• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.92-103
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prepare basic data for education and policy proposals related to enhancement of happiness by identifying factors affecting the subjective happiness among Korean adolescents by family type. Methods: The study was a secondary analysis using the raw data of the 16th Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2020). A complex sample multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors affecting adolescent happiness by family type. Results: As a result, the factors that commonly affect the subjective happiness of adolescents for all family types were identified as economic status, academic performance, perceived stress, and loneliness. Additional factors that affect the subjective happiness of adolescents of both Korean two-parent and single parent families were sleep and subjective health status. Financial assistance, number of toilets, breakfast, exercise, depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt were also reported for Korean two-parent families. Conclusion: This study provided empirical basic data for enhancing adolescent happiness in consideration of priority targets and family composition characteristics by identifying factors affecting subjective happiness by family type. Adolescent happiness is a factor that should be actively pursued at home, school, and society, and it should be the goal of education for holistic growth of students.

• Psychiatry investigation
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1094-1097
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• 2018

Objective Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are at an increased risk of suicide. It is well known that epigenetic mechanisms may explain the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior including suicidal ideation (SI), but no study has explored these mechanisms in ACS populations. Methods In total, 969 patients were initially recruited within 2 weeks of the acute coronary event and, 711 patients were successfully followed up 1 year after ACS. SI was evaluated using the relevant items on the Montgomery-${\AA}sberg$ Depression Rating Scale and covariates potentially affecting SI were estimated. Results Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) hypermethylation was associated with SI in both the acute and chronic phases of ACS, although the association was not statistically significant in the acute phase after applying Bonferroni's correction. Conclusion These results suggested that BDNF hypermethylation may have played a role in an epigenetic predisposition for SI in ACS patients, particularly during the chronic phase.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influencing factors on health-related quality of life according to body mass index (BMI) in middle age people. Methods: Using the 2017 Korea Health Panel Data, a total of 4,711 subjects age 40-64 were selected and classified into four groups based on BMI levels (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese). Influencing factors according to BMI in middle age people was analyzed using multiple regression. Results: Activity limited was the most influential factor for health-related quality of life in middle age people. Walking and stress were factors influencing health-related quality of life in all weight groups. In the overweight and obese group, suicidal impulse was a significant influencing factor on health-related quality of life. Conclusion: To improve the health-related quality of life of middle age people, effective walking and stress management for maintaining and managing health, as well as managing suicide risk in the overweight group and obese group are required.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 2017

Objectives : Insomnia may be one of the risk factor for suicidal ideation, but little is known about the mechanism by which sleep disturbances confer risk for suicide. The aim of this study was to investigate examine whether insomnia severity would be associated with resilience and suicidal ideation, and whether resilience would mediate the relationship between insomnia and suicidal ideation. Methods : A total of 432 community-dwelling adults(227 male, 205 female,) completed the self-report questionnaire that covered basic socio-demographic data. To assess the psychological variables, the following instruments were applied: Insomnia Severity Index(ISI), Korean Version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(K-CD-RISC), Beck Hopelessness Scale(BHOP) and Scale for Suicidal Ideation(SSI-Beck). People with an ISI score of 8 or higher were defined as insomnia. Results : Greater insomnia symptom severity was significantly associated with higher level of suicidal ideation and lower level of resilience, adjusting for hopelessness, age, sex, presence of family members living together, and household income. Additional analysis revealed that disturbance of sleep initiation and disturbance of sleep maintenance were significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Mediation analyses revealed that resilience significantly accounted for the relationship between insomnia symptom severity and suicidal ideation. Conclusions : These findings suggest that the evaluation and control of insomnia and resilience may be needed to reduce the risk of suicide.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.2667-2676
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• 2013

This study was to examine the relationship between suicidal ideation, depression, stress and their parent's socioeconomic status. Nation-wide representative data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009 were used in this study. 904 adolescents with parent were analysed. Parent's socioeconomic status, especially mother's low educational level and the beneficiaries for national basic livelihood security were significant risk factor for adolescents' suicidal ideation. These associations remained significant in multiple logistic regression controlling for all covariates. The findings in the current study support the global literature on the importance of socioeconomic status in promoting adolescent's mental health. Future prevention intervention efforts to improve adolescent's suicide risk will need to take into consideration parent's and household's socioeconomic conditions. Future study is needed to explore the possible proximal risk factors and mediators between parent's socioeconomic status and mental health among adolescents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

Background: In Japan, more than 60% of employees are reported to suffer from anxiety and stress. Consequently, Japanese society has begun to address such important issues as psychogenic disability and job-related suicide. Furthermore, given the aging of society and the surge in the number of elderly people requiring care, it is necessary to adequately and proactively support employees who care for their elderly relatives. The purpose of the present study was to investigate caregiver burden in caring for elderly relatives and work-related stress factors associated with mental health among employees. Methods: We studied 722 men and women aged 18-83 years in a cross-sectional study. The K10 questionnaire was used to examine mental health status. Results: The proportion of participants with a high K10 score was 15% (n = 106). Having little conversation with their supervisor and/or coworkers significantly increased the risk of depression [odds ratio (OR) 1.8], as did high job overload (OR 2.7) and job dissatisfaction (OR 3.8), compared with employees who frequently conversed with their supervisor and/or coworkers. Caring for elderly relatives as a prominent characteristic of an employee was a significant risk factor for depression (OR 2.1). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that employees who were caring for elderly relatives were significantly associated with an increased risk of depression. To prevent depressive disorders, it may be important to focus on reducing the work-caregiving role conflict, as well as enhancing employees' job control and better rewarding their efforts in the workplace.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.5737-5744
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• 2013

This study was performed to identify the association between the menarche experience and mental health in middle school girls aged 14. The subjects were selected using data from the 8th Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS-V), which included 5,991 girls in 1st grade of middle school. Data were analyzed using the PASW 18.0 program for frequency analysis, t-test, chi square and logistic regression analysis. As to results, we found 4,473 girls who had experienced menarche (mean age, 12.8 0.9 years) and 1,518 girls hadn't experienced menarche. In the logistic regression analysis between the menarche experience and mental health behaviors, the odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] for perceived stress (OR=1.39, 1.20-1.62, p<0.001), perceived depression (OR=1.25, 1.10-1.42, p<0.05), suicide thinking (6OR=1.60, 1.38-1.87, <0.001), suicide planning (OR=1.66, 1.33-2.81, p<0.001) and suicide trial (OR=1.42, 1.09-1.86, p<0.05) were higher in the menarche experience group than in the menarche non-experience group. Our results indicate, a viable association between the menarche experience and mental health in the 1st grade of middle school girls, and suggests that the menarche experience is an important factor influencing adolescent girls' mental health.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.94-104
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• 2015

Objectives: Mental health disorders and suicide are an important and growing public health concern in Korea. Evidence has shown that both globally and in Korea, obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing some psychiatric disorders. Therefore, we examined the association between distorted body weight perception (BWP) and suicidal ideation. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2007-2012 Korea National Health and Nutritional Evaluation Survey (KNHANES), an annual cross-sectional nationwide survey that included 14 276 men and 19 428 women. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the associations between nine BWP categories, which combined body image (BI) and body mass index (BMI) categories, and suicidal ideation. Moreover, the fitness of our models was verified using the Akaike information criterion. Results: Consistent with previous studies, suicidal ideation was associated with marital status, household income, education level, and perceived health status in both genders. Only women were significantly more likely to have distorted BWP; there was no relationship among men. In category B1 (low BMI and normal BI), women (odds ratio [OR], 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48 to 3.42) were more likely to express suicidal ideation than women in category B2 (normal BMI and normal BI) were. Women in overweight BWP category C2 (normal BMI and fat BI) also had an increased OR for suicidal ideation (OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.48 to 3.42). Those in normal BWP categories were not likely to have suicidal ideation. Among women in the underweight BWP categories, only the OR for those in category A2 (normal BMI and thin BI) was significant (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.59). Conclusions: Distorted BWP should be considered an important factor in the prevention of suicide and for the improvement of mental health among Korean adults, especially Korean women with distorted BWPs.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2021

Objectives Despite growing attention to anxiety in bipolar disorder (BD), little research has assessed anxiety symptoms in the course of BD. The current prospective follow-up study examines the influence of subjectively and objectively measured anxiety symptoms on the course of BD. Methods A total of 49 patients with BD were followed-up prospectively for average of one year at an average of four months interval. The Korean version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, heart rate variability (HRV) were used to measure anxiety subjectively, objectively and physiologically. Participants were divided into high and low anxiety groups based on their K-BAI scores. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to compare the recurrence of mood episode, suicide attempt, emergency room visit, and psychiatric hospitalization between two groups. Mediators were investigated with Cox proportional hazards models. Results Compared to the low anxiety group, the high anxiety group reported significantly higher impulsiveness (p = 0.016) and lower high frequency component on HRV (p = 0.007) after controlling for severity of BD. Regarding survival analysis, the high anxiety group showed hastened depressive episode recurrence (p = 0.048) and suicidal ideation was the mediator of the hazard ratio (HR) 1.089 (p = 0.029) in the Cox model. Moreover, the high anxiety group showed a tendency of accelerated suicide attempt (p = 0.12) and impulsivity was the risk factor of suicide attempt (HR = 1.089, p = 0.036). Conclusions This interim analysis of prospective study suggests that high anxiety level in BD may anticipate unfavorable course. Further studies are needed to understand the multifactorial mechanism of anxious bipolar patients.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2013

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics and the psychosocial factors associated to the referral to psychiatric care in the suicide attempters visiting emergency center. Methods: We conducted a systematic chart review of 377 suicidal attempters visiting emergency center of the Korea University Ansan Hospital between January 2008 and December 2011. We gathered a data contain 20 items including psychosocial characteristics and factors related to suicide and factors related to psychiatric treatment. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to data to estimate the unique effects of sex, drunken status, companion, suicidal methods, place of suicide and current use of psychiatric medication on the referral to psychiatric care. Results: The female gender(OR=1.63, 95% CI=0.99-2.69), suicidal attempts at home(OR=3.40, 95% I= 1.21-9.56) and drunken state at visit(OR=2.34, 95% CI=1.10-5.01) are the factors that predict the risk of the non-referral of the patients to psychiatric intervention. Place of suicidal attempt was the most important factor do play a role in determining whether referral to psychiatric care will take place or not. Current use of psychiatric medication showed a trend toward significance(p=0.08, OR=1.67, 95% CI=0.95-2.95). Conclusions: These results suggest that when deciding whether to adapt or to refuse the referral to psychiatric care, the factors such as suicidal intent, lethality of suicide methods, familiar factors and alcohol may contribute onto the referral to psychiatric care. Additional research is required to investigate an association of these factors with referral to psychiatric care.