The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of virtual reality graded exposure therapy on public speaking anxiety and self-focused attention among female university students. Sixty-five female university students who scored more than 71 on Speech Anxiety Scale were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=31) or a wait-list control group (n=34). The experimental group completed 4 sessions of virtual reality graded exposure therapy over a period of 2 weeks (30 minutes each, twice a week). The two groups completed questionnaires during the pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at three-weeks after the treatment period. Some of the measurement versions used in this study included the Korean version of Speech Anxiety Scale (K-SAS), the Korean version of the Speech Anxiety Thoughts Inventory (K-SATI), Scale for Dispositional Self-Focused Attention in Social situation (SDSAS), Subjective Anxiety Ratings, Timed Behavior Checklist for Performance Anxiety (TBCL) and a Fingertip pulse oximeter. The results revealed that the experimental group’s speech anxiety, speech anxiety thoughts, self-focused attention, subjective anxiety, observer evaluation of anxiety behaviors, and heart rate significantly decreased compared to the wait-list control group. These effects were maintained at the three-week follow-up period. In the RCI, the treatment response rates were significantly higher in the experimental group. This study discusses the implications of those results and suggestions for future research.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of brief mindfulness induction on time-course of attention to threat seen by anxious people. To do this, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups (mindfulness, control), and performed dot-probe task after completing a brief treatment session. Considering the time-course of attention, the stimulus-presentation time of dot-probe task was adjusted to 450ms and 1250ms, and the performance of the top 50 percent participants with high level of trait anxiety was used for the analysis of results. As a result of between-group comparison, control group was found to pay more attention to the threat than mindfulness group regardless of the stimulus-presentation time. Examining the qualitative change patterns of attention bias in groups showed that control group had an attentional bias toward the threat when the stimulus was presented shortly (450 ms), but had no bias when the stimulus was long (1250 ms). On the other hand, mindfulness group showed no bias of attention regardless of the stimulus-presentation time. These results verified vigilance-avoidance hypothesis and brief mindfulness induction reduced attentional bias. Finally, limitations of this study and implications for future research were discussed.
The objective of this study was to verify the effects of play-mindfulness meditation on main symptoms and emotional recognition ability in children with ADHD. The subjects were 21 elementary lower grade students who were previously diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder and visited at health promotion center located near Seoul. The children were randomly assigned to either a play-mindfulness meditation application group (n=11) or a waiting-control group (n=10). Play-mindfulness meditation group participated and completed 8 treatment sessions with 4 weeks. Each session was 60 minutes long. The measurement tools used for the study were Korean ADHD Rating Scale(K-ARS) and Emotional Recognition Test(ERT). The results of study were as follow: play-mindfulness meditation application group showed significant improvement of symptoms by[F(1,18)=20.49, p<.001] and emotional recognition ability by[F(1,18)=5.46, p<.05] compared to waiting-control group. The results suggest that play-meditation can be an effective treatment to improve symptoms and emotional recognition ability for children with ADHD. Finally the implications and the limitations of this study, and the suggestions for future study were also discussed.
The study focuses on the development and validation of testing tools that explore an individual’s stability of self-esteem in multilateral aspects. To effectively pursue this purpose, the paper investigated three structural elements- environmental mastery, stability for evaluation of others, stability of self-worth- rather than limited to just one element. The study preliminary items focused on the development and survey of 222 adults (aging from 20 to 64). Afterwards, the resulting data was analyzed through item analysis, reliability analysis, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and a preliminary scale- 3 elements with 26 items- was constructed. The main part was conducted with group A of 250 people for EFA and group B of 246 people for confirmatory factor (CFA) and the collected data was analyzed by item analysis, EFA, CFA and reliability analysis. After the analysis, the Stability of Self-Esteem Scale for Adult- having 3 elements with 14 items- was developed. After checking the scale’s convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity, the scores distribution for Stability of Self-Esteem Scale for Adult with 14 items was confirmed.
The objective of this study was to investigate the sociodemographic and bereavement-related variables that affect the patterns of prolonged grief symptoms of Korean adults who had lost their loved ones. A Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale (PG-13) was used and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was performed to identify pattern of prolonged grief symptoms. Also, a hierarchical logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify sociodemographic variables and bereavement-related variables that influence grouping. The results were as follows. Two different classes were found: a resilient class and, a prolonged grief symptoms class. These groups showed that traumatic stress was higher than separation stress. Significant class differences were found in religion, time since the event, the deceased's age at death, relationship with deceased, and cause of death. Based on these results, the implication and limitations were discussed.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of emotion-mindfulness based binge improvement program on binge eating behavior and its associated psychological factors in female university students. The participants of this study were university students who were prone to binge eating disorders. The students were selected based on scores on the BULIT-R (Bulimia Test Revised). 16 od the students randomly assigned to the emotion-mindfulness group and 16 in the wait-control group. The emotion-mindfulness based binge improvement program were administered for 6 sessions (50 minutes each, twice a week). All participants of the emotion-mindfulness group and wait-control group completed pre-test, post-test, 3 weeks follow-up test. Some of the measurements tools employed by the researcher include Bulimia Test Revised(BULIT-R), Eating Disorder Inventory(EDI), Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire(DEBQ), Symptom Check List(SCL-90-R), Distress Tolerance Scale(DTS), The Computerized Mirror-tracing Persistence Task(MTPT-C), and Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale Revised(CAMS-R). The analysis of the results provided that the scores of anxiety, depression, distress tolerance, emotional eating and binge eating behavior in the emotion-mindfulness group significantly decreased compared to the wait-control group and the effects were maintained within a three-week follow-up period. However, on the Computerized Mirror-Tracing Persistence Task (MTPT-C) there was no significant change in the emotion-mindfulness group compared to the control group. In the RCI test, the treatment response rate was approximately 69.78% in the emotion-mindfulness group and 17.01% in the wait-control group. The RCI is appeared to be significant between groups. Finally, this study discusses the implications and suggestions for future research.
The purpose of this research was to identify one path that links compassion and individual well-being through the examination of the role of compassion in the relationship between social support and stress response. With this purpose, the aim was oriented towards the analysis of moderated mediation of compassion among the social resources, perceived social support and stress response. In this study, 252 university students were surveyed to measure social resources, perceived social support, compassion, and stress response. The result indicated that compassion moderated the level of mediation between social resources and stress response through perceived social support, thus producing a mediation effect. In other words, compassion had a positive effect on stress response reduction through the perception of more social support. These results implied that raising love and interest for others is beneficial not only for others but also for oneself. Therefore, it is suggested that training to expand and cultivate compassion for others as an intervention method can be effective in the alleviation of individual psychological distress. Finally, the limitation of this study and the direction of future research are suggested.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of tajin kyofusho, appearance–based rejection sensitivity, and body dysmorphic concerns on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery. Based on previous study results and conceptual meanings, the research model was set up and verified to be fit the relationships among variables using Structural Equation Modeling(SEM). The data was collected from 405 Koreans, aged 18-29, through self-report questionnaires. From the results of self-report questionnaires, only body dysmorphic concerns had a direct effect on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery. The appearance–based rejection sensitivity and tajin kyofusho had a indirect effect on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery, mediated by body dysmorphic concerns. Moreover the dual mediation of appearance–based rejection sensitivity and body dysmorphic concerns was significant between tajin kyofusho and the acceptance of cosmetic surgery. In the comparison of three alternative models and the study model, the alternative model 1 was deemed to be better than other alternative models and the study model. Finally, we verified that the research model could be apply to both male and female group, through the use of multiple group analysis. The structural relations of the variables were confirmed to be similar in both groups. The results of this study strongly suggest that psychological interventions focused on body dysmorphic concerns and other variable could be beneficial to improve the satisfaction in cosmetic surgery. Moreover, the implications of this study, limitations, and suggestions for subsequent study were discussed.
The objective of this study was to investigate the structure relationships among grateful disposition, posttraumatic growth(PTG) and mediating variables such as social support and ego resilience. The subjects were 408 participants from all over the country. Most of them in their twenties and thirties in Korean age. The self-reported questionnaires such as demographic information, Questions about traumatic events, Gratitude Questionnaire- 6(K-CQ-6), Ego-Resiliency Scale(ER), Social support Scale and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory(K-PTGI) were administered to the subjects. Only 333 cases were chosen for data analysis. SPSS and Mplus programs were used for the statistical analysis. Additionally, Bootstraping analysis was used to verify significance. The result were as follows. First, correlations among grateful disposition, social support, ego resilience and PTG were positively significant. Second, mediating effects of social support between grateful disposition and PTG was observed. In addition mediating effects of ego resilience between grateful disposition and PTG was observed. These result suggest that the model of study was appropriate. Also, the results offer the suggestion about remedial intervention by revealing that grateful disposition affect PTG directly and indirectly through social support and ego resilience. Finally, limitations and implications, amd suggestions of the results in this study were discussed.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of risk-taking which causes addictive behaviors on high-calorie food intake in University students with binge eating tendency. For this purpose, 465 undergraduates were divided into severe-binge group (n=40) and moderate-binge group (n=40) using binge eating scale. All participants did the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to assess risk-taking and the bogus taste test to measure the high-calorie food intake. BART is a computerized task pumping a balloon to get monetary compensation until it pops up, participants can decide either to keep pumping a balloon with risk or stop pumping to save money. Results revealed a significant moderation effect, signifying that individuals with higher binge eating tendency and higher risk-taking level consumed the most high-calorie food while individuals with lower binge eating tendency and lower risk-taking level consumed the least high-calorie food. This suggests that risk-taking is a factor moderating the high-calorie food intake of binge eaters, severe-binge eaters with high risk-taking pursue the palatable taste and take the risk of high-calorie food, whereas moderate-binge eaters with low risk-taking do not pursue the taste and risk of the high-calorie food and show the least intake.
The objective of this study was to understand the path of narcissistic personality toward SNS addiction proneness in women. The study intended to test the hypotheses that narcissistic personality would lead to the abuse of SNS through reward-seeking behavioral activation system(BAS), and that the indirect effect via BAS can depend on the level of behavioral inhibition system(BIS) to avoid punishment. In order to measure the variables, Pathological Narcissism Inventory(PNI), Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire(SPSRQ), and SNS Addictive Tendency scale were administered to 292 women cyber university students. To verify the hypotheses, Process Macro 2.16(Hayes, 2013) was used to analyze in three steps: mediation effect, moderation effect, and moderated mediation effect according to Preacher, Rucker & Hayes(2007). The results were as follows: First, BAS was found to mediate partially the relationship between pathological narcissism and SNS addiction proneness. Second, moderation effect of BIS on the relationship between BAS and SNS addiction proneness was observed. Third, BIS also moderated the mediation effect of pathological narcissism on SNS addiction proneness via BAS. Narcissism leads to SNS addiction through BAS and the intensity of the indirect effect via BAS increases with increasing BIS level. This finding suggests that narcissistic people are more likely to develop symptoms of SNS addiction when both BAS and BIS levels are high. Finally, the implications and limitations on this study as well as the suggestions for further research were discussed based on the results.