• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.213-225
• /
• 1999

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate how the play habits, temperament, and environmental factors might affect childhood obesity. Methods : Two hundred sixty children, aged 4 through 6 years living in Seoul & Cheonan were surveyed by a questionnaire about the children's play habit and the parent's related factors such as weight, height, education, income. In addition the Korean version of the Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children and the Korean version of the Family Environment Scale were also administered to parents of those children. The height and weight of those children were measured and the percentage of body fat was measured by Bioelectrical Impedance Fatness Analyzer. Result : 1) Among 260 children, 25 children were considered to be obese on the basis of both obesity index and percentage of body fat. 2) Parents of obese children showed a significantly higher educational level(p<0.05) and mothers of obese children had significantly more jobs(p<0.05) and showed higher body mass index(p<0.05) than those of nonobese children. 3) By observing play habits of children, obese children spent significantly longer time in watching TV and video(p<0.05), while nonobese children showed a trend to play outside(p<0.1). 4) On the Korean version of the Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children, obese children showed significantly less activity than nonobese ones(p <0.05). 5) Family of obese children had significantly higher point on subscale of Achievement orientation, Intellectual-cultural orientation and Moral-religious emphasis of the Korean version of the Family Environment Scale(p<0.05). 6) Percentage of body fat of obese children was correlated with children's watching TV time, activity level, scores of Achievement orientation, Intellectual-cultural orientation of the Korean version of the Family Environment Scale and the both parent's education levels(p<0.05). Conclusion : Obese children showed hypoactivity and more watching TV time. And obese children's both parent had higher educational level and their mother had higher Body Mass Index and more jobs. Family of obese children had higher point on items of Achievement orientation, Intellectual-cultural orientation and Moral-religious emphasis. Family environmental factors influence on children's obesity through interaction of genetic and behavioral-psychological factors concomittently.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.55-66
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of variables on young children's external aggression and relational aggression. Specifically, young children's temperaments and gender differences, parental marital conflicts, fathers' anti-social behaviors, mothers' child-rearing behaviors and psychological characteristics were studied. The findings of the study were as follows: Firstly, it was found that male children exhibited a higher level of external aggression than female children, while there was no significant difference between male and female children in terms of relational aggression. Secondly, analysis of variables such as children's temperaments and domestic environments revealed that fathers' anti-social behaviors, the adaptability of young children's temperaments and mothers' depression tendency have significant explanatory adequacies for young children's relational aggression. Furthermore, gender difference adaptability, activity and emotionality of young children's temperaments, in addition to parental marital conflicts, also have significant explanatory adequacies for young children's external aggression.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.71-76
• /
• 2012

Objectives : Novelty seeking (NS) represents a dopaminergically modulated tendency toward frequent exploratory activity. Considering the reports showing the relationship between exploratory activity and amygdalar function and structure, and the fact that amygdala is one of the key structures that constitute the dopaminergic pathway in the brain, amygdala might be closely related to NS tendencies. Amygdalar subregional analysis method, which has the enhanced sensitivity compared to the volumteric approach would be appropriate in investigating the subtle differences of amygdalar structures among healthy individuals. The aim of the current study was to examine whether amygdalar subregional morphometric characteristics are associated with the NS tendencies in healthy adults using the amygdalar subregional analysis method. Methods : Twenty-six healthy adults (12 males, 14 females ; mean age $29.8{\pm}6.2$ years) were screened for eligibility. All subjects completed the Korean version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and underwent high-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging. Individuals were divided into 2 groups according to NS scores of the TCI. Results : Individuals of the high NS group had significantly larger laterobasal subregions in right amygdala, after adjustment with the brain parenchymal volumes. Sensitivity analyses for each potential confounding factor such as age, education years and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores demonstrated consistent results. Conclusions : This study suggests that NS differences are associated with the laterobasal subregion of the amygdala.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this research was to identify the importance of social competence in early childhood, age 3 to 5, by examining the relationship between the children's variables such as gender, age, and temperament, with that of their mothers' emotionality, and the social competence. 72 children in the early childhood age bracket were surveyed. Three major findings were established. Firstly, there were no gender differences in relation to social competence. Children's adaptability and social activity were related to their pro-social behavior and the ability to internalize/externalize problems. Secondly, children exhibited pro-social behavior only when their mother's emotional reactivity was positive. hirdly, children's social competence was influenced by individual variables and their mothers' emotionality. Prosocial behavior, a lower ranking domain, was influenced by children's adaptability and mothers' emotional reactivity. The children's ability to internalize problem was influenced by adaptability. In contrast, The ability to externalize problem was influenced by the range of activities they were involved in. Overall, children's social competence was influenced by their age.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.119-132
• /
• 2017

Objective: This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relations of children's temperamental attributes (i.e., emotionality, activity, and sociability) and maternal responsiveness to overall and specific externalizing/internalizing behavior problems during the preschool period. Methods: Data (N=1,438) from the 4th and 6th wave of Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) were used in a series of hierarchical regression analyses. The analyses were conducted to determine the additive and interactive effects of maternal responsiveness and temperamental attributes of children at the age of 3 years on the broadband and narrowband scales of their behavior problems at the age of 5 years. Results: Overall, results confirmed the additive and interactive effects of maternal responsiveness and temperamental attributes on the levels of different domains of behavior problems. Examination of the interactive effects showed that maternal responsiveness was more strongly related to some behavior problems for temperamentally vulnerable children as compared to children with less temperamental vulnerabilities. Conclusion: The findings suggested that the beneficial effects of positive parenting on the development of behavior problems might be more pronounced for temperamentally vulnerable than for less vulnerable children.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to establish the relative influences of individual variables (sex, age, temperament) and mother's psychosocial variables (maternal attitude, parenting stress, marriage satisfaction) on daily stress levels and maladjustment of young children attending at daycare centers. Subjects were 224 pairs of children and their mothers, and 18 teachers from 5 child-care centers in Gwangju City. Children were tested individually using 22-item daily stress inventory with illustrations which described certain stressful situations. Questionnaires were also administered to mothers and teachers. Collected data were subjected to Cronbach's $\alpha$, correlation and multiple regression analysis using SPSS (WIN 14.0) program. The major findings were as follows; Overall average score of children's daily stress was equivalent with the median. 'Blame and attack situation' and 'anxiety and frustrated situation' were perceived as more stressful for children than 'lose self-respect situation'. Overall average score of children's maladjustment was lower than the median. 'Overactivity' was highest among subscores of maladjustment. Age was the only significant influential factor on children's daily stress level. Sex was the most influential factor on 'overactivity', 'aggression', and 'regression' of young children. Activity and maternal stress were the second most influential factor on 'overactivity' and 'aggression', respectively.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.153-175
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to find out the current status of smart phone usage, differences of developmental characteristics and time diaries between high- and low- usage groups. The study also tried predicting variables among children's personal and family environment factors in order to classify four year old children in the fifth year Panel Study on Korean Children into the two groups. Data was collected from 435 smart phone users and 157 of them who had started to use a phone before age 3.Frequency analysis, t-test and logistic regression were performed. The results showed that most 4 year old children started to use a phone in their fourth year and used it frequently. The low level groups of girls and all participants showed lower levels of behavior problems, and the low level group of all participants had a longer sleep times than the high level group had. Children's activity and social temperament were identified as predicting variables for classifying children into the two groups. The results suggested the necessity of measures preventing children from excessive smart phone usage in their early years and to consider children's temperament first.