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Rumination has been considered as a cognitive vulnerability factor, playing a prominent role in the onset, maintenance and aggravation of subsequent depressive symptoms. The Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) is a widely-known self-applied measurement of rumination. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the Korean version of RRS (K-RRS) in non-clinical samples as well as the scale's validity. An exploratory factor analysis of a sample of undergraduates (n=360) yielded a three factor structure: ‘self-reproach’, ‘reflection’, and ‘depressive rumination’. The K-RRS was found to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In addition, it had appropriate construct validity with a significant positive correlation with depression, trait anxiety and negative thought content. However, it had a negative correlation with positive thought content. Although the ‘self-reproach’ and ‘depressive rumination’ factors exhibited negative correlations with positive thought content, the correlation between the ‘reflection’ factor and positive thought content was not significant. Results confirmed that rumination consisted of classifiable sub-constructs. Further, we combined BDI and K-RRS items and conducted an exploratory factor analysis in order to identify confounding items. Each questionnaire consisted of different factors and therefore, it was assumed that depressive rumination might have been a distinguishable construct from depressive symptoms. Although there were no significant gender differences with respect to depression, female participants exhibited higher scores on the K-RRS, suggesting that women are more easily tend to cope with a depressive mood using ruminative responses than men. In conclusion, the K-RRS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing ruminative responses. Furthermore, sub-constructs of the K-RRS would be useful in clarifying the more refined cognitive aspects of depression.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of childhood emotional abuse inflicted by mother's on complex posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, this study was to examine the moderating effect of forgiveness on the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress. As such, forgiveness was divided into state forgiveness and trait forgiveness. A sample of undergraduate students self-report measurements and results indicated that mother's childhood emotional abuse did indeed significantly affect the symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress. Subsequent hierarchical regression analysis revealed that effects of childhood emotional abuse on the symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress were moderated by state and trait forgiveness. The findings of this study demonstrated that people whose mothers had inflicted upon them a high level childhood emotional abuse exhibited more severe symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress. Additionally, this study suggested that even in case of severe childhood emotional abuse, the symptoms of complex posttraumatic stress were relieved via state and trait forgiveness. The implications and limitations of this study have been discussed along with suggestions for further studies.
The Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group have suggested certain dysfunctional beliefs are important factors for the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, it is unclear whether these belief domains have specific relationships with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Therefore, the present study investigated the relationships between obsessive beliefs, which were assessed using the Obsessive Belief Quesionnaire-44, and several anxiety disorder symptoms including OCS, pathological worry (PW), and social anxiety symptoms (SAS) in a sample of 466 college students. Results of partial correlation and hierarchical regression analyses, after controlling for negative affect, revealed that obsessive beliefs were closely associated with PW as well as OCS, but demonstrated a relatively weak relationship with SAS. In particular, Inflated Responsibility/Overestimation of Threat exhibited a specific relationship with OCS, while Perfectionism/Intolerance of Uncertainty was significantly associated with all the anxiety disorder symptoms, including OCS, PW, and SAS. In contrast, Importance/Control of Thought did not significantly contribute to any anxiety disorder symptoms. Implications of these results and suggestions for further study have been discussed.
The purpose of this study was to identify a depressive-delinquent comorbid group in early adolescence and to explore the effect of temperament and gender for this group. A total of 1,636 middle school students participated in the study. A latent profile analysis(LPA) was executed resulting in five latent classes: “normal”, “moderate depression”, “severe depression”, “moderate delinquency”, and “comorbid”. Through a multinomial logistic regression analysis, the “comorbid” class was significantly explained by high Novelty Seeking(NS) and high Harm Avoidance(HA). Gender did not significantly explain the “comorbid” class, perhaps due to the ages of the subjects as well as various cultural differences. Overall, the results of this study suggest that many delinquent adolescents actually experience meaningful emotional problems such as depression. Further, their high novelty seeking and high harm avoidance tendencies predispose them to greater psychological maladjustments by arousing everyday conflicts and ambivalences. The limitations of this study have been discussed along with suggestions for further research.
The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of the Sheehan Disability Scale(SDS) and to examine its reliability and validity. Results indicated that the coefficient of internal consistency was 0.89 and the coefficient of one week test-retest reliability was 0.84. Though a confirmatory factor analyses, it was found that a one-factor model was sufficient to account for the covariance structure among the three scale items. The Pearson correlation coefficient between SDS scores and scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) was -0.29. Further the SDS mean for the psychiatric group was 17.18 (SD=8.66) which was significantly different than that for the normal group. I was also revealed that the SDS mean for major depressive disorder patients with recurrent episodes was significantly higher than those with a single episode. The SDS mean for major depressive disorder patients with Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D) scores over 16 was also significantly higher than those with HAM-D scores below 16. Finally, the clinical implications and limitations of this study have been discussed.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of forgiveness intervention through writing on psychological adjustment in individuals who had previously experienced interpersonal trauma. Thirty-three undergraduate students who had experienced interpersonal trauma and had exhibited PTSD symptoms, were included in this study. They were randomly assigned to three groups: forgiveness therapy (FT) writing group, self-disclosure (SD) writing group, and waiting-list control group. Each of two writing groups wrote about their traumatic experience five times, each lasting 20～30 minutes. Dependent variables included forgiveness toward offender, trait-state anger, shame, hope, self-esteem, and symptom severity and were measured three times: before, after, and a couple of weeks after writing sessions. Further, internal psychological changes over the five writing sessions examined using the Korean Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Results indicated that the FT writing group gained significantly more than both the SD writing group and the control group in terms of total/emotional forgiveness. The FT writing group also exhibited a significantly increased level of behavioral/cognitive forgiveness as compared to the control group. The FT writing group decreased significantly more than the SD writing group with respect to trait anger, and the FT writing group also showed considerable reductions in state anger at a post-test, as well as a reduction in shame as compared with the other groups. Both writing groups exhibited a trend toward improvement in hope compared with controls. With respect to self-esteem, there were no significant differences between any group. Further, the FT writing group decreased significantly more than the SD writing group in terms of PTSD symptoms. Additionally, writing samples from the FT writing group included significantly more words related to empathy, positive/negative emotion, and metaphysical issues than those from the SD writing group. In conclusion, the forgiveness therapy through writing considers as an effective method in terms of psychological adjustment of sufferers of interpersonal trauma. Implications and limitations of this study and suggestions for future studies have been discussed.
This study was performed to select preliminary items for self- reported executive function inventory designed for Korean high school students and to evaluate the reliability and the validity. A total of 281 high school students (male 136, 48.4%) were included in this study. The factor analysis was done for the preliminary 89 items and the model fit index was calculated to evaluate the appropriateness of a model. Also, in order to confirm the clinical validity of items, ROC curve's AUC(Area Under the Curve) was produced. In this analysis the Korean version of the Esendorf Schizophrenia Index (ESI)(cutoff point=29) which is the screening scale for the mental problematic high risk group was used. In the results, the 69 items extracted by the factor analysis were composed of five factors. Their internal consistency was excellent and the model fit index was ranged from average to fair. Additionally, the clinical utility through the ROC curve's AUC was proved to be valid. In conclusion, it was suggested that the self-reported executive function inventory of five factors among 69 items as proposed in this study could be a reliable and valid assessment tool. However, the results of this study are preliminary and as such future studies should focus on the verification and expansion of current results, utilizing larger sample sizes.
This study aimed to examine whether disclosing trauma through writing is better than inhibiting it in psychological health. In study 1, the effect of self-disclosure was examined by survey and the result showed that college students who disclosed more traumas reported higher subjective well-being and marginally higher self-esteem than who disclosed nothing. In study 2, the effect of self-disclosure was examined by experiments through writing. The result showed that writing about traumas through a stress inoculation training task(SIT task) produced better psychological effect than writing through a catharsis task. Especially, the SIT task reduced negative affect more quickly than catharsis task without lowering self-concept. In the follow up study, the SIT task showed long-term psychological effect of self-disclosure.
The Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS; Foa et al., 1997) was designed to derive information both about a possible Psottraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnosis defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Disorders(4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994; DSM-Ⅳ) and the severity of the PTSD symptoms. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of the PDS (PDS-K) while maintaining its original basic structure and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the PDS-K for the Korean population. The 47 participants examined in this study included 21 with PTSD (PTSD group), and 26 without PTSD (control group). Both groups were made up of those who had experienced a wide variety of traumatic events. Participants completed the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID; Spitzer et al., 1990), the PDS-K, the Beck Depression Inventory-Ⅱ, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Korean version of Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R-K; Eun et al., 2005). The PDS-K exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha= .90) and test-retest reliability (r = .81). Further, the PDS-K demonstrated satisfactory convergent validity which was supported by its significant positive correlations with other measures of trauma related psychopathology (r = .61∼.70). The highest diagnostic efficiency of the PDS-K was at a total score of 20, with sensitivity and specificity of 1.00 and 0.84, respectively. These findings suggest that the PDS-K possesses appropriate psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the frequency and severity of PTSD symptoms.
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parental ADHD symptoms both on parenting behavior and on the severity of symptoms in their children who also suffered from ADHD. The Wender Utah Rating Scale(WURS) and Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scale(CAARS) were administered to three adult groups; 123 parents of children with ADHD, 57 parents of children with other psychiatric disorders, and 112 parents of normal children. Parenting behavior was measured using the Parenting Sense of Competence(PSOC), and the Parenting Scale(PS). Children with ADHD were classified into two groups according to the presence or absence of their parents' ADHD symptoms. The two groups were compared with respect to the severity of ADHD symptoms and assessed using the Abbreviated Conners' Rating Scale, Korean- Child Behavior Checklist(K-CBCL), Korean-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children(K-WISC-Ⅲ), and the ADHD Diangnostic System(ADS). Results indicated that parents with ADHD symptoms exhibited more dysfunctional parenting behavior and a lower sense of parenting competence compared to parents without ADHD symptoms. However no differences were found in the severity of symptoms between ADHD children of ADHD parents and those of non-ADHD parents. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study and the suggestions for future research have been discussed.
This study tested the effects of Korean-Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction(K-MBSR)-based cognitive therapy on undergraduate college students' depression, suicidal ideation, and impulsivity. Over a 3month period, we screened 450 undergraduate college students using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI), and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and found 22 to be eligible a high level of suicidal ideation. We randomized the participants into either an 8week K-MBSR-based cognitive therapy group or a waitlist control group. We assessed participants' baseline, 8week, and 1month followup measures of depression, suicidal ideation, and impulsivity. The K-MBSR-based cognitive therapy group showed a significant decrease in levels of depression and suicidal ideation, as compared to controls, but no significant change in impulsivity. We discussed the significance and limitations of this study as well as suggestions for further research.
Cognitive-behavioral models propose that fear of negative evaluation is the core feature of social anxiety disorder. However, it may be that fear of evaluation in general is important in social anxiety, including fears of positive as well as negative evaluation. The FPES (The Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale) was developed to test this hypothesis. The study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the FPES (K-FPES) and to demonstrate its clinical efficacy. In Study 1, the results of an exploratory factor analysis of a sample of controls (n=136) showed a single-factor structure. In Study 2, we evaluated the model using confirmatory factor analysis on a sample composed of the undergraduates (n=222). Finally, we examined the instrument's reliability and construct validity. In Study 3, the K-FPES showed good diagnostic accuracy, as assessed through ROC analyses (AUC= .80). We discuss the K-FPES's implications regarding the study and treatment of social anxiety disorder.
This study focused attention on anger rumination that could be important part of sustaining and augmenting anger. Specially it is difficult for adolescents to control anger, so we propose that anger rumination may be responsible for the mechanism to maintenance of anger. Grounded on translations of Anger Rumination Scale (Sukhodolsky et al; 2001), we investigated factorial equivalence between the original Anger Rumination Scale and the Korean Anger Rumination Scale for adolescents. To confirm about the reliability and validity of this Scale, a total of 515 adolescents (263 boys and 252 girls) completed the Anger Rumination Scale, STAXI-K, Novaco Anger Scale, Aggression Questionnaire, Trait Meta-Mood Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test, and Social Desirability Scale. Factor Analysis of the scale results revealed a three-factor structure (AngryAfterthoughts, Understanding of Causes, Thoughts of Revenge), which differed from those reported in a previous study of the original scale. For adolescents in Korea, the Anger Rumination Scale and its subscales showed good internal consistency. We found the Anger Rumination Scale's convergent and discrimination validities via measures of anger and aggression, emotional regulation, optimism, and social desirability. The overall results suggested that the current Anger Rumination Scale is reliable and valid for the assessment of anger rumination of adolescents in Korea. Finally we discuss the implication and limitation of this study along with some suggestions for the future studies.
This study explored the relationship between psychological characteristics and behavioral problems, to contribute to current knowledge of psychotherapy and behavioral therapy for children with various behavioral problems. We devided 54 children, who were psychiatric outpatients with emotional or behavioral problems(but excluding Pervasive Developmental Disorders and Mental Retardation), into 3 groups(internalizing problems, externalizing problems, mixed problems) using the Korean child behavioral checklist(K-CBCL). Our research investigated two questions; First, Would there be any significant Rorschach responses differences, in accord with Exner’s A comprehensive system(1993) among the three groups? Second, Would the children's Rorschach responses show any significant relationship to low- ranking scales of the K-CBCL? We analyzed the data by means of Chi-square test, ANOVA, Tukey test, ANCOVA, Helmett contrasts, and stepwise multiple regression analysis, correlated via SPSS 12.0 program. The three groups' common significant characteristics were ‘higher Lambda values’, ‘D score< 0’, ‘lower Afr values’, and ‘CDI> 3.5’. The Mixed and Internalizing groups had lower energy levels, and more rigid thinking than the Externalizing group did. The Mixed group showed a significantly higher inclination to absorb inner thought activity than the Externalizing group did. The Mixed group also had higher X+%, than other groups did and was more likely to have D>Adj D. The Internalizing group was more likely to show ‘Mor(Morbid response)’ than other groups were, so this group was the most self-critical, most extremely damaged, and had the lowest aggressive movement content. The Externalizing group had a significantly greater inclination to change personalities to fulfill desires, They externalized their inner hostility and expressed their aggression. The External group's number of Form Qualities responses that were minus or unusual was higher than in the other groups, so they had a greater inclination to perceive unusually and impulsively. Finally, We discuss the implications and limitations of the study and suggest future research.
This study aimed to determine whether individuals with social phobia (SP) could be classified into subtypes according to their interpersonal problem patterns and to discover whether such different subtypes would respond differently to cognitive -behavioral therapy. We used the Korean Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (KIIP-C), Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule-IV (ADIS-IV), and Self-Reported Test Battery (Korean version of Social Avoidance and Distress Scale; SADS, Brief-Fear of negative Evaluation Scale; B-FNE, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale; SIAS, Social Phobia Scale; SPS) to assess 74 SP patients who participated in eight-weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy and we examined the participants' behavior patterns as recorded before -and -after the therapy for the treatment's effects. According to our cluster analysis of T-scores of KIIP-C variations, Participants fell into two different classifications: dominant type (n = 14), and submissive type (n = 60). Comparing their different characteristics and responses to treatment, we found the generalized social phobia group reported greater symptom severity and suffered more interpersonal problems than did the non-generalized social phobia group. When examined via interpersonal subtype classification, the two subgroups shared similar symptom severity and treatment responses patterns. With regard to social avoidance, dominant-type SP patients improved significantly more than did submissive type patients. We discussed the implications and potential clinical relevance of social phobia classification based on interpersonal problem patterns.
The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975) and the Revised Hasegawa’s Dementia Scale (HDS-R; Imai & Hasegawa, 1994) have been widely used for screening dementia in both clinic and community settings. Although in most people, MMSE scores are usually somewhat higher than HDS-R scores, in the dementia clinic, there were cases of HDS-R scores being much lower than MMSE scores and vice versa This study was conducted to examine the cognitive characteristics of the patients who showed significantly lower or higher HDS-R scores as compared to the MMSE. A total of 2053 neurological patients were administered both the MMSE and the HDS-R along with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery (Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, SNSB). Eighty-four percent of the total patients had higher scores on the MMSE than on the HDS-R. The mean difference in scores between the MMSE and HDS-R was 3.64±3.10. Based on this score, patients whose HDS-R score was lower than their corresponding MMSE score by seven or more points were selected for the “HDS-R Low group” (n=330). Alternatively patients whose HDS-R score was equal to or higher their corresponding MMSE score were selected for the “HDS-R High group” (n=399). Further patients who exhibited a mean difference score (3~4 points) were selected for the “Average difference group” (n=458). Although there were significant differences in the HDS-R scores among the groups, three groups did not show any differences with respect to MMSE scores. Further, there were significant correlations between the difference scores and the subtests for verbal & visual memory, frontal/executive function, and language in the SNSB. These subtests explained about 20% of the total variance for the difference in scores. The “Low” group exhibited significantly lower performance than the other two groups on these subtests. Together, the results suggest that the size of the difference between the MMSE and HDS scores may provide a clue regarding the cognitive profile of dementia patients. Therefore, it is recommended that both the both the MMSE and HDS be administered together. This would allow for the gathering of a substantial amount of information in a relatively short time period, which is beneficial in dementia screening.
This study aimed to identify statement patterns of sexually abused children. As such, we analyzed first disclosure type, statement ability, statement variation between initial and forensic interviews, and impact factors related to the statement patterns. The participants were confirmed sexually abused children (n=190). Results indicated that in the initial stage, 50% spontaneously disclosed, 34.7% disclosed to non-leading questions, 14.2% disclosed to leading questions, and 1.1% never disclosed their SA. Initial spontaneous disclosure was related to age, gender, IQ, SA frequency, threat intensity, victim-perpetrator's relationship, and dissociation tendency. Disclosure rates during the forensic interview were 86.3%. 49.5% disclosed to open questions, 25.8% disclosed to specific questions, and 11.1% disclosed to leading questions. 5.3% reported more information than the initial reports. Fifty percent reported information as much as the initial reports. 30.5% reported significantly less information as compared to their initial reports. 13.2% recanted their previous reports. It was also found that children who initially disclosed to leading question and/or young children were more likely to recant. However, there was no significant relationship between victim-perpetrator's relationship and recantation. In terms of statement ability based on amount of reported information, 41.6% had good enough competency, 26.3% had not good enough competency, and 18.4% had no competency for SA statement. Those who spontaneously disclosed in the initial stage and/or who had supportive caretaker were found to reveal more substantial information than others. Further, age was a effective variable for statement ability; however, this was limited to children younger than eight years old. The implications of the finding and limitations of current study, as well as, recommendations for future studies have been provided.
High dissociators (HDs) are more susceptible to exhibiting memory distortion and reporting higher frequencies of negative experiences. Using a visual memory task, we aimed to examine differences in trauma memory according to level of dissociation. Thirty undergraduate students were selected using Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) scores, and were classified as HDs (n=15) or LDs (low dissociators) (n=14). After viewing a traumatic film, subjects performed a recognition task of the traumatic film of basic scened that were morphed to varied traumatic intensity levels. Results indicated that HDs exhibited more exaggerated trauma memory distortion(overreporting) than LDs. Through the use of visual stimuli involving complex scenes, this study has provided a clear explanation as to whether or not memory distortion really occurs.
The purpose of this study was to validate a cognitive-behavioral approach for resolving marital problems through the use of real life cases of marital conflicts. The marital problems of one couple were assessed using cognitive-behavioral scales. We examined how the vicious circle of marital conflict was maintained throughout the marriage. Using cognitive-behavioral scales, this couple exhibited a very high frequency of major life events as compared to a control sample of normal married couples. Further, they disagreed considerably with respect to their marital beliefs. In particular, the wife's perceptions of marriage were highly negative. In addition, this couple scored very high regarding the negative feelings about their marriage. As compared to normal married couples, this couple displayed a slightly higher number of negative behaviors and much fewer positive behaviors. These results suggest that using a cognitive-behavioral model has explanatory power with respect to marital problems. The implications and limitations of this study have been discussed along with suggestions for further research.
