patients group would show greater Stroop interference effects with somatic-symptom words than the control group was not supported. Also, the hypotheses that the somatizing patients group would better remember and more accurately recognize the somatic-symptom words and be more sensitive to the somatic-symptoms words than the positive words were not supported. Therefore, the hypothesis in which the somatizing patients group would have both attentional biases and memory biases for somatic-symptom words was partly supported, and the hypothesis that the somatizing patients group would have the decreased attention and memory was supported in this study. Finally, the significance and limitations of this study as well as directions for future study were also discussed.
This study examined the role of traits and social support in the relation between anger and maladaptation of adolescents through model specification of structural equation. In the study, the sample of 541 middle and high school students (282 men and 259 women) completed STAI, Anger Experience Scale, Anger Thinking Scale, Novaco Anger Scale, SCL-90, K-YSR, Social Support Scale. In this study, path analysis showed there was a positive relations between failure of anger control and maladaptation. Social support would be mediated with adolescents' maladaptation by failure of anger control. If anger expression of adolescents did not be accepted by significant others, the maladaptation of the adolescents would be more increased. In addition, it was found that the integrated model added to paths from hostility trait to anger fitted well. Furthermore, the research outcomes revealed that gender difference was significant predictor of anger control, and it suggested roles of combination of gender and social support for adolescents' maladaptation. However, there was no difference between middle school students and high school students in anger control. It was discussed with trait-environment fitted that tailored-intervention programs for adolescents maladaptation were developed.
With the growing number of cancer survivors, ensuring the overall health of these individuals merits special attention; however, to date it has received limited empirical attention in Korea. The current study aimed to examine the prevalence of health behavior changes after cancer and its association with causal beliefs about cancer and recurrence concerns in 129 survivors of breast cancer in Korea. Participants were recruited from a breast cancer survivor’s group in the Breast Cancer Clinic at one university hospital in Seoul, Korea. Participants completed questionnaires assessing health behaviors, concerns about recurrence, and causal beliefs regarding cancer. The behavior showing the greatest change was 'reflecting on life priorities’ and ‘spending quality time with family’. Stress was rated as the most important cancer cause. A few socio-demographic, clinical characteristics, and beliefs about the causes of cancer showed significant association with health behavior changes. Recurrence concerns were negatively related to increases in exercise. Current findings provide a preliminary understanding of the factors that prompt the initiation of healthy lifestyle changes among breast cancer survivors.
The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a Structured Clinical Interview for Game Addiction(SCI-GA) developed to refer DSM-IV-TR criteria for substance dependence and precedent studies. The factor structure, item property, inter consistency reliability, inter-rater reliability, and criterion-related validity were estimated using responses of 77 high school students that administered by two clinicians. SCI-GA showed one factor structure and high reliability(internal consistency reliability=.89; inter-rater reliability- all 100, sub-criteria =.50～1.00, ps<.001) with adequate criterion-reliability validity(level of gambling addiction r=.81, study problems r=.32, tardiness/absence r=.40, friction with families r=.37, ps<.001). Findings demonstrated that SCI-GA is reliable and valid in assessing game addiction in adolescent. Implications of the findings and directions to counseling on game addiction are discussed.