PURPOSE: This study was conducted to describe the perception of parental sex role held by university students and to examine differences in perception of parental sex role according to student characteristics. METHOD: The participants were 336 university students in Gangreung city. The instrument of parental sex role was developed by the researcher and consisted of 3 subcategories; general parent role, parental sex role as a father and parental sex role as a mother. RESULTS: The most positive item of parental sex role as a father is 'the Father's role is teaching about the value of society'. The most positive item of parental sex role as a mother is 'the Mother's role is to be a counselor or friend'. There were significant differences in perception of a father's role according to sex, type of college, fathers who lived with student during childhood, the relationship with the parent, the plan of marriage and having a child, responsibility of child-rearing, and the need for education for the parental role. There were significant differences in perception of the mother's role according to sex, grade, type of college, birth order, type of family, persons who lived with student during childhood, the relationship with the parent, plan of marriage and having a child, responsibility of child-rearing, and the need for education for the parental role. CONCLUSION: The parental sex role changes overtime. Thus, it is important to identify university student's perception of parental sex roles as pre-parent preparation for parenting.
Birth Order ; Child ; Counseling ; Education ; Fathers ; Gender Identity* ; Humans ; Marriage ; Mothers ; Parenting ; Parents* ; Ritodrine

PURPOSE: This study was to assess the intention of undergoing Pap testing and to identify influencing factors of HPV knowledge and their attitude related to Pap test by sexual activity among unmarried nurses. METHODS: A cross sectional survey design was employed, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire amongst 343 unmarried nurses. Descriptive statistics was utilized to analyze data and inferential statistics used an independent-t test and chi2 test for the differences in measurement variables, and odds ratios for factors on intention of Pap testing by sexual activity. RESULTS: Nurses not sexually active were significantly higher in intention of Pap testing (chi2=40.15, p<.001) and influencing factors of HPV knowledge (t=3.93, p=.048) than did nurses who were sexually active. Factors influencing intention were regularity of the breast self-examination (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]=4.20, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]=1.93~9.17), HPV knowledge (AOR=2.49, 95% CI=1.36~4.56), and attitudes toward the Pap test(AOR=2.33, 95% CI=1.25~4.34) amongst nurses who never had sexual experience. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to minimize negative attitudes of Pap testing and to increase HPV knowledge in order to improve intention of Pap testing for women who were not sexually active. More focus would be given to sexually active women to get Pap tested as a preventive measure for cervical cancer.
Breast Self-Examination ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Intention* ; Odds Ratio ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sexual Behavior ; Single Person* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

OBJECTIVES: Psychiatry in North Korea is believed to seem very different from psychiatry in South Korea. However, there is nearly no information regarding psychiatry in North Korea until now. Our study aimed to get information about North Korean psychiatry. METHODS: Three North Korean defectors in South Korea, whose clinical experience as medical doctors in North Korea was over 10 years, were recruited. They underwent the semi-structured interview, content of which included the clinical experience with psychiatric patients, the details of psychiatry, the treatment of psychiatric patients, the stigma of mental illness, and the suicide, in North Korea. RESULTS: In North Korea, psychiatric department was called as 49th(pronounced as Sahsip-gu-ho in Korean). Only patients with vivid psychotic symptoms came to psychiatric department. Non-psychotic depression or anxiety disorders usually were not dealt in psychiatry. The etiology of mental illness seemed to be confined to biological factors including genetic predisposition. Psychosocial or psychodynamic factors as etiology of mental illness appeared to be ignored. Psychiatry was apparently separated from political or ideological issues. The mainstay of psychiatric treatment is the inpatient admission and out-of-date therapy such as insulin coma therapy. Stigma over mental illness was common in North Korea. Suicide is considered as a betrayal to his/her nation, and has been reported to be very rare. CONCLUSION: The situation of psychiatry in North Korea is largely different from that of South Korea. Although some aspects of North Korean psychiatry are similar to psychiatry in former socialist countries, North Korean psychiatry is considered to have also its unique characteristics.
Anxiety Disorders ; Biological Factors ; Convulsive Therapy ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Depression ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Porphyrins ; Republic of Korea ; Suicide

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to describe mother's child-rearing attitudes and problem conduct of children as perceived by children and to examine correlation between maternal nurturing attitudes and child problem behavior. METHOD: The participants were 338 fifth and sixth graders who attended two randomly selected elementary schools in the city of G, Gangwon province. Child-rearing attitudes of the mother were rated on a 5-pointed scale that developed by Schaefer and added by Oh & Lee(1982). Problem conduct of children were rated on a 3-pointed scale of the K-YSR by Oh Kyung-Ja et al.(1997). The data were gathered from October 2 to October 28, 2004, and the collected data were analyzed with SPSS 10.0 program. RESULTS: For the children's perception of mother's child-rearing attitude, student had a relatively high mean scores of 3.70+/-0.44. Correlations between the mother's child-rearing attitude and general characteristics of the children showed statistically significantly different according to grade, father-mother relations, type of residence and extent to which father shared household chores. The mean score for problem conducts of children was 0.47+/-0.25.The average for their internal behavior problems was 0.52+/-0.33, and for external behavior problems was 0.44+/-0.24. There were statistically significantly differences in the behavior problem scores of the children according to the general characteristics of grade, education, occupation, mother-father relations, extent to which father shared in household chores and religion. As to correlation between mother's child-rearing attitude and their problem conduct, every type of attitude had a significantly moderate reverse correlation to every type of behavior problem of the children(r=-.431, p=.000). CONCLUSION: Mother's child-rearing attitudes might affect the problem conduct of children, and mother should try to treat their children with affection and respect, to maintain good relations with father, and to bring their children up coherently in an autonomous, permissive, positive and democratic manner.
Child* ; Education ; Family Characteristics ; Fathers ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Mothers ; Occupations ; Child Health

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) on clinical features and neuropsychological profiles of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: We divided the participants into three groups: the ADHD with ODD (ADHD/ODD) (n=36), ADHD without ODD (ADHDoODD) (n=307), and control groups (n=128). Parents of the participants completed the ADHD Rating Scale, Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), Korean Personality Rating Scale for Children (K-PRC), and 10-item mania scale from the Parent General Behavior Inventory (P-GBI-10M). Neuropsychological profiles were assessed using the Advanced Test of Attention (ATA), Children’s Color Trails Test, and Stroop Color and Word Test. Results: The ADHD/ODD group had more ADHD symptoms and functional impairments in relationships with teachers and peers, and self-esteem than the ADHDoODD group. The ADHD/ODD group scored higher in Social Communication (p<0.001) and Autistic Mannerisms (p<0.001) subscales of SRS, P-GBI-10M (p<0.001), and Delinquency (p<0.001) and Psychosis (p<0.001) subscales of K-PRC than the ADHDoODD group. Commission Errors (p<0.001) and Response-Time Variability (p<0.001) in Visual ATA and Commission Errors (p<0.001) in Auditory ATA were significantly higher in the ADHD/ODD group than in the ADHDoODD group. Conclusion The present study suggests that patients with ADHD with ODD experience more ADHD symptoms and neuropsychological deficits than those with ADHD without ODD. These results also imply that comorbid ODD is associated with greater social impairment and emotional dysregulation.

The Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale (IIRS) measures illness-induced disruptions to 13 domains of lifestyles, activities, and interests. A stable three-factor structure has been well documented; however, the cross-cultural validity of this scale needs to be tested. This study investigated the factor structure of the Korean version of IIRS in 712 outpatients at a university medical center. A predominant diagnosis of the patients was rheumatoid arthritis (47%). The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) were also administered. Exploratory Principal Component Analysis identified a two-factor structure, "Relationships and Personal Development (RPD)" and "Instrumen-tal", accounting for 57% of the variance. Confirmatory analyses extracted an identical factor structure. However, a goodness-of-the fit test failed to support two-factor solution (X2 =138.2, df=43, p<.001). Two factors had high internal consistency (RPD, alpha=.89; Instrumental, alpha=.75) and significantly correlated with scores of HAQ (RPD, r=.53, p<.001; Instrumental, .r=44, p<.001) and CES-D (RPD, .r=55, p<.001; Instrumental, .r=43, p<.001). These findings supported construct validity of the Korean version of IIRS, but did not support cross-cultural equivalence of the factor structure.
Adult ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; *Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reproducibility of Results ; *Sickness Impact Profile

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine ethnic difference in physical violence and to see if ethnicity is an independent predictor of violence by surveying eight Korean or Han ethnic elementary schools in Yanji city, China. A total of 2,316 school children from fourth through sixth grade participated the study. METHODS: Participants completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic background and experiences of physical violence during the previous year using the Conflict Tactics Scale. The history of physical violence was categorized as within the family, by peers, or by teachers. RESULTS: Han children reported significantly higher rates of physical abuse compared with Koreans (76.2% vs. 54.9%, chi2=116.12, df=1, p=<.001). Binary logistic regression analysis identified five risk factors for physical violence:(1) ethnic Han (odds ratio [OR]=3.01, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.47-3.66), (2) boys (OR=2.76, 95% CI=2.28-3.36), (3) poor economic status (OR=1.69, 95% CI=1.17-2.42), (4) single or absent parents (OR=1.42, 95% CI=1.09-1.86), (5) interaction of fourth-graders with promotive or neutral opinions of corporal punishment (OR=2.41, 95% CI=1.86-3.13). Ethnicity remained an independent risk factor after other sociodemographic variables were controlled. CONCLUSION: These findings showed cross-cultural risk factors of child physical abuse, including ethnicity which previously identified as a factor in literature. This study particularly reports lower prevalence of physical violence in ethnic minority, Korean-Chinese, compared with the Han ethnic group. This result explained a special environment of Korean self-government district and the successful adaptation of the ethnic minority to the mainstream culture.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Child ; Child Abuse ; China ; Ethnic Groups ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Parents ; Prevalence* ; Punishment ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Violence*

Obesity is a critical target for public health interventions worldwide. There are many causes of obesity, and the importance of the gut microbiota in its pathogenesis has recently been recognized. The composition and function of the gut microbiota play a role in obesity and metabolic disease, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Advances in our understanding of the link between obesity and the gut microbiota have suggested the potential of its manipulation for treating obesity. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the interactions between the gut microbiota and obesity as well as the therapeutic potential of its modulation.
Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Metabolic Diseases ; Obesity ; Public Health