Cognitive functions and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) are two crucial variables in distinguishing between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Inconsistent research findings have been reported in terms of the relationship between cognitive functions and instrumental ADL, which may be due to the different demographic characteristics of the subjects. The purpose of this study was to explore the moderating effect of demographic variables in the relationship between cognitive functions and instrumental ADL in patients with amnestic multi-domain MCI (amMCI, n=167) and dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT, n=82). To evaluate the global cognitive ability, the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) and Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery 2nd Edition (SNSB-II) were administered to the patients as individual tests. The caregivers completed the Korean-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-IADL) Scale. The K-MMSE and the five cognitive domain scores derived from SNSB-II such as attention, language, visuospatial function, memory, and frontal/executive function were used as predictor variables, the score of K-IADL as a criterion variable, and the demographic variables (age, sex, and years of education) as moderator variables. The moderating effect was verified by the hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that age had a moderating effect on the relationship between K-MMSE, language, visuospatial function, memory, and frontal/executive function scores and instrumental ADL. Years of education had a moderating effect on the influence of K-MMSE on instrumental ADL, but no moderating effect was found in sex. The results imply that age and years of education in the MCI and DAT groups moderate the impact of cognitive functions on instrumental ADL, and age especially has a greater moderating effect.
The purpose of this study was to examine if the relationship between insecure attachment (anxiety/avoidance attachment) and prolonged grief (PG) is mediated by deliberate grief avoidance (GA). Participants in this study (1,200 adults) completed an online survey measuring demographic information, insecure attachment, GA, and PG. We only used data of 576 participants who experienced bereavement. The analysis procedure is as follow: First, descriptive statistics and correlation were conducted. Second, the measurement model was verified through a confirmatory factor analysis. Third, the structural equation model analysis was used to verify the model fit indices and the structural relationship between the variables. Finally, through the bootstrapping process the statistical significance of the mediation effect was verified. The results showed that the effect of anxiety attachment on GA and the effect of GA on PG was statistically significant, as well as that GA mediated the link between anxiety attachment and PG. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of episodic future thinking on impulsivity, and binge eating behavior of college students prone to binge eating disorder. The screening was conducted based on 18 points or more of the Binge Eating Behavior Scale (BES) and less than 15 points of the purging behavior scale of the K-BULIT-R and the Korean version of the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) among 579 adults including male and female participants. The 31 participants were randomly assigned to each to two groups, the episodic future thinking group (treatment group) and the control group. In this study, both groups provided positive images. The treatment group conducted a mentalization process of a positive event that may occur in the future, and the control group conducted a mentalization process of the Pinocchio story in a positive manner. Subsequently, the delay discounting task and the writing task inducing snack intake were conducted, and the manipulation check of the level of required imagination performance was measured at each stage. Results of the analysis showed a significantly higher AUC value for the treatment group compared to the control group, but no significant difference was found between the groups in the snack intake (g). This study confirmed that episodic future thinking (EFT) is effective on impulsive decision-making of college students prone to binge eating disorder, and does not have sufficient effect on binge eating behavior. Finally, the implications and limitations are discussed, and further research is suggested.
Depression and insomnia are the most frequent psychological problems among cancer patients. Some studies report that cognitive schemas may differ in the presence of a serious disease such as cancer, even with the development of the same symptoms of depression and insomnia. The understanding of cognitive schema is a critical component for cognitive behavioral therapy, since its main goal is to reconstruct maladaptive thoughts. In this study, cancer patients and healthy participants experiencing similar levels of depression and insomnia were compared to investigate if there were differences in cognitive schema depending on the presence of cancer. A total of 65 cancer patients (42: experiencing depression, 23: experiencing insomnia), 64 people experiencing depression and insomnia without a cancer diagnosis (22: experiencing depression, 42: experiencing insomnia) and 176 people with no cancer and no psychological problems (98: no depression 78: no insomnia) were recruited. To compare differences in cognitive schema, the dysfunctional attitudes scale, positive automatic thought scale and a computer task measuring emotional bias were administered. To analyze the difference in cognitive schema in the presence of cancer, the groups were classified by matching cancer patients to healthy participants complaing of similar levels of depression and insomnia. A one-way ANOVA showed that the depressed cancer patients had significantly higher levels of dysfunctional cognitive schema than the depressed healthy participants (negative bias, dysfunctional attitude). Also, the cancer patients experiencing insomnia showed significantly higher levels of negative bias than the healthy participants experiencing insomnia without cancer. This study implies that people with depressive symptoms and insomnia symptoms with cancer have higher levels of dysfunctional cognitive schema than those without cancer.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Korean middle-age males’ crucial psychological variables (mid-life generativity and restrictive emotion) and happiness( mental well-being and depression) and the effect of these variables on happiness. For this study, questionnaires were administered to 184 middle-age males employed at K Company in Gyeonggi Province. The data were analyzed by means of Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis (enter and stepwise) using SPSS 21.0. The main results of this study are as follow: (1) mid-life generativity and restrictive emotion were very significantly correlated with mental well-being and depression. (2) ‘mid-life identity’, ‘relationship and freedom’ and ‘restrictive emotion’ were significant predictors of mental well-being and depression in common but ‘realistic optimism’ predicted only mental well-being and ‘thoughtfulness’ predicted only depression. (3) ‘realistic optimism’ was the strongest predictor of mental well-being and ‘mid-life identity’ was the strongest predictor of depression among all variables. Based on the results, some considerations are suggested for happiness enhancement programs for Korean middle-age males.
The purpose of this study is to examine the mediated moderation effect of cognitive empathy, through the associated dysfunctional Anger on the relationship between covert narcissism and dating violence. For the study, we conducted surveyed 359 unmarried males and females. The main findings of the study are as follows. First, the mediating effect of dysfunctional anger was found in the relationship between covert narcissism and dating violence. Second, the moderation effect of cognitive empathy on the relationship between covert narcissism and dating violence was found. Third, the moderation effect of cognitive empathy on the relationship between covert narcissism and dysfunctional anger was found. Finally, as a result of verifying the mediated moderating effect of dysfunctional anger through cognitive empathy using SPSS Macro Model 8, the interaction effect between the covert narcissism and cognitive empathy is mediated by dysfunctional anger. Based on these results, we discussed the roles of cognitive empathy to buffer the negative effects of covert narcissism on dating violence and to reduce dysfunctional anger.
Drinking alcohol to cope with stress and negative emotions, has been repeatedly through previous studies. The purpose of this study was to determine negative emotion mediates the relationship between stress and alcohol craving by using experience sampling method (ESM) to detect instantaneous experiences and emotions in daily life. To expand upon previous studies, the effects of individual emotions (eg, anger, frustration, depression, etc. among negative emotions) were examined. Th study involved 19 males and females age 25-50 who were social drinkers. ESM was used to measure the levels of stress, emotional states, and alcohol craving for the subjects in their daily lives. The questionnaires for ESM were in the form of a web survey, and delivered to the subjects directly through a smartphone four times daily. Subjects were asked to respond to the stress, emotional states and alcohol craving at the moment they received a signal through their smartphone. The data were obtained 52 times, four times daily. For 13 days of surveying 19 subjects, a total of 988 data were obtained. The hierarchical linear model (HLM) of the multi-layered data showed that anger and frustration among negative emotions significantly mediated the relationship between stress and alcohol craving. This study suggests the role of certain negative emotions in relation to stress-induced drinking by using ESM. Based on this, it is expected that an effective way to reduce the level of alcohol consumption or cope with stress for drinkers or individuals with alcohol use disorders can be proposed.
The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of mentalization and anger rumination in the influence of the borderline personality feature of female college students on interpersonal relationship problems. To this end, an online survey was conducted with 350 female university students age 18 29 living in all parts of Korea using a borderline personality feature scale, interpersonal relationship problem scale, mentalization scale, and anger rumination scale. Using the SPSS and the AMOS, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were conducted on the collected data, and the structural equation model and mediating effects were verified. The conclusions are as follow. First, all pathways except borderline personality features to interpersonal relationship problems and anger rumination to interpersonal relationship problems were statistically-significant. Second, although the direct effect from borderline personality features to interpersonal relationship problems was not statistically–significant, borderline personality features increased mentalization failure and indirectly contributed to interpersonal relationship problems. This implies that mentalization failure is a perfect mediating factor in the borderline personality features and interpersonal relationship problems. Third, anger rumination and mentalization failure were sequentially mediated between the borderline personality features and interpersonal relationship problems. The borderline personality features affects the interpersonal relationship problems through mentalization failure, and at the same time influences interpersonal relationship problems by mediating anger rumination and mentalization failures sequentially. Additionally, the limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are presented.