• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.719-738
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine distress and difficulties experienced by multi-cultural elementary students in our society and to identify replaceable resources related to their school adjustment. For this, semi-structured interview consisting of questions related to these issues was conducted to 14 multi-cultural elementary students of 3^rd to 6^th grade who were living in a metropolitan area. Qualitative data were analyzed based on Giorgi's(1985) method of phenomenological analysis, which led to three dimensions in relation to elementary school adjustment: individual, relationship, and societal dimensions. Also, for school adjustment, education was found to be needed at the level of individuals, family, and multi-cultural cognition. Lastly, as for multi-cultural elementary students to adjust well not only at the school but also in Korean society overall, they must have positive national identity and multi-cultural recognition. Finally, their school adjustment were discussed in relation to these findings.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.241-261
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• 2022

The present study aims to investigate the effects of information poverty on North Korean refugees' social adaptation to South Korea based on Chatman's Theory of Information Poverty (1996). Based on the Theory of Information Poverty, information poverty consists of four variables: Secrecy, Deception, Risk-taking, and information acceptance in response to situational relevance. And based on the previous studies, adaptation to South Korean life is divided into social adaptation and psychological adaptation. From August 4 to August 30, 2021, after approval by the IRB through the North Korean refugee support organization , surveys were conducted with North Korean refugees who had lived in South Korea for at least one year and were aged 19 or older. The 100 collected valid data were analyzed using frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. Findings of the study indicated that information poverty had significant effects on North Korean refugees' social and psychological adaptation. In particular, the "deception" variable had negative effects on social and psychological adaptation. The study has theoretical implications that it explains North Korean refugees' adaptation to South Korea based on Theory of Information Poverty by defining them as information poor. Above all, it attempts a quantitative approach through operationalization of key concepts unlike previous studies that were conducted with qualitative approaches.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.270-282
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• 2013

The present study aims to investigate the effects of bicultural characteristics and social capital on psychological adaptations such as depression and self-esteem. A survey was conducted on 295 foreign-born mothers and their 305 children, ranging from third to sixth grade in elementary school up to seventh to ninth grade in middle school, residing in South Korea's seven major cities, including the city of Seoul. The results of this research are the following: 1) With regards to factors that influence depression among children in a multicultural family, less support from a friend leads to a larger exposure to multicultural programs. Also, the lower the perceived income level of his or her family, greater is the state of the child's depression. 2) Significant factors that influence self-esteem for multicultural children are friends' support, level of mothers' Korean language proficiency, teachers' support, and numbers of multicultural programs. Two implications may be addressed from this study. One is the need to consider bicultural characteristics and social capital to enhance psychological adaptability for children raised in multicultural families. Another is to apply social support characteristics such as friends' and teachers' support to multicultural programs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.26
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• pp.7-30
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• 2008

The survival rate of children with cancer has increased significantly from less than 30% in 1960s to 75% during the recent years with the development of modern medical technologies. As a result, the cancer of children today is no longer classified as incurable diseases. Rather, it is recognized as a chronic illness. However, children with cancer are still suffering from physical and psychosocial ailments caused by long-term hospitalization. In particular, teenagers are more likely to be affected by these problems because of interests on one's appearance and peer relationships This study investigated the relationship of the level of body distortion and disease adjustment of children with cancer, and how demographic factors, disease factors, and the level of body distortion affect disease adjustment. Data were collected between October 22, 2007 and November 16, 2007 and the total respondents consisted of 82 children, ages 10 to 18. SPSS 12.0 with descriptive statistics, t-test, correlation and multiple regression were used for data analysis. The results showed that the factors which influence the disease adjustment of children with cancer were age, school enrollment, and the level of body distortion. The result of this study has major implications for the government to provide support for children with cancer to stay in school. Additionally, programs that assist children to build positive body images need to be developed in accordance with their ages and psychosocial characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-43
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine cultural differences and related difficulties which KoreanChinese women in Korean society experience at work and the different styles of their cultural adaptation. For this, semi-structured interviews consisting of questions related to these issues were conducted on 17 Korean-Chinese women living in the metropolitan area (average age: 34, SD = 9.25, average stay in Korea = 4 years, SD = 2.24). After analysis of qualitative data based on Giorgi's(1985) method of phenomenological analysis, a total of 225 significant statements were found and those were grouped into 23 subcategories, which were then grouped again into 9 categories. Cultural differences and related difficulties appeared in identity, verbal communication, political and economic aspects, and relational and sexual affairs. It was also revealed that Korean-Chinese women adapted in the three ways of Active, Passive, and Avoident. Lastly, various social actions that can aid the adaptation of Korean-Chinese women to Korea based on these results were discussed.

• Korean Journal of School Psychology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.175-195
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• 2021

Intimate friendships and a sense of belonging have positive effects on adolescent's psychological adaptation. Belongingness orientation is the motivation to belong. It is divided into growth orientation and deficit-reduction orientation, both of which have different effects on psychological adaptation and interpersonal characteristics. This study was conducted to determine how adolescents' belongingness orientation affected their psychological adaptation and friend networks. Students in their second year of middle school were surveyed both at the beginning and end of the spring semester. Friend networks were measured through network centrality analysis. Multilevel regression analysis produced three major results. The first major result was that the correlations between growth orientation and loneliness and between growth orientation and stress at the beginning of the spring semester was statistically significant even when friend network centrality was included in the analysis model, but the correlation between deficit-reduction orientation and loneliness and between deficit-reduction orientation and stress were not statistically significant. The second major result was that growth orientation significantly predicted friend network centrality at the end of the spring semester. This effect was significant even when friend network centrality at the beginning of the semester and psychological adaptation level at the end of the spring semester were added to the analysis model. The third major result was that the correlation between friend network centrality at the end of the semester and psychological adaptation level was statistically significant even when psychological adaptation levels at the beginning and the end of the semester were included in the analysis model. This study is meaningful in that it had a short-term longitudinal design and empirically demonstrated the relationship between belongingness orientation and psychological adaptation level of adolescents and between belongingness orientation and the development of friend networks. Lastly, we discussed limitations of this study and provided suggestions for future research.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.629-635
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• 2019

In term of the factors affecting psychosocial adjustment of breast cancer patients, their quality of life after surgical operation, radiation, and chemotherapy were systematically meta-analyzed. As a result, their qualities of life of the patients that had radiation therapy was the lowest right after the therapy, and gradually increased after the end of the therapy. However, after six months, their quality of life failed to reach the same level before the therapy. They had depression and side effects the most right after the therapy, and somewhat reduced them after the end of the therapy. In case of surgical operation, the more they were educated, the more they had psychosocial adjustment, and the more they had a medical examination and took out an insurance policy, the more they had psychosocial adjustment. In case of chemotherapy, their cognitive function is influenced so that they have impairments in memory, learning, and thinking stages. Since subjective cognitive impairment has a relationship with depression, it is necessary to monitor depression of chemotherapy patients. Given the results of this systematic meta-analysis, when three types of therapies (surgical operation, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) are applied to patients with breast cancer, it is necessary to recognize their psychosocial adjustment, depression, anxiety, and quality of life in the nursing and radiation therapy fields and thereby to introduce an intervention program for a holistic approach.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.167-189
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to classify different profiles of grit (effort vs. interest) and passion mindset (fixed vs. growth) in university students and to understand whether there are differences in psychological characteristics (ie. depression, anxiety and happiness) and career adaptability between the profiles. To this end, we recruited 359 students aged 18 and 25 and applied a Latent Profile Analysis(LPA). The results revealed 4 distinct profiles : Profile1-a burgeoning type, Profile2-an ordinary type, Profile3-a fixed/limited type, Profile4-sprouting/drifting type. The profile1(LP1, 22.2%) had high levels of grit and passion growth mindset. The profile2(LP2, 63.8%) showed average levels in both grit and passion mindset. The profile3(LP3, 8.8%) had a low level of grit and a high level of passion fixed mindset. The profile4(LP4, 5.1%) showed a low level of grit and a high level of passion growth mindset. The four profiles were distinct in psychological characteristics and career adaptability. The burgeoning type(profile1) was most adaptive in comparison to the fixed/limited type(profile 3). These results suggest that grit has more powerful effects on psychological characteristics while passion growth mindset exerts stronger influencers in career adaptability. Putting the results together, our findings imply that both passion growth mindset and grit need to be considered together to enhance the individuals' comprehensive well-being and to increase the level of adaptation for career preparation.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.29-56
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to find out correlation and predictors of posttraumatic growth of North Korean refugees in South Korea in 7years. This survey was conducted on 105 North Korean refugees in 7 years with questions on depression, anxiety, socio-demographic characteristics, personal & social variables, psychological trauma in North Korea, stress experience in South Korea. The influence of these variables was analysed. Result indicated that education in North Korea and living period in the 3rd country iwas associated with PTG. Date for escaping from North Korea, depression, acculturative stress in South Korea, hope for future, social support from South Korean, perceived satisfaction had correlation with PTG. And Date for escaping from North Korea, living period in the 3rd country, social support from South Korean, acculturative stress in South Korea predicted PTG of North Korean refugees. Finally, social political intervention and mental health service programs for North Korean refugees were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.37-61
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• 2009

The diagnosis of breast cancer can have a significant impact upon all family members in psychological and practical aspects. The impact of breast cancer may have a particularly strong impact on the spouse and the marital relationship. Breast cancer can alter the couple's emotional balance, finances, division of responsibilities and social activities. However, little empirical evidence exists investigating support-related exchanges between patient and spouse in Korea. Therefore, it is meaningful to address psychosocial effect and change of marital relationship in context of breast cancer. This article reviews 34 studies (1987-2009) on marital relationship in the context of breast cancer. Results indicate that the psychosocial impact of breast cancer on the healthy spouse and patient, spouse's effects on quality of life, adaptation, distress of breast cancer patients, and impact of breast cancer on marital relationship. Several recommendations can be made for oncology health professionals working with families of cancer patients such as the need for longitudinal and comprehensive study