• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.160-167
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• 2015

This study is to investigate the relationship between health promoting lifestyles around the psychosocial aspects such as depression, stress and self-esteem of young North Korean defectors. In particular, the purpose is mentally still less of a mature compared to adults, adolescents need greater understanding. For this purpose, North Korean Youth 150 people were surveyed, questionnaires 85 parts were used in the final analysis excluded from the additional 65. To analyze the factors affecting the health of life was performed multiple linear regression. Analysis result, general self, school self, stress had significant influence on health promoting lifestyles. The conclusion of this study is social psychology factors such as stress self-esteem of North Korean Adolescents refugees is addressed health promoting lifestyles and causal relationship, and promote health of adolescents shows wonderful self-esteem. It suggests that the necessary establishment. This effort is called for to reliably establish the North Korean youth to be part of a future South Korean society.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.623-634
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to examine the structural relationship between parental attachment, behavior problem, and empathetic capabilities. For this study, the researcher chose the study participants among the North-Korean defector high school students who are currently attending high schools. The survey was conducted over the period from April 4 to June 10, 2020. A total of 257 questionnaires were used for this study. The data of this study were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0. The findings of this study were as follows; First, the parental attachment of the juvenile North Korean defectors had a negative impact on delinquency. Second, the parental attachment of the juvenile North Korean defectors had a positive impact on empathetic capabilities. Third, the empathetic capabilities of juvenile North Korean defectors had a negative impact on delinquency. Fourth, in the relationship between parental attachment and delinquency, the empathetic capability was shown to have a significant mediating effect. This study showed that, in the perspective of social welfare or psycho-therapy, it is necessary to develop various programs to enhance the empathetic capabilities of juvenile North Korean defectors while helping them form a healthy attachment to their parents in order to reduce their delinquency.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.357-369
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• 2020

This study examined the influential relationship between self-differentiation, interpersonal relationships, and social support of adolescent North Korean defectors as well as the mediating effects of social support in the relationship between self-differentiation and interpersonal relationships. For this study, the participants were selected among student North Korean defectors aged between 9 and 24 years. With these participants, a survey was conducted from November 4 to December 14, 2019. Two hundred eighteen questionnaires were used in the analyses, which were conducted with SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0. The analyses yielded the following findings. The self-differentiation of the adolescent North Korean defectors had a positive impact on interpersonal relationships. The self-differentiation of adolescent North Korean defectors had a positive impact on social support, and the social support of adolescent North Korean defectors had a positive impact on interpersonal relationships. In the relationship between self-differentiation of adolescent North Korean defectors and their interpersonal relationship, social support had a mediating effect. This study showed that by improving the level of social support and self-differentiation of adolescent North Korean defectors, it would be possible to improve their interpersonal relationship issues.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-50
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• 2020

This case study explored changes in resilience of North Korean defector adolescents who underwent supportive music psychotherapy that included song discussion and song writing. Participants were three adolescents who escaped from North Korea. Sixty-minute sessions were conducted twice a week over four weeks for a total of seven sessions. The sessions were constructed to enhance hardiness and goal-directedness and used the process of discussing song lyrics, writing original lyrics, and composing music to help the participants strengthen their inner resources and identify healthier and more adaptive strategies for living in South Korea. The resilience scale measured at pre- and post-intervention showed that all participants increased their total scores and subscores related to hardiness and goal-directedness. Also, observation and analysis of their behavior, verbal responses, and lyric writing during the sessions revealed that the participants engaged more in the song-based music therapy process as the sessions went on and also expressed more positive perceptions of their ability to manage challenges and stress. These results indicate that active engagement in decision-making related to creating lyrics and composing music helped the North Korean defector adolescents to perceive themselves as capable of coping with stressful situations and independently solving problems, which are important for enhancing resilience.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.343-365
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• 2010

It is a follow-up study on acculturation types and adaptation level to South Korea among North Korean defecting adolescents who participated in the study with the same purpose five years ago(2003). The study of 2003(1st year study) was done with 90 adolescents, out of whom 46 participated in this study(2nd year study). The data from 46 subjects who participated in both 1st and 2nd studies were analyzed. The results on individual acculturation type showed that 40% of the respondents who belonged to 'marginal' or 'separated' types in the 1st study were changed to 'assimilated' or 'integrated' types in the 2nd. Twenty percent changed from 'assimilated' or 'integrated' types in the 1st study to 'marginal' or 'separated' in the 2nd. Furthermore, the higher is the acceptance level of South Korean culture, the lower are their psycho-social problems and the higher is the satisfaction level of daily lives in South Korea. While the higher is the preservation level of North Korean culture, the higher is aggression. Based on the results, the study developed discussion on diverse alternative plans for helping North Korean defecting adolescents in successfully adjusting to the South Korean society.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.225-235
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among young North Korean defectors' stress, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, to analyze the factors affecting their life satisfaction, and to suggest improvement plans. The study subjects were 126 young North Korean defectors. Path analysis was conducted to analyze the mediating effect of self-esteem in affects of their stress on life satisfaction. According to the analysis, stress negatively and significantly influenced self-esteem (-0.30, p<.01), and self-esteem positively and significantly affected life satisfaction (0.41, p<.001). Although stress had not a direct effect on life satisfaction, had not a indirect effect with the use of self-esteem as a mediating variable (LL 95% CI -0.093, UL 95% CI -0.002).

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.191-215
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to investigate the factors that influence the school drop-out of North Korean refugee youth and to generate recommendations for social work practice and the resettlement policies of the government to ameliorate the high school drop-out rate among North Korean refugee youth. This study examined the effects of the environmental factors such as the quality of parenting practice, peer attachment and the kind of school a youngster attends, and personal characteristics such as self-respect and acculturation stress level, and academic efficacy on the school drop-out intention. Gender, duration of stay in Korea, family economic status were established as control variables. The drop-out intention was used as a proxy for drop-out behavior. The study findings indicate that the personal characteristics such as gender, self-respect and acculturation stress, academic efficacy were the significant influencing factors, whereas environmental factors such as quality of parenting, peer attachment did not exert any statistically significant effect on the drop-out intention. At the conclusion, the implications of the study findings for research, social work practice and the government policies were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.189-224
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• 2010

Nowadays Korean society has a fast growing population of North Korean immigrant youth. Especially, North Korean immigrant youth, who are discontinuing formal education, experience difficulties in social exclusion and adaptation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of adaptation and social support of North Korean immigrant youth discontinuing formal education, and to seek affirmative supporting plans and solutions for their adaptation. The methodology utilized for this study was a case study research. On the basis of the results and categorization, 'a network between overall categories and of early adaptation' was derived. The major findings of this study are summarized as follows. First, the participants of this study experienced major difficulties during 'economical adaptation', and their economical adaptation was strongly interrelated with their 'educational adaptation'. The discontinuing of their education resulting from their fleeing period caused 'academic differential and age disparity.' Thus they could not enroll in the formal education system, and their insufficient educational background resulted in low wages and overwork due to manual labor jobs. Second, participants recognized 'interpersonal relations' as the most essential factor in adaptation, and 'social support' from the interpersonal relations played an important role in adaptation to and comfort in Korean society. 'Interactions with South Koreans' was recognized as a significant resource for gaining informational and appraisal support, but was not activated satisfactorily. On the other hand, interaction with North Korean immigrants was avoided by the reason that 'there's nothing to learn', however emotional support from North Korean immigrants of close relationship played an important role in participants' adaptation, especially in all aspects of psychological adaptation. Third, participants experienced a lot of difficulties and stresses in their 'physical health and psychological adaptation'. Their chronic diseases worsened by remaining untreated, and female perceived symptoms were observed more often than in male. Meanwhile, excessive 'stresses' from the unfamiliar environment of South Korea negatively affected their psychological adaptation. However, they were satisfied with sense of liberty and security from living in a democratic society.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.31-41
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• 2017

Through the evolutionary process of the North Korean defector support policies, this research investigates the background behind the formation of non-profit organizations for the North Korean defectors and to identify and understand the problem through their characteristics and functions. Starting from 1990, with an increase in the North Korean Defectors' population as well as the introduction of multicultural society, various environmental factors, such as the domestic socio-environmental changes, resulted an increase in number of private organizations. However, not to mention the size and functions of the organizations, some do not even have required legal organizational structures in place. Their business activities, in some cases, are irrelevant to the original purpose and objectives. Moreover, the fact that 83% of the North Korean Defectors Organizations are based in Seoul while 25.5% of the North Korean Defector residing in Seoul, inevitably make the reputation of the organizations to be illegal and dishonest due to the excessive level of competitions among the similar types of organizations. In reality, the organizations show lack of growth in the areas such as securing necessary employments to the Defectors or providing educations to the youth, who will eventually become the future leaders, in building the awareness capacity toward the unification. These results show that, in conducting their activities, the organizations must be aware of the rights and responsibilities as the constituents of the society, plus the government's practical efforts in improving these issues are also necessary.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of problem behaviors, cultural identity and acculturation of North Korean (NK) refugee youth and to suggest an appropriate approach for helping them to adjust to our society based on these findings. Methods: The subjects were 117 NK adolescent refugees in Hanawon. Data were collected by a demographic questionnaire, Youth Self Report (YSR), the South-North Korean cultural identity. Results: Problem behaviors of NK refugee youth were the highest in anxiety/depression and withdrawal behavior and were followed by internalized behavior, aggressiveness, overall problem behavior, externalized behavior, delinquency and positive behavior in that order. Acculturation was the highest in 'separation' followed by 'integration', 'assimilation' and 'marginalization' in that order. No significant relationship was found between acculturation types and problem behaviors except positive behavior. Conclusion: This study provides some important information that we have to develop specific strategies and interventions primarily focused on withdrawal, anxiety/depression, and internalization for the adjustment and mental health of NK refugee youth. It is necessary to explore further research related to cultural identity, acculturation processes, and the correlation between acculturation types and problem behaviors.