• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.9
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• pp.61-76
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the abuse experience from husbands among women who killed their husbands and the husbands' characteristics, and the women's own characteristics consisting of the emotional climate in the family of origin, self-esteem and social support. The major findings were as follow. First, the subjects were divided into two groups according to the level of wife abuse experience: non-abuse group and abuse group. Second, in terms of the husbands' characteristics which consisted of economic capacity and alcohol problem, there were statistically significant group differences between non-abuse and abuse groups. Third, the women in the abuse group, compared to those in the non-abuse group, had a tendency to perceive that they received maltreatment, physical punishment, and indifference and rejection from their family of origin. However, there was no significant difference between the non-abuse and abuse groups in emotional support the women received from their family. Fourth, as for the women's characteristics consisting of self-esteem and social support, the women of both groups showed no significant difference in self-esteem, while the women in the abuse group perceived that they received a level of social support relatively lower than those in the non-abuse group.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.40-60
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• 2004

Introduction：Research on attachment in view point of the developmental perspective which began in the 1940s progressed during several decades. Many investigators focused mother-child separation in early attachment studies, and moved to the relationship with childhood psychopathology. Recently attachment theory and research are moving forward along the intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns, and adolescents and adult mental disorders in the developmental perspectives. Methods：We surveyed the research papers through Medline search, attachment-related monographs, and review or original papers published in Korean journal. Results：Developmental attachment researches have demonstrated convincingly that insecure attachment in infancy is associated with attachment disorder; several childhood psychopatholgy, such as institutional care and adoption, aggression and behavioral problems, childhood anxiety disorders and depressive disorders, gender identity disorder and feeding disorder, and child abuse and maltreatment; peer relationship and social competency, and parental behaviors. Recently the methodological advances including the Adult Attachment Interview that systematically assesses the adults' recollections of the earlier parent-child relationship they experienced could move beyond attachment researcher's initial concern with infancy to consider attachment processes throughout the life span. We could find that the quality of attachment was associated with several mental disorders in adolescents and adults significantly. Conclusion：Attachment theory would have focused on more specific parent-child relationship than general parental behavior. Recent attachment theory underscores its evolutionary origins to promote development of infant and contribute to human survival in psychobiological bases. Advances in attachment research could unite interests in evolutional biology and developmental psychology in understanding early parent-child relationship, and apply to clinical issues concerning mental health throughout the life span.