• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.67-83
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to a develop a preventive tailored early intervention program and to investigate the effects of the program on the quality of parenting for low income families. The subjects were eighty five infants, aged 13 to 32 months, and their mothers. Of the 85 mother-infant dyads, 42 dyads were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 43 dyads to the control group. To prevent the risks of the adverse development of infants from low income families a tailored intervention program was created based upon the transactional model. This emphasized the quality of the home environment and of the daily mother-infant interaction. The risk factors were assessed and progress monitoring was undertaken for the preventive tailored intervention treatment. In order to assess the effects of the program, HOME, the NCAST Teaching Scale and the Parenting Stress Index/Short From were used. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, ANCOVA, and the McNemar test. The experimental group showed a significant increase in performance and higher scores than the control group on the scores from HOME, and the NCAST Teaching Scale and significant decrease and lower scores in the Parenting Stress Index(SF).

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.179-191
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• 2014

Parents are one of the principal agents of education along with students and teachers. The father, who is also a member of the educational community, plays a role in and has responsibility for his children's education. But, in Korea, as mothers are largely responsible for the children's care and education, fathers' school involvement has not been treated as a research subject. However, changes in family structure and function have challenged the notion of the father's traditional role. Recently, the father who participates actively in the rearing and education of his child has emerged as a new trend of the father model. It has been proven through many studies that the father's involvement has unique positive effects on his children, a phenomenon known as the "father effect". This research investigates the father's school involvement through focus group interviews with fathers. The results showed that the father's school participation rate was not high, while the father's desire for school participation was very high. These results are explained by the situation of fathers having no time or pathway to participate in their children's school. In order to enable fathers' participation, leave for school participation needs to be implemented and the development of fathers' activities is necessary. A father education program is needed to bring about changes resulting in fathers' greater participation in their children's education. This study suggests policy implications for supporting fathers' school involvement.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2016

Spectraplakins are crucially important communicators, linking cytoskeletal components to each other and cellular junctions. Microtubule actin crosslinking factor 1 (MACF1), also known as actin crosslinking family 7 (ACF7), is a member of the spectraplakin family. It is expressed in numerous tissues and cells as one extensively studied spectraplakin. MACF1 has several isoforms with unique structures and well-known function to be able to crosslink F-actin and microtubules. MACF1 is one versatile spectraplakin with various functions in cell processes, embryo development, tissue-specific functions, and human diseases. The importance of MACF1 has become more apparent in recent years. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on the presence and function of MACF1 and provide perspectives on future research of MACF1 based on our studies and others. [BMB Reports 2016; 49(1): 37-44]

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.49-63
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• 2017

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between marital conflict, parentification, and adolescent anxiety. Methods: The participants comprised 301 high school students from the Seoul province. They were asked to complete questionnaires that consisted of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale, and the Filial Responsibility Scale-Youth. The data were analyzed by frequency analysis, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficients, multiple regression analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. To analyze the collected data, SPSS 18.0 was used. Results: First, the content and resolution of marital conflict had an effect on both adolescent state anxiety and trait anxiety. Second, unfairness parentification had an effect on both adolescent state anxiety and trait anxiety. Third, the frequency of marital conflict had an effect on emotional parentification. Further, the intensity, content, and resolution of marital conflict had effect on unfairness parentification. Fourth, unfairness parentification played a partial mediating role in the relationship between the content of marital conflict and adolescent anxiety (state anxiety/trait anxiety). In addition, unfairness parentification played a complete mediating role in the relationship between the resolution of marital conflict and adolescent trait anxiety. Conclusion: These results indicate that parentification plays an important role in marital conflict and adolescent anxiety. In addition, this study also shows that marital conflict has an important effect on adolescent anxiety directly. Therefore, this study will be useful for developing both parental education and counseling programs for adolescents.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.197-217
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• 2010

This study investigated the performance of the child care policies implemented by the former government and analyzes some changes in child care policies by the new government in Korea. The criteria for evaluating child care policies of both governments were based on suggestions gleaned from OECD policy review papers on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in 2004 and 2006. As suggested by the OECD, the input of financial investment in public sectors, universal approaches to child care, measures of quality programs, efforts for improving the work environment of child care workers and selecting effective ways of providing financial support for child care were applied in order to evaluate the child care policies in Korea. A number of policy documents and literature published by both governments from 2003-2009 were reviewed in order to evaluate and compare the former child care policies with the more recent ones. The child care policies enacted by the former Korean government were characterized as the remarkable increases in financial investment to establish a child care infrastructure for quality programs and services, and efforts to enact universal approaches to child care, policy making based on scientific data on child care. These advances were tempered by the observation that despite all these improvements, both investment and expansion in the public child care sector were far below sufficient levels. In contrast, some changes in the child care policies by the new government were criticized in terms of weakening public child care, reinforcing private child care and it's conservative financial support system.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.3 s.217
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• pp.69-77
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• 2006

The purpose of this research was to provide recommendations for eco-centered early childhood education as a new paradigm in Korean society. Questionnaires were collected from directors, teachers, and parents of private & public kindergartens, as well as child care centers, in Bucheon city. The data were analyzed based on the frequencies, $X^2$ test, F test, and Scheffe test. The results were as follows. (a) Most directors, teachers, and parents positively agreed with the eco-centered early childhood education and recognized its benefits. (b) In order for the eco-centered early childhood education to be successful, development of various programs, systematic study, ongoing teacher training, and parents' education were required. (c) In order for the eco-centered early childhood education to develop more culturally appropriate program, close connection with local community, reorganization of the early childhood education curriculum, and government support were needed. The findings demonstrate that eco-centered early childhood education is necessary for the future wellbeing of Korean society.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2012

This study examined risk and protective variables related with the continuity of developmental risks among 136 infants, aged 4-10 months. Using the Denver Developmental Screening Test, 136 infants among 2978 infants in the first wave of the Korea Child Panel were classified into the developmental risk group. Among the 136 risk group infants, 45 infants stayed in the risk group (continuing risk group) and the other 91 infants moved into the normal group (recovering risk group) after 1 year. Group differences were tested in the levels of infant, mother and father variables to examine which variables were associated with the continuity of developmental risks for a year. Variables indicating parents' marital relationships such as the mothers' marital satisfaction and conflict of the first wave and the fathers' marital satisfaction of the second wave significantly distinguished the continuing from the recovering risk group. In addition, there were significant group differences in the levels of mothers' self-efficacy in the first wave. The findings suggest that the exposure to marital conflict during infancy is associated with the continuity of developmental risks.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.119-145
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to identify the latent styles of attachment across four major attachment figures (i.e., father, mother, best friend, and romantic partner) for Korean emerging adults. In this study, adult attachment had two dimensions (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) and was measured by the Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures (ECR-RS). Data came from 317 undergraduate students in nine universities across the nation. A latent profile analysis classified the sample into four groups. (a) The "somewhat father avoidant secure" group reported the lowest levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance across close relationships but was moderately avoidant in their relationship with the father. (b) The "overall avoidant" group had the highest levels of attachment avoidance across close relationships, but along with the "father avoidant secure" group, they had the lowest levels of attachment anxiety. (c) The "romantic anxious" group was unique with the highest level of attachment anxiety toward romantic partners while reporting relatively lower levels of attachment avoidance across relationships. (d) The "overall anxious-avoidant" group was the highest in attachment anxiety and avoidance across all of their close relationships except for attachment avoidance from best friends and romantic partners, which were the highest among the "overall avoidant" group. These four groups also differed in their levels of depressive symptoms and affection for the father and the mother. This study uniquely contributes to the literature by identifying the latent attachment styles considering four attachment figures and examining the characteristics of these attachment styles.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1591-1609
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• 2009

Adult child caregivers and spousal caregivers might deal with differential challenges. Studies about caregivers' psychological outcomes, however, tended to investigate associations between caregiving and its outcomes by pooling adult child caregivers and spousal caregivers together. By using a U. S. sample of family caregivers who assisted a relative with dementia, this study examined whether the relationship of caregivers to care receivers (daughter caregivers or spousal caregivers) made a difference in levels of depressive symptoms. The result showed that wife caregivers were more likely to be depressed than daughter caregivers. For daughter caregivers, role overload, role captivity, and behavior problems significantly influenced on depression. Besides these variables, the level of education was a significant predictor for wife caregivers. Role captivity and behavior problems significantly impacted on depression for husband caregivers. Thus, role captivity and behavioral problems were common predictors for all the caregivers. Specifically, higher levels of role captivity and behavioral problems were likely to make caregivers more depressed. The implication of these results were discussed.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.15-29
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to explore ethnic socialization enacted by Japanese marriage migrant women currently raising 7- to 18-year-old children in Korea. To accomplish this goal, we examined the following research questions: (1) What is the level of ethnic socialization enacted by Japanese marriage migrant mothers? (2) Does the level of ethnic socialization vary by demographic and ethnocultural factors? (3) To what extent do demographic and ethnocultural factors influence the enactment of ethnic socialization by Japanese marriage migrant mothers? The sample consisted of 243 Japanese marriage migrant women currently raising 7- to 18-year-old children in Korea. For data analysis, T-test, correlation, ANOVA, and hierarchical regression analyses were used. Also, we performed separate analyses for two subtypes of ethnic socialization in particular, namely cultural socialization and preparation for bias. Ethnocultural factors examined in this study were the level of discrimination experience, Japanese ethnic identity, and husbands' ethnic orientation in childrearing. The main results of this study were as follows. First, results showed that Japanese marriage migrant women enacted moderate levels of cultural socialization and preparation for bias. Second, Japanese marriage migrant women's cultural socialization and preparation for bias were both positively related to the levels of women's discrimination experience and Japanese ethnic identity. Also, the younger the age of the firstborn child, the more preparation for bias these women performed. In addition, women whose Korean husbands wanted to raise their children more biculturally performed more cultural socialization compared to those with Korean husbands who wanted to raise their children as Korean. Third, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that women's discrimination experience and ethnic identity positively predicted both types of ethnic socialization. Also, Korean husband's bicultural orientation towards childrearing predicted a higher level of cultural socialization by Japanese marriage migrant women. Results of this study provide basic information about ethnic socialization among multicultural families in Korea, which can be useful for promoting positive self-identity among multicultural children. Furthermore, the results suggest that husbands' support and cooperation in ethnic socialization can be crucial for marriage migrant women to socialize their children utilizing their cultural and experiential resources.