• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.385-392
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• 2013

Although several studies have assessed the influence of the glycemic index on body weight and blood pressure among adults, limited evidence exists for the pediatric age population. In the current study, we compared the effects of low glycemic index (LGI) diet to the healthy nutritional recommendation (HNR)-based diet on obesity and blood pressure among adolescent girls in pubertal ages. This 10-week parallel randomized clinical trial comprised of 50 overweight or obese and sexually mature girls less than 18 years of age years, who were randomly assigned to LGI or HNR-based diet. Macronutrient distribution was equivalently prescribed in both groups. Blood pressure, weight and waist circumference were measured at baseline and after intervention. Of the 50 participants, 41 subjects (include 82%) completed the study. The GI of the diet in the LGI group was $42.67{\pm}0.067$. A within-group analysis illustrated that in comparison to the baseline values, the body weight and body mass index (not waist circumference and blood pressure) decreased significantly after the intervention in both groups (P = 0.0001). The percent changes of the body weight status, waist circumference and blood pressure were compared between the two groups and the findings did not show any difference between the LGI diet consumers and those in the HNR group. In comparison to the HNR, LGI diet could not change the weight and blood pressure following a 10-week intervention. Further longitudinal studies with a long-term follow up should be conducted in this regard.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.94-103
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the results of the 2013 students' mental health school-community cooperative model. This study investigated teachers' awareness of change in school environment and analyzed the follow-up conditions of students. Methods : The sample consisted of 55 schools which participated in the 2013 students' mental health school-community cooperative model. Two questionnaires were used : one was composed of items about mental health resources, school policy and practice, school climate and community referral, and the other was on management of follow-up conditions for high risk students. Results : First, teachers' awareness regarding school mental health resources, school policy and practice, school climate, and community referral showed positive change. That is, the 2013 students' mental health school-community cooperative model works for improving teachers' interest, awareness and effort regarding mental health. Second, students, who were found by screening test and observation, were managed continually. Most students received follow-up interventions at school, and half of the students were referred to a specialized institution such as a mental health clinic, Wee center, personal counseling center, community welfare center, and so on. Conclusion : This study was a preliminary research, therefore follow-up studies are required in order to accomplish the 2013 students' mental health school-community cooperative model.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.203-208
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• 2014

Objectives : Art and culture education might play a good role in children's emotions ; however, few studies to verify this have been conducted. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of an art and culture education program on behavior and social skills in children aged 7-10 years. Methods : Fifteen children (mean age $7.31{\pm}0.95$ years) were recruited from a community center and participated in an art and culture education program. The participants received a once a week program for 17 sessions, and we compared scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) before and after intervention. Results : The participants' subscale scores of CBCL-aggressive behavior, social immaturity, internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, total behavior problems and social skill scores on the SSIS-RS showed improvement (p<.05) after 15-weeks of the art and culture education program. Conclusion : These results suggest a positive effect of an art and culture education program on the reduction of externalizing and internalizing behaviors and improvement of social skills in children. Further prospective, controlled studies in large samples are needed in order to confirm our findings.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.158-167
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ecological factors influencing school adjustment of adolescents from low-income families. Methods: Secondary data analysis was performed using data of 1,321 low-income adolescents in 123 regions found on the Survey on Service Satisfaction with Community Child Care Center. Results: The results of multi-level analysis identified the factors influencing school adjustment of low-income adolescents as follows: individual-level factors were gender, grade in school, and emotional problem; an interpersonal-level factor was family structure; organizational-level factors were length of time attending center and satisfaction with the service of the center; community-level factors were region and perception of community. Conclusion: The results suggest that low-income adolescents' adjustment to school is influenced not only by individual factors but also by diverse environmental factors. Community factors suggest that more education support systems and leisure facilities for adolescents need to be built in small and medium cities. Strategies to enhance positive perception of community are also needed for this population. Further, it is necessary to develop multi-level interventions to improve the school adjustment of adolescents from vulnerable social groups.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2009

Ovjectives: As the attention devoted to children's mental health increases, medical costs and burdens mount as well. In the present study, we evaluated the association between socioeconomic status(SES) and major child psychiatric symptoms. Methods: The subjects of this study were children of recruited from a mental health screening program in the Seoul Sungbuk mental health center over the course of 3 months. To establish the SES of each child, we collected data about each child's medical insurance, years of parental education, household income, family structure and housing. 149 children & parents completed questionnaires including the Childhood Depression Inventory(CDI) and the Korean Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale(K-ARS). Results: The mean K-ARS-P score was $12.1{\pm}11.1$ and the suspected prevalence of ADHD was 20.8%(n=31). The mean cm score was $12.9{\pm}7.9$, and the prevalence of suspected depression was 16.8%(25). Depressive symptoms and ADHD symptoms were both more severe than those observed in a previous epidemiologic study in Korea. Depressive symptoms were more closely associated with family SES status. Conclusion: SES status is one of the most important risk factors in the development of major child psychiatric symptoms. In our study we found that depressive symptoms in particular were most tightly associated with psychosocial factors. Evaluation of the risk factors, early screening and intervention for low SES children would be valuable mental health management tactics to implement in a community mental health system.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine factors affecting happiness of adolescents who attended community child centers. Methods: We surveyed 154 adolescents attending a community child center in P City with a structured self-report questionnaire from October 3 to October 15, 2016. Data was analyzed by SPSS 18.0 descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, $Scheff\acute{e}test$, Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The mean scores of family strength, friend support, teacher support, and happiness were $3.8{\pm}0.84$, $3.8{\pm}0.98$, $3.7{\pm}0.84$ and $3.7{\pm}0.63$. There were significant differences in happiness according to the subjects' number of close friends and duration of their stay at the community child center. There were a significant positive correlations among family strength, friend support, teacher support, and happiness. The most significant factors affecting happiness included friend support (${\beta}=.40$) and peaceable family strength (${\beta}=.35$). These variables explained 44% of the total variance in happiness. Conclusion: It is desirable to prepare and support measures to increase friends' support and family strength in order to improve happiness of adolescents attending community child centers. The findings suggest that it is necessary to develop nursing intervention programs to promote friend support and family strength.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.193-200
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• 2020

Objectives: Adolescent suicide, a major cause of adolescent death, is affected by various factors, including attitudes toward suicide. This study investigated the association between parenting style and adolescents' attitudes toward suicide and the mediating role of attitude toward suicide between parenting style and suicidal ideation. Methods: We surveyed 1,071 adolescents from eight middle schools in Incheon, Korea. The survey included sociodemographic information, attitudes toward suicide, perception of parenting style, depression severity, and suicidality. Results: Students in the authoritarian parenting group had a more permissive attitude toward suicide compared with the democratic and permissive parenting groups. These students considered that suicide is justified in certain situations and that choosing suicide is an individual's right. They also had a negative attitude toward talking about suicide or intervening in others' suicide. This association remained statistically significant after adjusting for the impact of confounding factors that could affect attitudes toward suicide, except for suicidal processes and preparedness to prevent suicide. In the mediation analysis, we observed that some factors of the attitudes toward suicide mediated between authoritarian parenting attitudes and suicidal ideation, namely, suicide as a right, preventability, suicide as normal/common, preparedness to prevent suicide, and resignation. Conclusion: This study revealed the significant impact of parenting style on children's attitudes toward suicide. Educating parents about the appropriate parenting attitudes-sympathetic and rational-can help prevent youth suicide.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.104-111
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• 2021

Objectives: Adolescent suicide is a serious national issue in Korea. Recently, life satisfaction has been recognized as a major factor related to this issue. The main purpose of this study was to identify the domains of life satisfaction that affect suicidal behavior in adolescence. Methods: Data were collected from eight middle schools in Incheon, Korea. A total of 1297 students answered questions regarding their demographic characteristics, happiness, self-related life satisfaction domains (appearance, leisure time, physical health, and mental health), depressive symptoms, and suicidal behavior. Results: In the Spearman correlation analysis, female sex, perceived socioeconomic status (SES), happiness, and all four self-related satisfaction scores showed significant correlations with depression and suicidality. Multivariate regression analysis suggested that suicidality was significantly affected by perceived SES, satisfaction with appearance, mental health satisfaction, and depression. Finally, depression was identified as a partial mediator of the association between mental health satisfaction and suicidality, and a complete mediator of the association between female sex and suicidality. Conclusion: Perceived SES, satisfaction with appearance, and mental health satisfaction significantly affected students' suicidality, with or without the effect of depression. Health authorities, educators, and family members must be aware of this to identify adolescents at suicide risk earlier.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.4-14
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• 2023

This study aimed to discuss mental health services for children and adolescents that are being implemented as initiatives of the Korean government and to review the functions and roles of these projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three government departments are in charge of providing mental health services for children and adolescents: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Ministry of Education has implemented several policies to facilitate the early detection of mental health issues among school students (from preventive interventions to selective interventions for high-risk students). The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family additionally serves out-of-school children and adolescents by facilitating early identification of adolescents in crises and providing temporary protection or emergency assistance (as required) through the Community Youth Safety-Net Project. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health and Welfare operates relevant mental health agencies for individuals of all ages including children and adolescents. Any high-risk students who have been screened through the projects of the Ministry of Education are supported through referrals to the following institutions for appropriate treatment of their symptoms: specialized hospitals, the Youth Counseling and Welfare Center operated by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Youth Healing Center, the Mental Health Welfare Center operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Suicide Prevention Center, and the Child Welfare Center. To assist students who are facing any psychological difficulties because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education has established a psychiatric support group for providing emergency mental health care; furthermore, schools are promoting psychological surveillance (e.g., provision of non-face-to-face counseling services that are centered around the Wee Center). The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and Ministry of Health and Welfare have provided varied mental health support services in order to address the challenges faced by children and adolescents during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the mental health services operated by each ministry do show some limitations because their service provision system is insufficiently collaborative. The present study discussed the positive effects of each initiative as well as its limitations; furthermore, it suggested improvements for facilitating the healthy development of children and adolescents' mental health.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.207-213
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• 2020

Objectives: Although aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has previously shown correlations with hyperactivity/impulsivity, few studies have examined its association with inattention or the effect of working memory on aggressive behavior. This study aimed to assess the relationship between inattention and aggressive behavior and the effect of working memory on the relationship between inattention and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods: Thirty-one children and 26 adolescents with ADHD were retrospectively investigated. The subjects completed the Korean Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (K-WISC-IV), the Korean Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), and the Korean Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Results: Inattention was positively correlated with aggressive behavior in children and adolescents with ADHD and working memory showed an insignificant correlation. However, working memory had a significant moderating effect on aggressive behavior by interacting with inattention. The moderating effect of working memory manifested when the working memory index score on the K-WISC-IV was 73.5 points or higher, and it had a significant effect on aggressive behavior. Conclusion: This study shows that the severity of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity should be addressed to provide appropriate treatment to children and adolescents with ADHD who exhibit aggressive behavior.