This study is aimed to analyse the causes and characteristics of suicide in jeonbuk region using psychological autopsy. Psychological autopsy is a technique to get comprehensive analysis on suicidal death by collecting data from interviewing suicide victim’s family, relatives, and friends added with additional data of police report, hospital records, and suicide victim's lifetime records for objective evidence. For the data from 42 cases(male 24, female 18) of suicides that occurred between May 2013 and April 2014 with agreement for psychological autopsy, we analyzed a survey that recorded by interviewers who had a consultation based on half-structured psychological interview panel. As the result, out of 42 cases, 30(71%) had previous suicidal attempts and 21(50%) had a family history of suicides. Psychiatric disorders(38%) was the most common cause of suicide followed by interpersonal problems(31%). Among psychiatric problems, depressive disorder was the most common. many suicide victims had previously received psychiatric treatments but discontinued the therapy later on. The results showed that suicide is strongly related to mental disorders and psychiatric therapy should be continued until full recovery. Preventive efforts should focus on persons who have a history of previous suicidal attempts and have a family history of suicide. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are advanced.
This study examined the relationship between physical education and externalizing(aggression) and internalizing(depression, social withdrawal) problem behaviors among adolescents. The moderating role of gender and time in the association between physical education and problem behavior was also identified. This study used data from the second, third, and fourth waves of the middle school student cohort (N=2,133, N=2,151, N=1,979) of the Korean Children-Youth Panel Survey(KCYPS). Main analyses involved multilevel growth model with interaction terms. The dependent variables were aggression, depression, and social withdrawal. The independent variables were gender and physical education (exercise hours) at school. The control variables were abuse, school-adjustment, annual household income and parents’ highest level of education. The major longitudinal findings of this study are as follows: First, there was significant change according to the passage of time only in aggression among externalizing and internalizing problems. Second, gender differences exist in aggression and depression. Third, exercise hours of physical education had a negative relationship with internalizing problems. Fourth, there were no gender differences over time in both externalizing and internalizing problems. Fifth, the interaction between exercise hours of physical education and time was statistically significant for social withdrawal. Sixth, the interaction between exercise hours of physical education and gender was statistically significant for depression. The results of this study may become an academic basis for suggesting policy directions that promote increased exercise hours in physical education classes at school.
This study was conducted to revalidate CQS and to examine the factors influencing cultural intelligence among Korean students studying abroad. 143 Korean students in USA and Canada were participated in the survey. Confirmatory factor analysis identified a model with four factors and CQS has negative correlation with acculturation stress and academic stress but positive correlation with subjective wellbeing. This findings suggest that CQS is a reliable and valid scale. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that personality is more significant predictor than cultural experiences for CQS. Discussion focuses on the importance of the findings, limitations and future directions.
The aims of this study were 1) to compare irrational gambling beliefs of gamblers and non-gamblers, 2) to investigate the role of cognitive error on winning probability thinking error, and 3) to examine the relationship between attributional bias and gambling behavior. A total of 248 subjects were recruited for this study. All subjects were classified into non-gamblers, social gamblers and pathological gamblers, and administered self-report questionnaires to measure irrational gambling beliefs, the probability inference error, the attriburional style, and the attributional bias. A pathological gambler group scored highest on irrational gambling beliefs, especially the overestimation of self-ability factor, and a social gambler group and a non-gambler group follow. All three groups scored higher on the magnification of gambling skills than the mean (4.0) of the scale. Pathological gamblers and social gamblers scored higher on the probability thinking error than non-gamblers. Pathological gamblers displayed higher external attribution, lower internal attribution in their daily life events and higher internal attribution in failure situation than social gamblers and non-gamblers. The results indicate that cognitive errors would be a factor that differentiates pathological gamblers from social gamblers and non-gamblers. In predicting gambling behaviors, overestimation of self-ability of irrational gambling beliefs, internal attribution in failure situation, external attribution in daily live event, and probability thinking error were identified as significant factors. It is concluded that a public education about common cognitive bias featured in gamblers might be important in prevention of pathological gambling behaviors.
This study is performed to fine a way to illuminate the direction of depression study suitable to Korean culture. To do so, it is found that from when we started to use the term of ‘depression’ and how we Koreans conceptualize depression. And cultural psychological perspectives to psychopathology including depression are reviewed. Finally, based on these findings, the ways to study depression with the perspective of cultural psychology are suggested. Specifically speaking, at the first, it is found that the term of depression has not been used before colonialized times by Japan, but terms of ‘Ul-Uep’, ‘Kwang-Zeung’, and ‘Jun-Kwanng’ are used from at least times of King SeJong. Term of depression was actually used after liberation from Japan and spread after introduction of DSM to Korea via Japan. Second, the way to compromise universalist and relativist perspectives is recommended and the perspective of absolutist is not recommended. Lastly, in Korea depression shares with ‘HwaByung’ in some area, but not with ‘Han’. In conclusion, it is desirable to combine etic factors(universal perspective) and emic factors(culture-relative perspective) to study depression suitable for Korean culture.
This study was intended to examine child abuse experience, response to child abuse, perception of the cause of child abuse, and need for counseling to prevent and eliminate child abuse among 514 day care center teachers across the country. First, 17.9% (92) of the teachers had experience of witnessing child abuse at day care centers. After such witness, the teachers mostly “paid attention to abused children and provided them with warm treatment” when they were abused by other teachers and “took no actions” when they were abused by directors of the day care centers. The biggest reason of not taking any actions was: they “had no authority to intervene in child care of other teachers” in case of child abuse by other teachers and “were afraid of responsibilities or roles that could be placed on them after reporting” in case of child abuse by day care center directors. Second, the biggest reason of child abuse by teachers was job stress followed by excessive work and mental health of teachers. Third, necessary actions when child abuse cases were found and confirmed were suspension of involved teachers and psychological evaluation for involved children and parents. Fourth, 88.9% (457) of the teachers responded that they would use an organization specialized in child abuse if such organization was built and that the organization would help them to decide on whether to report child abuse and prevention of and intervention in child abuse. They also said that such organization should be installed in the Counseling Center in the Comprehensive Child Care Support Center. Fifth, 95.3% (490) of the teachers answered professional counselors specialized in development and counseling of infants and toddlers were needed to address child abuse at day care centers. They demanded that such counselors should be able to administer psychological evaluation for young children and assess child abuse cases. Qualification of the counselors was at least college graduates who majored in psychology and child care, three to five years of experience in the field, and appropriate certificates or licenses. Finally, the teachers said that training and professional counseling about child abuse were required to prevent and eliminate child abuse at day care centers. Implications and follow-up studies were provided and suggested based on these findings.
The purpose of this study was to identify work-family balance values(work-family centrality, marriage value, child-care value, work value etc) in Korea, Japan and U. K.. Moreover, This article investigated the attitudinal generational gap in each countries. Participants were 311 Korean, 324 Japanese and 322 English married working women, who were in the thirties fifties. The major findings of this study were as follows. Compared to Japan and U. K., Korean married working women were more work-centered and likely to seek for extrinsic work value as well as intrinsic work value. While they were highly thought that a woman should work despite of her marriage, it was also strongly concerned if their work negatively affected family life, they should be better to quit their job. These results showed that conservative-liberal values were coexisted in Korean participants. Secondly, U. K. participants were more centered on the family-oriented value and thought that women were not necessary to work in work-family conflict, in comparison to Korean and Japanese. As a result of cluster analysis, they were a lot distributed in ‘woman’s family care oriented group’ which was weigh on woman’s role as a family care giver as well as ‘family value oriented group’. Thirdly, Japan participants not only were less family-centered but also less work-centered. In the similar vein, they were less motivated and oriented to all of intrinsic and extrinsic work values compared with participants in Koran and U. K. On the other hand, Japanese participants, in sharp contrast to Korean, had a liberal viewpoint in work-family related values, such as woman’s work, career break caused by work-family conflict, and family values. We were trying to interpret these results in consideration of socio-economic-politic as well as psychological aspects.
The present study examined whether individuals would respond differently, as a function of cultural self-orientations, when their requests were rejected. Also examined was whether individuals with different cultural self-orientations would predict differently how their interaction partner would respond when they rejected his or her request. Furthermore, it was investigated whether experimentally induced perspective- taking would influence responses to rejection and predictions of responses to rejection. It was found that responses to rejection as well as predictions of responses to rejection varied as a function of individual’s independent self-orientation and perspective-taking. However, no significant effects were found with regard to interdependent self-orientation. Based on these results, the implications that cultural self-orientations have for request rejection and social behavior in general are discussed, and future directions are suggested