• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop a "Happiness Scale for School-aged Korean Children" (HSSKC). Participants consisted of 2,528 children who were chosen from six places, namely: Seoul, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Jeonnam, Gyeongnam, and Gangwon. The province of Jeju-do was not included. The study assessed children's perception of happiness in six areas of life. For data analysis, the study employed the following methods: descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlation, and Cronbach's $\alpha$. Initially, the study used an original scale composed of 32 items, but these were later reduced to 29 through exploratory factor analysis. The study identified six factors which influenced the happiness of school-aged children: (1) self-esteem, (2) parent-child relationship, (3) school life, (4) after-school activities, (5) general living environment, and (6) satisfaction of needs. Validity was determined through correlating the sub-factors. Using Cronbach' $\alpha$ to measure the reliability of factors, the result ranged from .60 to 81.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.139-160
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in perception among parents of preschoolers, parents of school aged children, teachers of child care centers and elementary school teachers regarding testing on the level of preparation for attending elementary school. Firstly, the results of the study revealed that elementary school teachers had notions regarding the level of preparation for entering school that were more specific than day care teachers and parents. Second, it was shown that effort and a sense of responsibility were most important for the improvement of the level of preparation for elementary school level studies. Third, the results of this study revealed that many respondents thought that there needs to be some form of testing of the level of preparation for school and the respondents further stated that this testing needed to be conducted by child care center teachers or experts in the field. Finally, it was shown that such a test of the level of preparation for school attendance should be developed by including questions on different areas of the intelligence, adaptability, function, tendencies and regulations in relation to the needs of preschoolers.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.353-362
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• 2009

The study aims to investigate the children's adaptability to early school circumstances and their relationships to teachers and to peers. The examination was done on 110 children aged 4 or 5 at a kindergarten and two child care centers in Seoul. Their 'adaptability to early school' and their 'relationships to teachers and to peers' were rated by their teachers. On the whole, the children subjects are on good terms with their teachers and peers, and they adapt well to early schools. But according to age groups, there were significant differences in the teacher-to-child relationships. Compared to boys, girls show more' adaptability to the early schools', more 'closeness to teachers' and more 'prosociality in peer group'. The 'closeness to teachers' has a positive relation to the 'sociability', 'prosocial behaviors' and 'leadership of peer group', but the 'conflict with teachers' has a negative relation to the peer group relationships. And the' children's relationships with teachers and with peers' were significantly related to their early school adaptability. The 'prosociality', the 'closeness' and the' dependency' were significantly related to the' adaptability to early school' in order.

• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2014

The goal of this study was to examine the correlations of stress coping strategies and cultural, psychological and school adjustment among Korean early study-abroad adolescents in the United States. Participants were 437 Korean early study-abroad adolescents aged 15 to 18 years old enrolled in summer language institutes located in Seoul and Gyeonggido, South Korea. The survey consisted of questionnaires relating to coping strategies and, cultural, psychological and school adjustments. The data was collected during the break time of summer language institute classes. Results showed that these adolescents' problem focused and social support coping strategies were positively related with acculturation, psychological adjustment and school adjustment, and emotion focused coping strategy was positively related to satisfaction of life.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.679-688
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• 2011

Using data from an ongoing study of 170 children aged 4-6 years in low-income families, this study tests how mothers' parenting behaviors and teacher-child relationship influences the adjustment to child-care centers of young children. The mothers' parenting behaviors were measured by the mothers of surveyed children, while the teacher-child relationship and children's adjustment were rated by teachers. Measurements were recorded from using the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory(Crase et al. 1987), Student-Teacher Relationship Scale(Pianta et al. 1995) and the Adjustment to Child-care Centers Scale(Lee 2004). The collected data was analyzed by hierarchical regression using the SPSS Program. Results indicate that mothers' parenting behaviors in the low-income families controlled characteristics of children and are positively associated with one area of early school adjustment, learning readiness. In other words, mothers who are more involved and demonstrate supportive parenting, have children with better learning readiness. The teacher-child relationship is strongly related to all areas of children's adjustment. The interaction effect of parenting behaviors and the teacher-child relationship on children's learning readiness is observed. These results highlight the importance of the teacher-child closeness as well as the quality of parenting behaviors during the preschool period for the low-income family in improving early school adjustment.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2014

Purpose: The spontaneous seroconversion rate of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus infection in children is lower than that in adults. However, few studies have investigated the rate of transition from the immune-tolerant to the early immune-clearance phase in children. Methods: From February 2000 to August 2011, we enrolled 133 children aged <18 years who had visited the Department of Pediatrics, Kyungpook National University Hospital. All subjects were in the immune-tolerant phase of HBeAg-positive CHB virus infection. The estimated transition rate into the early immune-clearance phase was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Among the 133 enrolled pediatric CHB virus infection patients in the HBeAg-positive immune-tolerant phase, only 21 children (15.8%) had converted to the early immune-clearance phase. The average age at entry into active hepatitis was $10.6{\pm}4.8$ years. The incidence of transition from the immune-tolerant to the early immune-clearance phase in these children was 1.7 episodes/100 patient-years. When analyzed by age, the estimated transition rate was 4.6%, 7.1%, and 28.0% for patients aged <6, 6-12, >12 years, respectively. Conclusion: In children with CHB virus infection, the estimated rate of entry into the early immune-clearance phase was 28.0% for patients aged 12-18 years, which was significantly higher than that observed for children aged <12 years (11.7%; p=0.001).

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.65-82
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• 2010

This study investigated the longitudinal effects of family risk factors, parent-child relationships, and language abilities of children in low-income families in terms of both school adjustment and academic performance. The subjects were 176 children aged 5 to 7 and their mothers. They participated in follow up studies over the next 3 years. The children were tested using the Wechsler Intelligence Scales and language tests; and classroom teachers rated their levels of both school adjustment and academic performance. Mothers reported parent-child relationships, maternal depression, and family economic resources. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Our results indicated that there were direct effects of language abilities, and indirect effects of parent-child relationships and maternal depression upon children's school adjustment and academic performance. It was also revealed that language abilities had a mediating effect between parent-child relationship and school adjustment/ academic performance.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.93-118
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• 2014

This study examined the relationships between parenting stress, parenting sense of competence, and parenting behavior in Korean and Japanese mothers of early school-aged children. A sample of 166 Korean mothers and 112 Japanese mothers completed questionnaires. First, in terms of results, Korean mothers reported higher scores in parenting stress, parenting sense of competence, and warmth and neglect than Japanese mothers did. In contrast, Japanese mothers scored higher on intrusiveness than Korean mothers. Second, for both groups, parenting stress was negatively related to warmth and reasoning, and positively related to intrusiveness, coercion, and neglect. Third, for both groups, parenting sense of competence was positively linked to warmth and reasoning, and negatively linked to intrusiveness, coercion, and neglect. Fourth, parenting stress was negatively associated with parenting sense of competence for both groups. Finally, parenting sense of competence mediated the associations between parenting stress and warmth for both groups. Only in the case of Korean mothers did parenting stress influence reasoning and intrusiveness through parenting sense of competence. These results imply that there may indeed be cross-cultural similarities and differences in three parenting-related variables between Korean and Japanese mothers.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2022

Objectives: Early detection of developmental issues in infants and necessary intervention are important. To identify the comorbid conditions, a comprehensive evaluation is required. The study's objectives were to 1) generate scale items by identifying and eliciting concepts relevant to young children (12-71 months) with developmental delays, 2) develop a comprehensive screening tool for developmental delay and comorbid conditions, and 3) assess the tool's validity and cut-off. Methods: Multidisciplinary experts devised the "Infant Comprehensive Evaluation for Neurodevelopmental Delay (ICEND)," an assessment method that comes in two versions depending on the age of the child: 12-36 months and 37-71 months, through monthly seminars and focused group interviews. The ICEND is composed of three parts: risk factors, resilience factors, and clinical scales. In parts 1 and 2, there were 41 caretakers responded to the questionnaires. Part 3 involved clinicians evaluating ten subscales using 98 and 114 questionnaires for younger and older versions, respectively. The Child Behavior Checklist, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment, and Korean Developmental Screening Test for Infants and Children were employed to analyze concurrent validity with the ICEND. The analyses were performed on both typical and high-risk infants to identify concurrent validity, reliability, and cut-off scores. Results: A total of 296 people participated in the study, with 57 of them being high-risk (19.2%). The Cronbach's alpha was positive (0.533-0.928). In the majority of domains, the ICEND demonstrated a fair discriminatory ability, with a sensitivity of 0.5-0.7 and specificity 0.7-0.9. Conclusion: The ICEND is reliable and valid, indicating its potential as an auxiliary tool for assessing neurodevelopmental delay and comorbid conditions in children aged 12-36 months and 37-71 months.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.8
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• pp.408-414
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• 2021

Background: Complementary food in infancy is necessary for human growth, neurodevelopment, and health. However, the role of allergen consumption in early infancy and its effects on the development of food allergy or tolerance remain unclear. Purpose: To investigate the influence of age at the time of complementary food introduction on the development of asthma and atopic dermatitis in Korean children aged 1-3 years. Methods: We combined data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected from 2010 to 2014 and analyzed 1619 children aged 1-3 years who were included in the survey. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify associations among type of feeding, age at the time of complementary food introduction, and doctor-diagnosed atopic dermatitis and asthma. Results: Age at the time of complementary food introduction was not significantly associated with doctor-diagnosed atopic dermatitis and asthma in children aged 1-3 years. In the univariate analysis, children with asthma showed higher water and sodium intake levels than nonasthmatic children. However, this relationship was not significant in the multivariate regression analysis. Conclusion: The present study revealed no statistically significant relationship between age at the time of complementary food introduction and the risk of atopic dermatitis and asthma in young Korean children. A national prospective study is needed to clarify the influence of age at the time of complementary food introduction on the development of allergic diseases.