• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.251-260
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• 2005

Objectives : This study was performed to evaluate the effects of a mental health program within a mental health model middle school. Methods : Subjects of the study consisted of 748 students from the second grade and third grade students at the middle school chosen for a school mental health program by the Ministry of Education in Jeju. The subjects participated in 12 consecutive sessions of group discussion developed to prevent mental health problems. The authors investigated the effects of the program by evaluating the students with Young's Internet Addiction Scale (IAS), Conners & Wells' Adolescent Self Report Scale(CASS) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) before the initial session and after the final session. The data was analyzed by t-test in SPSS PC+ 10.0. The range of significance was p<.05. Results : In MMPI, the percentage of students above clinical range reduced from $12.9\%\;to\;11.0\%$. It reduced in the second grade students, but increased in the third grade students. The scores of paranoia and mania subscales showed a statistically significant reduction. In IAS, the percentage of students above the range of Internee overuse reduced from $16.0\%\;to\;6.8\%$. The percentage of students who showed risk of attention problems in CASS reduced from $22.7\%\;to\;18.3\%$. Also, both IAS and CASS scores showed a statistically significant reduction. The clinical significance of the reduction of IAS scores was within moderate range. Conclusion : The mental health program reduced the percentage of students' risk of mental health problems, internet addiction and attention problems and it was clinically effective on preventing Internet addiction. These results support the effects of a school mental health program to promote students' mental health. The authors suggest to expand this program to other schools, to reconfirm the effect of the program by using proper & specified instruments and to evaluate long-term effect of the program.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.285-318
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• 2013

The purpose of this research is to examine the self-concept in the cyberspace, self-efficacy, relationship with friends, subjective well-being and academic grade among adolescents who are addicted to Internet and those who are not addicted to Internet. A total of 1,057 adolescents (male=545, female=512), 326 from middle school, 361 from high school, and 370 from special education school, participated in the study. The results are as follows. First, qualitative analysis of the conception of self in the cyberspace indicates that those adolescents addicted to Internet reported that in the cyberspace they have fun, followed by they are the same as in real life, they spend time in cyberspace and they can become an imaginary person. Those adolescents not addicted to Internet reported that in the cyberspace they are the same as in real life, followed by they spend time in cyberspace and they can become an imaginary person. When they play Internet games, majority of adolescents in both groups reported that it is fun, followed by they become engrossed and they become aggressive. Second, those adolescents who are not addicted to Internet had higher scores on self-efficacy than those adolescents who are addicted to Internet, including self-regulatory efficacy for learning, relational efficacy, and resiliency of efficacy. Third, the number of friends and close friends that adolescents who are not addicted to Internet were not significantly different from those adolescents who are addicted to Internet. However, those adolescents who are not addicted to Internet were more likely receive social support from friends and were less likely to be social excluded than those adolescents who are addicted to Internet. Fourth, those adolescents who are not addicted to Internet had significantly higher scores on subjective well-being than those adolescents who are addicted to Internet. Fifth, those adolescents who are not addicted to Internet had significantly higher scores on both subjective and objective academic grade than those adolescents who are addicted to Internet.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2021

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency posing unprecedented challenges for health authorities. Social media may serve as an effective platform to disseminate health-related information. This study aimed to assess the extent of social media use, its impact on preventive behavior, and negative health effects such as cyberchondria and information overload. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted between June 10, 2020 and August 9, 2020 among people visiting the outpatient department of the authors' institution, and participants were also recruited during field visits for an awareness drive. Questions were developed on preventive behavior, and the Short Cyberchondria Scale and instruments dealing with information overload and perceived vulnerability were used. Results: The study recruited 767 participants with a mean age of about 45 years. Most of the participants (>90%) engaged in preventive behaviors, which were influenced by the extent of information received through social media platforms (β=3.297; p<0.001) and awareness of infection when a family member tested positive (β=29.082; p<0.001) or a neighbor tested positive (β=27.964; p<0.001). The majority (63.0%) of individuals often searched for COVID-19 related news on social media platforms. The mean±standard deviation scores for cyberchondria and information overload were 9.09±4.05 and 8.69±2.56, respectively. Significant and moderately strong correlations were found between cyberchondria, information overload, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the use of social media as an information- seeking platform altered preventive behavior. However, excessive and misleading information resulted in cyberchondria and information overload.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3597-3609
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was done to develop the multidimensional scale of addictive behavior for adolescents. Methods: The process involved construction of a conceptual framework, initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, and extraction of final items. The participants were 636 adolescents in six middle schools and four high schools. Results: Seventy items were selected for the final scale, and categorized 8 factors explaining 56.5% of total variance. The factors were labeled as game addictive behavior, shopping addictive behavior, mobile phone addictive behavior, nicotine addictive behavior, television addictive behavior, gambling addictive behavior, alcohol addictive behavior, and internet addictive behavior. The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with addictive personality and self-control. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 70 items was .94. Scale scores identified adolescents as addictive behavior group, risk group, and average group. Conclusion: The above findings indicate that the multidimensional scale of addictive behavior for adolescents has good validity and reliability when used with adolescents. More importantly, it provides the first step toward developing a addiction prevention program. Additionally the scales provide an education or guideline, and proper physical and mental health management of youth in research and practice for the promotion of education.