• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2010

Objectives: This study purports to comparatively study health condition, health behaviors, and health care utilization of Koreans living in Korea and in the US, and then, to analyze the factors influencing them. Methods: The collected data were analyzed on the basis of the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Of 25,196 adults aged 19 or older, 7,802 respondents to health behavior survey and 5,526 respondents to physical examination survey. The analyzed data of the Korean Americans were the results of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in 2005. This study analyzed the responses of 645 known Korean respondents to the 2005 CHIS. Results: In regard to differences in overall health condition between the two groups, it was found that both the male and female Korean Americans thought their own overall health conditions were relatively poor compared to Koreans, especially in relation to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. For smoking status considered as one of health behavior factors, smokers of the Koreans account for 46.1% which is higher than that of the Korean Americans and the proportion of the Koreans smoking daily is also at least two times higher than that of the Korean Americans. Similarly, for alcohol drinking, the Koreans showed higher drinking experience rate and no less than three times higher drinking frequency than that of Korean Americans. Conclusion: It is expected that this study will contribute greatly to solving health problems among foreign immigrants and overseas Koreans in future by clarifying any differences in health status and health behaviors resulting from sociocultural differences despite of similar genetic factors.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.267-271
• /
• 1998

To evaluate nutrient intakes of the first generation Korean -Americans in Hawaii, a dietary survey was conducted using a food frquency questionaire which included 139 food items most often consumed among Korean foods and American foods. The questionnaire surveyed 157 first generation Korean-Americans living in Hawaii. The 66.7~81.1% of first generation Korean-Americans in Hawaii were of healthy weight. The mean percentages of calories obtained from their dietary analyses were 61% carbohydrate, 23% fat and 16% protein. The calorie distribution of their diet appeared to be similiar between older women and older men, however it was seen that men consumed a higher percent of calories from fat than women among younger subjects. The mean dietary intakes for first generation Korean-Americans exceeded recommended intakes for protein, thiamin, niacin , vitamin A, vitamin C, folacin , phosphorus and iron , but the intakes of energy, riboflavin, vitamin B6 ,vitamin E, calcium and zinc were lower than the recommended dietary allowance for Americans. Compared with other groups based on age and gender , younger men had significantly(p<0.05) higher intakes of riboflavin, phosohrous, iron and zinc, and lower intake of folacin. Older subjects consumed significantly (p<0.05) less protein, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and zinc than did younger subjects, and most of the first generation Korean-Americans in Hawaii consumed adequate levels of saturated fatty acid . The ratio , however, of polyunsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid in the diet of younger men was about 0.61, much lower than the recommeded ration of 1.0 and also was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of other subjects. Moreover, cholesterol intakes of younger men were close th the maximum recommeded level of 300mg/day.

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.158-164
• /
• 2004

This study was conducted to define dietary patterns and to evaluate the effects of socioeconomic, acculturation and lifestyle factors on dietary patterns among 2,746 Korean- Americans in California. It was a cross-sectional telephone survey based on a representative sampling of individuals with a Korean surname using residential phone listings. It was conducted using a food frequency questionnaire that covered 20 food items, socioeconomic variables such as age, gender, income, education and acculturation, and lifestyle factors such as body weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise and consumption of fast food. Four dietary patterns were identified: American Foods (AF), American Breakfast (AB), Korean Foods (KF) and Vegetables (Ⅴ). AF was associated with younger men, acculturation and fast food consumption. AB was associated with women, higher education, current smoking and fast food consumption. KF was associated with acculturation and lower socioeconomic status. Ⅴ was associated with lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercising and fast food consumption. The results of the study showed that socioeconomic and lifestyle factors influenced the dietary patterns of Korean- Americans. This should be considered when dietary interventions are designed for Korean-Americans to improve their health status.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.140-150
• /
• 2001

This study was conducted to find out the desirable measures for maintenance and development traditional foods when abroad, by investigating the knowledge and actual state of utilization of Americans residing in the Los Angeles on Korean traditional foods. The 308 respondents of questionnaires were taken. 96% of the respondents demonstrated interest in traditional foods. Among kinds of traditional food, the most preferable food was boiled rice(71.4%) and Kimchi(70.9%) , The that traditional foods are used were good taste(45.4%) and familiar taste(41.6%). The reason for avoiding them was, mainly, troublesome cooking methods (46.3% ). Conclusively, the Korean Americans residing in the Los Angeles have made good use of boiled rice and Kimchi a staple common food, but special foods. ceremonial foods and festival foods were hardly used. To maintain Korean traditional foods when abroad, it is necessary that older generations sometimes offer opportunity to meet with them to the coming Korean generations, and Korean food companies develop and export standardized and simplified traditional foods.

• The International Journal of Costume Culture
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.21-30
• /
• 1999

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in body image and attitudes and behaviors regarding cosmetic surgery between Korean and Americans. Forty females in the U.S and 40 in Korea participated in the study by being interviewed. As a result, while Koreans had positive attitudes toward cosmetic surgery, Americans had negative attitudes. Higher incidences of cosmetic surgery were found among Koreans than among Americans. Koreans with lower body image tended to have ore tolerance toward cometic surgery. These results suggest that cosmetic surgery might be one of many ways to improve their self-esteem, Korean women with lower body image showed higher attitudes or behaviors toward cosmetic surgery than Americans.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.125-141
• /
• 2002

This paper examines the pragmatic features of the thanking and apologizing moves which appear in requestive email of Korean speakers of English as a foreign language and American English native speakers. It is important for second language learners to behave appropriately in a target language when communicating with other English speakers who have different cultural backgrounds. The result of this study revealed the differences in the use of thanking and apologizing moves in the requestive email between Koreans and Americans. Koreans used fewer moves of thanking and more moves of apologizing than Americans in three different situations. Koreans' underuse of thanking which is a routine and formulaic expression for Americans could be a marked phenomenon to a recipient of the email in English bringing about a minus effect.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.11
• /
• pp.6913-6917
• /
• 2013

Background: Although the PSA test has been used in Korea for over 20 years, the incidence of prostate cancer has risen, and the associated mortality has increased about 13-fold over the 20-year period. Also, several investigators have suggested that Asians in America are more likely to present with more advanced prostate cancer than Caucasians. We compared the characteristics of native Koreans and Americans (Caucasians and African-Americans) undergoing radical prostatectomies in Korea and the US. Materials and Methods: Study subjects comprised patients at Korean and US hospitals from 2004 to 2012 who had undergone radical prostatectomies. We compared the characteristics of the subjects, including age, preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, body mass index (BMI), Gleason score, and pathological T stage. Results: In total, 1,159 males (502 Koreans, 657 Americans) were included. The Korean and American patients had mean ages of $67.1{\pm}6.6$ and $59.2{\pm}6.7$ years, respectively. The mean preoperative PSAs were $15.4{\pm}17.9$ and $6.2{\pm}4.6ng/mL$ (p=0.0001) and the mean BMIs were $23.6{\pm}2.6$ and $28.7{\pm}4.4kg/m^2$ (p=0.0001), respectively. Pathological localized prostate cancer represented 71.7% of cases for Koreans and 77.6% for Americans (p=0.07). According to age, Koreans had higher T stages than Americans in their 50s (p=0.021) and higher Gleason scores than Americans in all age groups. According to PSA, Koreans had higher Gleason scores than Americans for PSA >10 ng/mL (p<0.05). According to prostate size and Gleason scores, Koreans had higher PSA values than Americans (p<0.01). Conclusions: These results show that Korean patients have elevated risk of malignant prostate cancers, as indicated by the significantly higher Gleason scores and PSAs, suggesting a need for novel prostate cancer treatment strategies in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.117-123
• /
• 1993

Food is an expression of social identity. The food we eat identifies us as members of a social group, distinguishes us from other groups, and binds us together through a process of self-categorization and social identification. This research extends the theory of collectivism versus individualism as basic dimensions of culture and personality to research on food and identity. We tested 2 hypotheses among 402 university students in Korea and the U.S. 1) Americans assume relatively individualistic orientation while Koreans relatively collectivistic in orientation. 2) Koreans and Americans differ in their orientation toward food, with Americans assuming an individualistic orientation and Koreans assuming a collectivistic approach. The level of collectivism versus individualism was measured by using Hui's INCOL Scale. We initially hypothesized that the Americans would be strongly individualistic and Koreans strongly collectivistic, however our results did not prove this. The two groups showed collectivistic social identity with the Americans being a bit more collectivistic, so little support was found. In order to test the second hypothesis, we devised a new set of questions based on a idea by Hui and Fischer. It was found that this hypothesis was strongly supported. In conclusion, it is difficult to find overall differences in collectivism versus individualism between the two groups. But in the area of attitude toward food, we found clear differences. For Koreans, food is an expression of collectivistic identity, whereas Americans assume a more individualistic approach.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.63-70
• /
• 2011

Recent studies on English $L^*$ (low pitch accent) have revealed the difference of changes in acoustic manifestation between utterances produced by Koreans and those produced by native speakers of English. However, not much effort has been made to compare $L^*$ focused constituents and non-focused constituents. At the same time, most previous works on focus realization are lacking in terms of normalization of acoustic measurement. Therefore, this research is dedicated to comparing the $L^*$ focused items and non-focused items realized by Koreans and Americans and to examining the realization of English $L^*$ produced by the two language groups with improved normalization of the acoustic features (F0, intensity and duration). Within-group analysis comparing focused words and non-focused words showed both Americans and Koreans prolonged the $L^*$ focused syllables but the effect size of syllable lengthening made by Koreans was far less than that made by Americans. Furthermore, significant F0 lowering was found in Americans but not in Koreans. However, the effect of intensity change caused by $L^*$ focus was not significant within each group. The effect of focused words was tested between the two groups revealing that Koreans implemented English $L^*$ focus with higher F0, lower intensity and shorter duration than Americans. In the instances in which a significant Group x Focus Location (initial, middle and final of a sentence) interaction was found, further analysis testing the effect of Group on each Focus Location was conducted. The testing showed that the Koreans produced shorter syllables at initial and middle of a sentence and higher F0 at initial of a sentence than Americans. Implications for the intonation training were also discussed.

• Hwankyungkyoyuk
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.49-62
• /
• 2009

This study started from the need to change the technocentric view of environment into the ecocentric one to overcome ecological crisis today. Thus, the purposes of this study are to reorganize characteristics of ecocentrism, to analyze ecocentrism of Native North Americans as a realistic model, and to finally find suggestions to environmental education. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; Frist, the ecocentric perception on relationship between human beings and nature pursues co-existence through harmony and balance based on holistic understandings. And the ecocentric perception on relationship among human beings attempts to preserve environment by overcoming rule structure among them. The ecocentric perception on relationship between human beings and spirituality is to set life goals to achieve spirituality rather than to pursue material life. Second, Native North Americans have a holistic world view that human beings and nature are an inseparable one through the symbol of 'the Sacred Circle'. They also lived simple lives which satisfies vital needs instead of pursuing material lives in terms of the perception on relationship among human beings. When it comes to the perception on relationship between human beings and spirituality, they feel sacredness from all things in daily life and want to have peaceful relationships with their own inside through spirituality toward 'Mother Earth'. Third, the ecocentrism of Native North Americans make suggestions that environmental education confirm again what roles of human beings are in ecosystem, and that it helps students develop ecological sensitivity by giving them many opportunities to go to field trips. Furthermore, environmental education helps them positively think about and actively choose simple life. In addition, it has to be designed to help students seek sacredness in daily life through ecological imagination. This study has values of newly organizing characteristics of each ecocentric idea by integrating it from complementary aspects, and pursuing direction of ecocentrism and its realistic possibility by analyzing the ecocentrism of Native North Americans as a model of ecological life.