• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.47-72
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• 2016

According to the survey by the Ministry of Unification, 28,133 live in South Korea as of september 2015 and the number has been steadily increased. It is interesting to note that the majority of defectors were women. Statistics say that the total of women defectors was 1,138 in 2002 and consisted of 55.5%. But the number increased to 2,706 in 2011 and consisted of 70.5%(Wikipedia, 2015). Most of them have trauma, because they experienced terrible events like prostitution, sexual abuse, domestic violence, etc. while they were living in South Korea. They had to get over a lot of challenges they never expected. They had to do whatever they need to do for their survival in South Korea as well as in North Korea. Objectives: This study focuses on identifying the psychosocial resources available for them in order to help them out living here. Method: For this purpose, this study conducted unstructured in-depth interviews with four women defectors from North Korea. Their age bracket is between the ages of 50 and 58 and they have stayed over five years in South Korea. They were recommended by social welfare workers, who had dealt with them over 20 years. For the reliability of this study, the three methods were performed such as three-month close relationship, three-person triangular verification, and diversification of resources-the field notes and observation notes. Results: As a result of this study, the resources may be labeled into three main clusters of themes such as 1) Self-Preservation - 'Self-Love', 'Family-Attachment', 'Share the Goods', 'Live in Harmony', 'Avoidance of conflict'; 2) Self-Conquest - 'Endurance', 'Earnestness and Effort', 'My own Activities', 'Chat', 'Put Down', 'Appreciation and Optimism'; 3) Self-Presence Awareness - 'I was a Precious Daughter', 'I am Mother'. Also there are thirteen sub categories to be considered. Conclusions: This study focuses on identifying how women defectors have used or can use the psychosocial resources available for them, rather than what they have struggled with. It is meaningful to identify in a positive light that this study provides how they have adjusted to a totally different context for their survival and what psychosocial resources they have used. This study can give an idea about how they may receive proper and practical help from the government programs in order to become better used to new living circumstances in South Korea. As well, this study can provide meaningful criteria and guidance with family life educators for women defectors and social workers working in counseling and social welfare areas. This study contributes to better understanding about how they are using these psychosocial resources.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.63-88
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• 2017

This study was to find out the effect of emotional maltreatment by parents on revictimization of emotional maltreatment by peers targeting second-year students of middle school with depression and social withdrawal as mediating variables. To this end, those who experienced physical violence by parents or friends were excepted from panel data collected by National Youth Policy Institute (KCYPS) and data of 752 people who experienced emotional maltreatment by parents or peers were analyzed. Research hypotheses were verified by a utilizing structural equation model. The results can be summarized as follows: First, experiencing emotional maltreatment by parents has a direct impact on depression and social withdrawal. Second, it was found that depression has a direct impact on experiencing emotional maltreatment by peers while social withdrawal is significant in an indirect path affecting with depression as a mediating variable. Third, the multiple mediated effects of depression and social withdrawal were significant in the revictimization relationship between emotional maltreatment by parents and emotional maltreatment by peers. This means that emotional maltreatment by parents becomes a predictor in re-experiencing emotional maltreatment by peers. It also means that emotional maltreatment by parents has an indirect effect through psychological and emotional factors such as depression and social withdrawal rather than having a direct effect. Based on the results of this study, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research were discussed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.178-192
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• 2013

This study is for the analysis of the influence that the factors(communication, domestic life, offensive action, economic problem) of marital conflicts of old age and ecological systems factors(individual, family, sociality) have a impact to the divorce of elderly(thoughts and attempts of divorce) and the impulse to commit a crime(violence, egoism, running away from home). The guinea pigs is 350 married people of ages greater than 55 in the capital area. The 338 collected data excluding incomplete 12 data were analyzed. Statistical methods used in this study were factor analysis, frequency analysis, reliability analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Hiearchical regression analysis and Scheffe test with SPSS 18.0. The result are as follows. First, the marital conflict and ecological systems have a severe impact to the divorce of elderly, the more the conflict of the domestic life and the offensive action, the conflict in communicative and economic problem are getting higher. Second, the marital conflict and ecological systems have a severe impact to the impulse to commit a crime, the more the conflict of a domestic life and the conflict caused by spouse's attack, the economic problem, the egotistic impulse are getting higher. Third, there are some statistically similar differences of all the parts(sex, academic ability, job, children coresidence, religion, physical condition, monthly average income) in the marital conflict by characteristic of sociology of population, ecological systems, the divorce of elderly and the impulse to commit a crime.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.67
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• pp.301-337
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• 2021

The researcher looked at the differences in views and various controversies surrounding Korean youth sexuality education in the wake of the Nth Room incident, which had a great impact on modern Korean society. Sex education for adolescents in Korea can be divided into public sex education through school sex education and the Youth Sexuality Center, and conservative/traditional Protestant sex education. Public sex education is partly influenced by feminist sexual ethics and comprehensive sex education abroad. Based on gender sensitivity and the right to sexual self-determination, four major projects are prevention of sexual harassment, prostitution, sexual violence, and domestic violence. However, the school sex education standard was criticized for stereotypes of gender roles and gender-discriminatory content, reinforced distorted myths about sexual violence, and exclusion of sexual diversity and various family types. Conservative/traditional Protestantism is based on the normal family ideology such as bisexual marriage, premarital chastity, and sexual ethics recognized only within marital relationships. It is a form of confrontation with public sex education while strongly opposing it. The researcher first analyzed the characteristics of public sex education, conservative/traditional Protestant sexual ethics and sex education, feminist sex ethics and sex education, and overseas youth sex education, respectively, while composing the curriculum for Korean youth sexuality education. And as a more fundamental solution to youth sexuality education, I pointed out that there are limits to asceticism, premarital chastity, gender sensitivity and sexual self-determination education, and found an alternative to the concept of body and sex in feminist theology. The researcher pointed out that it is necessary to reconceptualize the body and sex under the recognition that the most fundamental cause of distorted sexual culture is dualistic sex and understanding the body, centering on the research of various feminist theologians. And this was conceptualized into three concepts: holistic sexuality, mutual solidarity understood in relationships with others, and sexuality as a spirituality that extends to the global community. And with each curriculum, 1) Holistic Sexuality: Breathing, Narrative, Making the Shape of One's Body and Mind 2) mutual solidarity : Feeling the Breath of Others, Media Literacy through Conscientization, Sending a Good Wind 3) Sexuality as a spirituality that extends to global concern: It was proposed to pay attention to nature and to co-cultivate it, to listen to the earth's moans and create a new way of life, and to write a prayer with the earth and fellow living beings.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.234-243
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• 2020

Purpose: This study is aimed to identify the health-related quality of life for children with a mentally ill parent. Methods: The 13 participants were school-aged children whose parents were registered at the D Regional Mental Health Welfare Center. Data were collected using one-on-one interview with illustration cards and analyzed by content analysis. Results: The participants were living a difficult life in anxiety amid a reversal of parent-child role, such as doing housework and taking care of their parents. The study revealed a love-hate family relationship that the participants wanted parental recognition and attention but they were frustrated by insufficient parental care and sibling conflict. Nevertheless, they only had each other themselves to trust and rely on. Their mixed health awareness and negative emotions were influenced by parents. Some of participants were exposed to dangerous environment such as domestic violence, and they need support system for help in difficult situations. Sometimes they felt happy by satisfying physiological, social, and self-esteem needs. They also showed a positive potential that they were matured more than peers through the experience of overcoming difficulties. Conclusion: Not only were there not enough attention and support for the children with mentally ill people, but they were also exposed to an environment that threatens their physical or mental health. Therefore, to improve their health-related quality of life, there should be some integrated support of the community health system to cope with the challenges they face.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.113-125
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a model for predicting mental health risk among adolescents based on health behavior information by employing a hybrid machine learning method. Methods: The study analyzed data of 51,850 domestic middle and high school students from 2022 Youth Health Behavior Survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Firstly, mental health risk levels (stress perception, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, suicide plans, experiences of sadness and despair, loneliness, and generalized anxiety disorder) were classified using the k-mean unsupervised learning technique. Secondly, demographic factors (family economic status, gender, age), academic performance, physical health (body mass index, moderate-intensity exercise, subjective health perception, oral health perception), daily life habits (sleep time, wake-up time, smartphone use time, difficulty recovering from fatigue), eating habits (consumption of high-caffeine drinks, sweet drinks, late-night snacks), violence victimization, and deviance (drinking, smoking experience) data were input to develop a random forest model predicting mental health risk, using logistic and XGBoosting. The model and its prediction performance were compared. Results: First, the subjects were classified into two mental health groups using k-mean unsupervised learning, with the high mental health risk group constituting 26.45% of the total sample (13,712 adolescents). This mental health risk group included most of the adolescents who had made suicide plans (95.1%) or attempted suicide (96.7%). Second, the predictive performance of the random forest model for classifying mental health risk groups significantly outperformed that of the reference model (AUC=.94). Predictors of high importance were 'difficulty recovering from daytime fatigue' and 'subjective health perception'. Conclusion: Based on an understanding of adolescent health behavior information, it is possible to predict the mental health risk levels of adolescents and make interventions in advance.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.103-126
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• 2004

The court-mandated spouse abusers with drinking problems not only resist and complain about taking the court-mandate but also have the low motivation to change their problem drinking and violent behaviors. Therefore, in this study the program is developed to decrease violent behaviors of spouse abusers with drinking problems. Also, the usefulness of this program is examined by quantitative and qualitative methods. The results are as follows: The experimental group's pre-to-post variation is decreased by significant level statistically more than the comparison group's variation in drinking problems. Regarding violent behaviors among groups, the experimental group's pre-to-post and pre-to-followup variation are decreased significantly. It is assumed that Motivation Enhancement Therapy(MET) influences the differences of motivation to change violent behaviors in both groups. The reason is that MET is considered to have influences on the group's dynamics and interaction. Also, it is helpful to change the negative emotions to the positive emotions and to stimulate the group interaction and the participation. This study will be contributed to promote the speciality on providing services for family in a domestic violence in Korea. Through this study, I suggested future implications in research, practice, and political side on spouse abusers with drinking problems.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.197-234
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• 2009

Typological theories of offending postulate that childhood-onset delinquents have a high likelihood of being serious and chronic offenders and that there are a distinct set of risk factors predicting early-onset antisocial behaviors. It is useful to empirically classify children into subgroups based on their deviant behaviors because it helps us to identify unique factors associated with each subgroup. Using the first two waves of the Korean Youth Panel Survey, Elementary School Data, this study aimed(a) to empirically classify 5th graders into latent delinquent subgroups, and (b) to examine the impact of individual, familiar, school, and peer factors on the latent delinquent classes. Latent class analysis yielded three latent classes based on 15 indicators of deviant behaviors - delinquent class, low-level delinquent class, & normative class. The results from multivariate multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that being male, reporting low self-control, coming from poor family, high association with deviant peers, and being bullied increased the risk of being in the delinquent class. Moreover, low self-control, aggression, domestic violence, low level of attachment to teachers, and deviant peers independently increased the risk of being in the low-level delinquent class compared to the normative class. Based on the study findings, implications for practice as well as future studies were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.171-208
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to classify the underlying and parsimonious types of child maltreatment and examine whether the effects of risk factors on child maltreatment recurrence differ by type of maltreatment. We utilized the multiyear national administrative data from the National Child Maltreatment Information System collected by Child Protection Agency in Korea. Of 26,921 child maltreatment victims reported and substantiated on or after January 1, 2012, 1,447 children who had recurrence of child maltreatment until December 31, 2015 were selected as maltreatment recurrence group and 4,580 children who had not experienced maltreatment since first substantiation were assigned as maltreatment non-recurrence group. Latent class analysis(LCA) and latent transition analysis(LTA) were used to group children with similar maltreatment subtypes into discrete classes of child maltreatment recurrence. Logistic regression is employed to examine the association between the child maltreatment predominant types and risk factors for recurrence. Results of LCA and LTA showed four latent classes representing predominant type of child maltreatment: 'physical abuse predominant type', 'emotional abuse predominant type', 'sexual abuse predominant type', and 'neglect type'. Significant differences in the effect of risk factors among latent classes were found in child's age and gender, perpetrator's gender, family poverty, biological parent as the perpetrator, domestic violence toward partner, perpetrator's alcoholic problem, insufficient parenting skills, and out-of-home care service, Based on these findings, results suggested how the typology can be used to guide decision about who to target in prevention and intervention programs, and which features of risk factors to target. Practice and policy implications as well as further research tasks were discussed in the lights of searching for useful and important strategies to prevent recurrence of child maltreatment.