E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of education on the Korean Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition (K-WMS-IV). The subtest scaled scores and index scores of education groups were compared, and the base rate and multi-variate base rate were produced for clinical utility. The interaction effect of age and education on the K-WMS-IV was also analyzed. The main results were as follows. First, the subtest scores and index scores were different depending on the levels of education. Index scores of the lowest education group (≤ 8) were 90.69-92.49, while those of the highest education group were 104.58-106.10 (≥16). Second, the base rate-i.e., percentage of cases below the cut-off score of M-1SD- of each index score tended to increase as years of education decreased. The base rates of the lowest education group were 19.77-30.23%, while those of the highest education group were 5.23-8.14%. In addition, the multi-variate base rate increased as the levels of education decreased. In the lowest education group, 55% of the lowest education group had one or more low index scores below the cut-off score (≤M-1SD), while 18% of the highest education group had one or more low scores. Lastly, the impact of education on memory performance increased as subjects got older. These results suggest that the K-WMS-IV would overestimate cognitive impairment in subjects with less education, while underestimate cognitive impairment in those with more education, especially in the older population.
Psychological inflexibility is an important construct that has gained much attention recently as a critical mechanism of psychopathology in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This current study aimed to validate the Korean version of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth-Eight item type (AFQ-Y8; Greco, Lambert & Baer, 2008), which is a child-report measure of psychological inflexibility. Elementary and middle school students completed the K-AFQ-Y8, Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), Youth Self-Report (YSR), Concise Measure of Subjective Well-Being (COMOSWB), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ), and White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI). The K-AFQ-Y8 showed adequate reliability and was fitted for a one-factor measurement model. The K-AFQ-Y8 positively correlated with thought suppression, anxiety, depression, somatic complaint, and problem behavior, and negatively with acceptance and subjective well-being. Even after removing the effects of acceptance and thought suppression, the K-AFQ-Y8 correlated significantly, as expected, with all measures. These results support the convergent and construct validity of the K-AFQ-Y8. Overall, the results suggest that the K-AFQ-Y8 is a useful child-report measure of psychological inflexibility, and psychological inflexibility may be a critical factor of psychopathology and the quality of life in Korean children and adolescents. Finally, the implication and limitation of this study, as well as possible suggestions for future study were discussed.
This study conceptualized posttraumatic identity changes in survivors of trauma and developed the Traumatized Identity Questionnaire (TIQ) with a participation of 310 and 234 trauma survivors in Study 1, and in Study 2, respectively. TIQ was divided into five factors: identity over-accommodation, identity disintegration, identity confusion, negative identity, and identity-function problem. Traumatized identity levels were the highest in people with complex trauma experiences. Moreover, a group comparison showed that people with higher posttraumatic stress symptoms have higher traumatized identity levels. TIQ turned out to be reliable and valid. Finally, limitations of this study and suggestions for further studies, as well as implications for clinical use were discussed.
The Ministry for Health & Welfare Affairs has marked a major milestone in a new mental health paradigm emphasizing the importance of preventative and early interventions. In this context, the development of a reliable and valid screening tool for mental disorders has become a high priority. A consensus has recently emerged among experts that there is a paucity of screening tools available for anxiety disorders and none of them is sufficient in its sensitivity and specificity. The development of new screening approaches for anxiety disorders was therefore recommended. In the current study, the multi-disciplinary research team comprised of clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and psychometricians, conducted a systematic review of existing screening tools for anxiety disorders to analyze strengths and limitations of the tools and to summarize the background and rationale for development of the new Korean screening tool for anxiety disorders (K-ANX). The K-ANX aims to cover recent diagnostic criteria from the DSM-5 and RDoC in a concise manner with sufficient diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. We also summarize the sub-domains of anxiety disorders and develop 273 preliminary item pools of the K-ANX. A preliminary study using the K-ANX was then conducted with 150 individuals whice showed that it demonstrates high concurrent validity with the BAI. Finally, the directions for the validation of the final K-ANX project were discussed.
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of social support and conflict in different relationships on depression and suicidal ideation among older adults residing in a Korean rural area, and also to explore whether there are any differences in these effects between the young-old and the old-old subgroups. The participants of this study were normal older adults who participated in the first wave of “Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP).” They were all aged 60 years and above, and they were divided into two groups, i. e. the young-old group (aged 60-74 years) and the old-old group (aged 75 and over). In each group, the effect of social support and conflict in different relationships (spouse, family and kin, and neighbors and friends) on depression were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The effects of support and conflict from different sources on the suicidal ideation, which is especially related to depression of seniors, was also analyzed through a logistic regression analysis. For the young-old group, the relationships with spouse and friends were especially important. Less support received from spouse and friends, alternatively, greater conflict with spouse and friends resulted in greater depression experienced by participants. In the old-old group, however, social support and conflict from any types of relationship did not have significant effects on depression. In addition, more support received from family and kin, there was a decrease in suicidal ideation. Lastly, we discussed the implications for future study and clinical intervention. Moreover, limitations of this study were also discussed.
Emotional labor is a serious risk factor for psychological problems such as increased burnout and decreased psychological well-being. This research examined the effects of emotional labor on depressive symptoms and the role of emotional clarity as a moderating factor in this relationship. A total of 127 bank tellers from 9 branches in Seoul, Korea completed the following questionnaires: The Korean version of the Emotional Labor Scale (K-ELS), Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that emotional labor had a significant positive correlation with depressive symptoms, and emotional clarity moderated this relationship even after controlling for gender difference and work position. When emotional clarity was low, a higher degree of emotional labor was associated with greater depressive symptoms. On the other hand, when emotional clarity was high, the effect of emotional labor on depressive symptoms was not significant. Such results suggest that the ability to clearly recognize emotion can potentially buffer the negative effects of emotional labor. Thus, enhancing emotional clarity may be a part of an effective intervention program for depressed emotional laborers.
The aim of this study is to investigate the differential metacognition of emotion recognition in young adults with pathological narcissism as compared with the control subjects by using relative and global measures, and to investigate the relationship between relative meta-accuracy and performance. Among 495 undergraduate students, 36 were selected into the pathological narcissism group and another 36 into the control group based on the scores from the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) and Symptom Check List 90-Revision (SCL-90-R). Relative meta-accuracy is calculated using the gamma correlation, means of within participant correlations between confidence ratings and correct vs. incorrect responses on the emotion recognition task. Moreover, global meta-accuracy is calculated using the Pearson correlation between questionnaire (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Mind-Reading Belief Scale) response and proportion correct on the emotion recognition task. In comparison with the control group, the pathological narcissism group showed a reduced metacognition of emotion recognition in the relative meta-accuracy, while no significant differences were indicated in the global meta-accuracy. The differential relative meta-accuracy between two groups come from the condition. In the retrospective condition, the control group rose the relative meta-accuracy compared with the prospective condition, however, the pathological narcissism group does not indicate a difference of the relative meta-accuracy according to the condition. In comparison with the control group, the pathological narcissism group showed a low mean proportion correct on the Emotional Expression Multimorph Task, while no significant differences were indicated in confidence judgments. Moreover, in the high level condition, the mean confidence was high compare with the control group. Individuals with pathological narcissism revealed the high self-confidence even when the emotional awareness was difficult and lack of prudence when the test was accompanied. Such traits seems to have a damaging effect on metacognition of pathological narcissism. Our results showed that in both groups, individuals who were better at the emotion recognition task also tended to be more accurate in their relative metacognitive assessments.
The purpose of this study was to understand cognitive and emotional processes related to unethical behaviors of psychopaths. This study conducted experiments to verify the hypothesis that the degree of unethical decision making would differ depending on strength of moral emotions and cues of moral disengagement people with psychopathic tendency may experience in the situation of moral dilemmas. The psychopathic tendency group and the control group participated in an experiment. After identifying a psychopathic tendency group and a normal control group, the authors assigned these two groups with examination of moral dilemmas that strength of moral emotions and the cues of moral disengagement are controlled. The major findings of this study were as follows. First, there were main effects of group, strength of moral emotions, and cues of moral disengagement. Second, the three-way interaction effect of group (psychopathic tendency vs normal control), strength of moral emotions (stronger vs weaker), and condition of moral disengagement cues (present vs absent) were identified. Finally, on the basis of the above results, the implications and limitations of this research were discussed and future research direction were proposed.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between psychopathy and parental abuse during early childhood. A total of 339 college students were evaluated to examine their psychopathic tendencies and were asked to report their childhood parental abuse experience. Partial correlation analyses showed a significant positive correlation between secondary psychopathy and physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. However, there was a lack of significant correlation between childhood parental abuse and primary psychopathy. Regression analysis demonstrated that factors such as emotional abuse and neglect were strong predictors of secondary psychopathy. This study suggests that childhood parental abuse is associated with secondary psychopathy, whereas such association is not observed with primary psychopathy.
Among the recently proposed psychological theories of bipolar disorder, the behavioral activation system (BAS) model is considered as one of the most promising working models. Although the BAS model of bipolar disorder received extensive empirical support in Western countries, the applicability of this model in different cultures remains untested. As a preliminary step to test its applicability in Korea, the main objective of this study is twofold. First, we attempted to investigate whether BAS sensitivity is elevated in Korean high-risk group with hypomanic personality. Second, we tested whether BAS sensitivity is a significant predictor of mood symptoms in conjunction with behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity. The results showed that the level of BAS sensitivity was heightened in the undergraduate high-risk group defined as those in the upper decile of the Hypomanic Personality Scale. In regression analyses, high BAS and low BIS sensitivities contributed to more (hypo)manic symptoms, thereby confirming the assumption that (hypo) mania reflects BAS hyperactivation and failure of BIS inhibition. Conversely, low BAS and high BIS sensitivities predicted more depressive symptoms, suggesting that BAS deactivation corresponds to depression.