Though Fragile X syndrome is one of the most common inherited causes of mental retardation, it is not much detected yet in Korean population. One of the reason may be that the syndrome is not well known to the special education teachers as well as to the clinicians in this country. Thus, molecular test was undertaken to screen out fragile X syndrome in 122 children of two Korean schools for emotionally severely handicapped children. The subjects were all boys, previously known as having pervasive developmental disorder with or without mental retardation. Southern blot analysis of peripheral blood showed the abnormally enlarged (CGG)n repeat sequence associated with fragile X syndrome in two children. This finding suggests that the DNA testing for fragile X syndrome is warranted for Korean high risk population and that more concern about this syndrome is needed for the professionals who work for mentally handicapped children. The issues involved in genetic counseling for fragile X syndrome are discussed.
Blotting, Southern ; Child ; Disabled Children* ; Disabled Persons* ; DNA* ; Education, Special ; Fragile X Syndrome* ; Genetic Counseling ; Humans ; Intellectual Disability ; Korea* ; Mentally Disabled Persons

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the age of the first exposure to substances influences the characteristics of substance abuse. METHOD: Ninety seven adolescent boys in a substance abuse treatment facility were evaluated by using questionnaires, individual diagnostic interviews, and psychology tests. They were classified into 3 groups, preadolescence group(PA), early adolescence group(EA), and middle adolescence group (MA) according to the age of the first exposure to substances, and the data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 9.0. RESULTS: The average age was 16.4+/-1.2 years. There were 39 in PA, 29 in EA, and 29 in MA. In comparison to EA, PA showed higher frequency in substance use, substance dependence, and positive family history of alcohol abuse. In comparison to MA, PA had higher frequency in troubles in interpersonal relationship, functional impairment, dependence on substances, withdrawal symptoms, amount of alcohol and gas consumed, positive family history of alcohol abuse. presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and higher score in K-subscale of MMPI. PA also used more variety of substances more frequently, and had shorter duration before starting the second substance. In comparison to MA, EA showed higher frequency of substance use, functional impairment, trouble in interpersonal relationship, diagnoses of substance dependence, and shorter duration before starting the second substance. However, less EA were from disorganized families. Among the 3 groups, there were no statistically meaningful differences in combined use of alcohol, trial of abstinence, duration of abstinence, child abuse history, family support, intelligence, and frequency and duration of running away from home. CONCLUSION: Earlier exposure to substances may lead to more serious problems of drug abuse. Earlier drug prevention education for adolescents should be provided.
Adolescent* ; Alcoholism ; Child ; Child Abuse ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Humans ; Intelligence ; MMPI ; Psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Running ; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome ; Substance-Related Disorders*

OBJECTIVES: One of the factors that obstructs active progress of the temperament study in Korea is lack of the standardized assessment tools. Therefore, this study was designed and conducted for the purpose of Korean standardization of "Parental Temperament Questionnaire(PTQ)", which was developed by Thomas and Chess, to assess the temperament of children between the ages of 3 and 7 years through parental questionnaire. METHOD: The samples consisted of 1,175 children who were attending nurseries nationwide. PTQ was translated into Korean language by the authors and distributed to the parents of these children, along with "Toddler Temperament Scale(TTS)" and "Yale Child Inventory(YCI)" which had been previously standardized by different investigators. The reliability and validity of the Korean version of PTQ were tested. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability, item-category correlations and internal consistency of the Korean version of PTQ were generally satisfactory. Correlations between the perceived temperament and the rated temperament were statistically significant in all temperamental categories except distractibility. The correlation between PTQ and TTS was statistically significant in all categories. The 9 categories of PTQ correlated variously with 11 subscales of preschool behavioral assessment of YCI. CONCLUSIONS:The Korean version of PTQ is a standardized tool to assess the temperament of children between ages 3 and 7 years, which will be a useful basic tool for the study of temperament of Korean children.
Child* ; Humans ; Korea ; Nurseries ; Parents* ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Research Personnel ; Temperament*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of present study was to explore characteristics of emotion and cognition in adolescent delinquency. METHODS: Four-hundred-seventy-six adolescents participated to fill out the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Revised (FCSS-R), the Latent Delinquency Questionnaire (LDQ), the Children's Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS), the Negative Affect Self Statement Questionnaire (NASSQ), the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Negative & Positive (ATQ-N, P), and the Rosenberg's Self Esteem Scale. RESULTS: Adolescent delinquency was positively correlated with anxiety and depression, negatively correlated with fear. Multiple regression analysis showed that depression, fear and the automatic thought for physical threat were significant predicting variables for adolescent delinquency. CONCLUSION: From our results it was inferred that adolescent delinquency is correlated with emotional discomfort, especially in male adolescents. And fear could suppress delinquent behaviors. From the results of this study the direction of future study was discussed.
Adolescent* ; Anxiety ; Cognition* ; Depression ; Humans ; Manifest Anxiety Scale ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Self Concept

It is well-known that more than 50% of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cases also have comorbid psychiatric disorders. We evaluated the comorbid psychopathology of Korean children and adolescents with ADHD using a standardized diagnostic instrument. The Korean Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL-K) was administered and completed in 105 patients who had been referred to the outpatient and inpatient clinics at the Samsung Medical Center from March 2004 to May 2005. All of the cases were diagnosed as ADHD according to DSM-IV criteria. We analyzed their clinical characteristics and psychiatric comorbidities, and assessed the correlation of any comorbidity with gender, age and ADHD subtype. Among our 105 participants, 70 (66.7%) subjects were diagnosed with combined-type ADHD, 22 (21.0%) were the predominantly inattentive type, only 1 (1.0%) was determined to have the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type of ADHD, and 12 (11.4%) were classified as not otherwise specified (NOS) ADHD. Eighty (76.2%) subjects had at least one comorbid disorder such as oppositional defiant disorder (n = 53, 50.5%), anxiety disorders (n = 35, 33.3%) and affective disorders (n = 15, 14.3%). Our patients ranged in age from five to 16 years. Among the factors including gender, age, and ADHD subtype, ADHD subtype was the only one significant to comorbidity in our study. The results of this study suggest that psychiatric comorbidity in Korean children with ADHD is similar to the results of previous studies in western countries. Out of all the ADHD subtypes, the combined-type group had a significantly higher ratio of comorbid disorders and psychopathologies.
Tic Disorders/epidemiology ; Mood Disorders/epidemiology ; Mental Disorders/*epidemiology ; Male ; Korea/epidemiology ; Humans ; Female ; Elimination Disorders/epidemiology ; Comorbidity ; Child, Preschool ; Child ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/classification/*epidemiology ; Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology ; Adolescent

Animals ; Cats ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Mortality ; Odds Ratio ; Resuscitation ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

The KIDSCREEN-52 quality-of-life (KIDSCREEN-52-HRQOL) is a relevant, worldwide tool used for assessing the health-related quality of life in children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to define measurement properties of the Korean version of the KIDSCREEN-52 HRQOL. The original questionnaire was translated following international translation guidelines. Analysis regarding psychometric properties showed that the Cronbach-alpha ranged from 0.77 to 0.95. The correlation coefficient between the PedQL and KIDSCREEN-52 dimensions were high for the assessments of similar constructs. Therefore, the Korean version of the KIDSCREEN-52 was found to be suitable for use in Korean adolescents.
Adolescent ; Female ; Health Status ; Health Status Indicators ; *Health Surveys ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Psychometrics ; *Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; *Research Design