• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.757-772
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• 2017

Appearance management is a serious issue for adults and young people in Korean society. People of various ages have used diverse means to improve their appearances. This study focused on dieting as an appearance management behavior in female adolescents. Dieting behaviors are not just a means to improve appearance; they may also relate to individuals' beliefs and self-control. The importance of individual psychological/personality factors cannot, therefore, be ruled out. Such factors can help explain personality factors explain "what causes a compulsive diet and what factors can alleviate it". This study reviewed the literature on perfectionism and self-control as individual personality factors, and empirically examined the effects of these variables on perceived body distortion and dieting behaviors. We performed a structural equation model analysis to verify our hypothesis. The results are as follows: we found perfectionism to be positively related to perceived body distortion and dieting behaviors; we also found self-control to be negatively related to perceived body distortion though unrelated to dieting behaviors; finally, our analysis identified a relationship between perceived body distortion and dieting behaviors. These results indicate that perfectionism and self-control should be considered when conducting guidance and counseling sessions on issues related to dieting behaviors for adolescent' appearance management. This paper concludes by discussing the study's implications and limitations.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.68-79
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• 1999

The purposes of the study, based on the social comparison theory, were 1) to examine the body image and the body distortion of the late adolescent through the attitudinal and perceptual measurement of the body image and to examine the self-esteem, 2) to examine the difference of the clothing behaviors depending on the level of the body image, the body distortion and the self-esteem, 3) to examine the difference in the clothing behavior, the body image and the self-esteem according to sex. The sampling method was a convenient sampling and the subjects were 137 undergraduate students in Chungnam national University. The results of this study were as follows : The results of analysing the factors to the response of attitudinal body image emerged three factors (appearance interest, weight concern, and body satisfaction). The results of analysing the response of the clothing behavior showed four factors (fashion interest, psychological dependence of clothing, conformity to clothing, and exhibitionism of clothing). The positive group to the body image showed more interest in the fashion and had the tendency of depending on the clothing psychologically, and also showed that the group revealed much exhibitive attitude by using the clothing. The group of perceiving the face rather correctly tends to do the conformity behaviors, but the group distorting the shoulder width wider than tends to reveal more conformity behaviors. The group with the higher self-esteem had little interested in the fashion and also did the conformity behaviors slightly.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2009

Objectives : Illness behavior is defined as the persistence of an adaptive/maladaptive mode of perceiving, evaluating and responding to health status and symptoms according to the status. In a cognitive aspect, somatizing symptoms are regarded as being originated from distortions, including magnification and/or amplification, of perceiving, evaluating and responding to symptoms such as bodily sensations. That is somatization may be explained by maladaptive illness behavior. In this study, we tried to investigate differences of illness behavior in depressive patient according to the presence of somatization. Methods : We divided 45 patients who were diagnosed as depression with ICD-10 diagnostic criteria into two groups(somatizing and non-somatizing group) according to the somatization subscale of Korean Depression Scale and compared two groups in the differences of illness behavior using the Illness Behavior Questionnaire. Results : Somatizing group showed significantly higher scores than non-somatizing group on the disease affirmation subscale($6.79{\pm}2.08$ vs. 4.76, p=0.003) and the denial subscale($3.25{\pm}1.22$ vs. $2.10{\pm}1.41$, p=0.006). There were no significant differences between two groups on the general hypochondriasis subscale and the affective unstability subscale. In a logistic regression analysis, somatizing group also showed higher odds ratio (OR) scores on the disease affirmation subscale(OR=1.418, p=0.089) and the denial subscale(OR=1.880, p=0.083). Conclusion : The disease affirmation and denial may be a discriminative mechanism of somatization in depressive patients. These subscales of Illness Behavior Questionnare could be useful markers, and psychiatric illnesses with somatizing and depressive symptoms may be differentially diagnosed and be predicted through these subscales.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2002

Childhood psychic trauma appears to be a crucial factor in the development of serious disorders both in childhood and in adulthood. Traumatized children show strong tendency to revisualize or re-feel a traumatic events. Play and behavioral reenactments are frequent manifestations of both the single blow and the long-standing traumas in childhood. Those children who suffer the results of single, intense terror appear to exhibit detailed memory, retrospective reworkings and misperceptions. In long-standing or repetitive trauma, children would show psychic numbing, self-hypnosis, dissociation and rage. Child's brain is undergoing critical and sensitive periods of differentiation. During this time, developing central nervous system is exquisitely sensitive to stress. Stressor-activated neurotransmitters and hormones can play major roles in neurogenesis, migration, synaptogenesis, and neurochemical differentiation. Internal opiate system operates in some trauma and causes the victim to fail to respond, to avoid, to shut off feelings. Evidence is also accumulating in traumatology that dysfuntion of locus coeruleus and ventral tegmental neucleus system leads to catecholamine receptors hypersensitivity. This change result in hypervigilance, increased startle, affective lability, and increased autonomic nervous system hyperreactivity. Another site of action of trauma on the brain is hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Individuals with PTSD do not have enough cortisol to halt the alarm reaction. When children are exposed to long-standing extreme events, massive attempts to protect the psyche and to preserve the self are put into gear. These developmental traumas mobilize various kinds of defense mechanisms. Massive denial, dissociation, self anesthesia, identification with aggressor and aggression turned against the self often lead to profound character changes in the youngsters.