• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-118
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• 2019

Alexithymia refers to a psychological deficit of identifying and describing one's feelings. It has benn reported that the level of alexithymia of East-Asians is generally higher than that of Western Europeans. Recently one research conducted in U.S. suggested that the interdependent self-construal from East-Asians' collectivism culture might be a cause of this cross-cultural difference. In the current study, we examined the relationship between the level of independent and interdependent self-construal of Korean college students and their level of alexithymia, as well as their ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and emotion suppression. The correlation analysis shows that the Korean students' alexithymia level does not correlate with their level of interdependent self-construal, but negatively correlates with their level of independent self-construal. Moreover, it is also correlated with the level of ambivalence over emotional expressiveness(AEE) and emotion suppression(ES). Thus, we setup a double-mediation model between the deficiency of independent self-construal and alexithymia via AEE and ES, and estimate mediation effects using Hayes and Preacher(2014)s' Process analysis. The results show that the deficiency of independent self-construal has a direct effect as well as indirect effects of AEE and ES on the alexithymia level. Further analysis on the indirect effects reveals that the mediation effect of AEE and the double mediation effect of ES via AEE are significant, but the mediation effect of ES is not significant. Current results imply that the interdependent self-construal from the traditional collectivistic culture may not cause Korean college students' problems on the emotional expression, but the relatively lower independent self-construal may cause them. The deficiency of independent self-constural may raise up the level of self-defensive ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and suppress emotional expression by themselves, which can result in alexithymia.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.239-268
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• 2004

This study examined the role of self-construals in marital satisfaction among men and women, and explored how independent and interdependent self-construals contribute to or undermine marital satisfaction. Data were drawn from a self-administered questionnaire study in which 489 married people(aged 25-75) residing in Seoul participated. Path analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modeling Program, and a goodness of fit of the proposed path model was evaluated. As expected, the positive impact of independent self-construal on marital satisfaction was mediated by self-esteem and clarity of communication, and that of interdependent self-construal on marital satisfaction was mediated by psychological stability and a sense of relational well-being. The direct effects of these two types of self-construal on marital satisfaction were opposite. As predicted, independent self-construal decreased marital satisfaction, whereas interdependent self-construal increased it. All of the direct and indirect effects of independent and interdependent self-construals on marital satisfaction were statistically significant, except the indirect effect of interdependent self-construal as mediated by psychological stability. The goodness of fit indexes of the path model indicated that the model was acceptable. However, the results of separate path analyses for men and women showed that some of the effects of self-construals on marital satisfaction differed by gender. Based on these results, implications for clinical social work practice were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.171-197
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• 2023

The traditional Korean society has been classified as an Eastern collectivist culture, but in the flow of globalization and digitalization along with the post-Cold War era of the 1970s, Western individualistic culture and values quickly permeated the Korean younger generation. Since rapid changes occurred within a short period of time, there may be differences in cultural self-construal between generations living in the same era. Due to this, psychological problems related to emotional expression and suppression may appear differently depending on generations. Therefore, in the current study, 1,000 Korean adult men and women from their 20s to 60s were investigated for their level of independent and interdependent self-construal, alexithymia, ambivalence over emotional expression(AEE) and emotional suppression(ES). Then the relationship between the variables(self-construal and alexithymia,) and the mediating process of AEE and ES were examined. The generation of participants were divided into the industrialization cohort (birth year < 1970) and the digitalization cohort (birth year starting from 1970). Using the PROCESS macro(Hayes, 2022), we tested a serial mediation model of AEE and ES between the relative independent self-construal(RIS) and alexithymia. The results indicate that the level of alexithymia increases by the serial increase of AEE and ES when RIS decreases. Next, we examined a moderation effect of generatione on the mediation process of AEE and ES, and found that generation moderates the relationship between ES and alexithymia. That is, the effect of ES on alexithymia is significant for the digitalization cohort, while it is not significant for the industrialization cohort. The current results imply that emotion regulation strategies of Koreans have been differently developed according to prevailing cultural values in each generation, and that the negative influence of emotion suppression could be different according to the cultural background of each generation.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.177-201
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• 2012

This paper explored consumers' LoHAS purchasing behavior and factors influencing the behavior, including' self-construal, and LoHAS values, attitudes and behavior. First, this study investigated how self-construal affected LoHAS values, and then analyzed how LoHAS values influenced LoHAS attitude and behavior. Last, this study is to examine how the relationships among LoHAS values, LoHAS attitude and behavior are moderated by consumers' gender. We administerd a survey with undergraduates attending a university located in the metropolitan area. The analysis results indicate that interdependent self-construal affects LoHAS values. According to the analysis, both environmentalism and sustainability of LoHAS values also affect LoHAS attitude, and then the attitude influences LoHAS behavior. In addition, the results show that the relationships among LoHAS values, LoHAS attitude and behavior are not moderated by consumers' gender. This study shows the casual relationship between variables including self-construal, LoHAS values, attitude and behavior. In particular, this finding confirms that self-construal as one of psychological factors affects LoHAS consumers' values and behavior. Finally, based in the findings of this study, theoretical contribution and managerial implications are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.177-203
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• 2014

It is well known that personality and situation which person possess have an impact on the relationships between stress coping and psychological wellbeing. Although most of studies on cultural self-construal have used the concept of individual/collectivism (independent/interdependent) scale, a part of research showed that it was not similar results when the concepts were used with Korean samples. We applied new scale, subjective-objective self, to our study. Two hundred eighty three participants (M = 21.66) participated in the present research. We found that persons with higher subjective self used more problem solving and seeking help, and less denial coping methods. Next, the higher subjective self influenced happiness and interpersonal relationship satisfaction. Finally, the coping methods of problem solving and seeking help influenced more happiness and interpersonal relationship satisfaction among people with higher objective self than did among people with higher subjective self. The implication for study were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.141-164
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• 2002

The present study examined the variations in personality variables according to different types for the Korean view of the afterlife, including 'extinction type', 'the other world-oriented transmigration type', 'heaven/hell type' and 'obscurity type'. The results may be summarized as follows: (1) 'the other world-oriented transmigration type' and 'heaven/hell type' showed significantly stronger belief in a just world than 'extinction type', (2) 'extinction type' and 'obscurity type' showed more external attribution for accidents than 'heaven/hell type', (3) there was no difference in unrealistic optimism levels, (4) depending upon the types for the view of the afterlife, not only preferred self-enhancing biases but also positive illusions which related to life satisfaction were different, (5) 'extinction type' showed stronger risk-taking tendency than 'heaven/hell type'. These results were explained in terms of features that belong to each afterlife view. Finally, we discussed the limitation of this study and the directions for future study.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.149-172
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• 2009

Prior research has investigated different effects of brand performance information such as premium price information and market share information on brand equity components - quality perception and brand preference. It was shown that the differential effects of brand performance information could depend on product-related variables like product category concept and quality variation in the product category. In this study, we conducted an experiment to find out how personal characteristics such as self-construal, price perception and brand commitment could influence the effects of different types of brand performance information. The results show that individuals who have independent self-construal, favorable price perception and emotional commitment with the brand develop more favorable evaluation of the premium price performance information resulting in more positive evaluations of the brand. However, individuals who have interdependent self-construal, unfavorable price perception and cognitive commitment with the brand develop more favorable evaluation of the market share performance information resulting in more positive evaluations of the brand. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study and its limitations, along with future research interests.

• 한국체육학회지인문사회과학편
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.347-367
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of YangSaeng exercise as a recreational activity for older adults. Twelve older adults who participated in the 'YangSaeng Exercise' at the S Senior Welfare Service Center were interviewed through purposeful sampling method. Each participant was interviewed two times, and data were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's(1988) grounded theory method. Centralization was appeared as 'An addiction to YangSaeng exercise' and causal conditions were appeared as 'Visiting Welfare Center' and 'Participation in YangSaeng exercise program' and situational context were appeared as 'Self-management of old ages' and 'For possession of Independent Life' as the results of Axial Coding. Moreover, arbitrational conditions were 'Coexistence of Regret and Attraction' and interaction strategies were appeared as 'Accept', 'Effort and Easing Mind' and 'Share Together'. As a result, 'Appreciation', 'YangSaeng Exercise that comes in my Life' and 'Softly Pitapat' were derived. Core category of 'Living Joyfully with comforted and eased' was selected through outline of story which means it contains Positivity and Expectations, Acceptance and Acknowledgement, Satisfaction and Appreciation, and Commitment and Hope. Based on the findings, we acknowledge that YangSaeng exercise plays a role in improving quality of life of older adults as a recreational activity. This study sheds light on the possibility of implementing 'YangSaeng Exercise' as a health promotion activity among older adults.