• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.58-65
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• 2020

As in western countries, divorce rates in South Korea have recently been rising, and family disruption has become one of serious social problems. Parents are able to express their opinions and wishes confidently, but the thoughts and wishes of children, especially infants and young children, tend to be ignored. Children can also experience several emotional and behavioral problems during the process of and after their parents' divorce. When South Korean family courts determine custody arrangements, they typically do not have a systematic strategy and process based on custody evaluation to help children and their parents overcome conflicts and build healthy parent-child relationships after divorce. Furthermore, under the current court system, it is difficult for mental health specialists and child psychiatrists to intervene in familial conflicts as mediators or therapists during the course of divorce proceedings. Acknowledging these limitations, the South Korean family court system implemented a formal program for custody evaluations by child psychiatrists and psychologists in 2017. However, they have faced challenges such as a shortage of experienced specialist and lack of a training system or instruments for evaluation. In this paper, the authors aim to share professional knowledge of and experiences with aspects of the custody evaluation process, such as indications, procedures, methods, psychological tests, resources, and final report writing, to better serve children and their parents undergoing a painful divorce process.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.101-110
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the mental health and health risk behaviors of multicultural adolescents according to their mothers' native country. Methods: For this study raw data from the 11th Youth Health Behavior Online Survey (2015) was examined. Mental health and health risk behaviors for 62,985 adolescents were analyzed according to their mothers' native country. Collected data were analyzed with the SPSS program using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis, to which the complex sample design was applied. Results: The odds ratio of depression in multicultural adolescents compared to Korean adolescents was 44.92 (CI: 5.77-349.59) for adolescents whose mothers came from Cambodia and 3.00 (CI: 1.57-5.76) for adolescents whose mothers came from North Korea. The odds ratio of attempted suicide was 14.73 (CI: 3.09-70.22) for adolescents whose mothers came from Cambodia and 8.63 (CI: 3.45-21.62) for adolescents whose mothers came from North Korea. The odds ratio of problematic drinking in multicultural adolescents was 7.47 (CI: 1.71-32.67) for adolescents whose mothers came from Mongolia. Conclusion: Findings indicate that when planning a health promotion program for adolescents from multicultural families, a customized approach should be sought taking into account the characteristics of mothers' native country.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2013

Objectives : We investigated the long-term tolerability of escitalopram in Korean adolescents. Methods : The subjects were 37 adolescents, who had been diagnosed with depressive disorder in accordance to DSM-IV. Clinical effectiveness was assessed by Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale at the final follow-up visit. Tolerability was assessed through a medical record of the reason for discontinuation of escitalopram and documented adverse events. Results : The mean duration of treatment was $78.1{\pm}89.5$ days, and the mean dosage was $10.0{\pm}4.4$mg/day. Out of the total 37 patients, two (5%) patients sustained use of escitalopram. Twelve patients (32.4%) discontinued use of escitalopram due to target symptom remission, and 23 patients (61.9%) due to insufficient efficacy. Six patients (16.2%) had at least one documented adverse event. However, no suicidal ideation or self-injurious behavior was reported. Significant differences in clinical symptom improvement efficacy were seen between the patients who were receiving escitalopram for less than 8 weeks (4.3%, 1/13) and those for more than 8 weeks (92.9%, 13/14). There was no significant difference between the tolerability of monotherapy compared to the concomitant use group. Conclusion : The results of this study suggest that long-term use of escitalopram may result in superior efficacy than shortterm use, and is tolerable in Korean adolescents with depression.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2014

In order to resolve the decline in population due to low birthrates, the South Korean government is expanding its free child care policies with an increased budget. In anticipating the effects and problems of our system, it will be worthy of attention to refer to the child care systems of other countries. In this paper, we reviewed the past and present policies and the current situation of the child care system in North Korea. North Korea started its free child care system earlier than that of South Korea, for the purpose of utilizing the women's labor force and rearing children to be revolutionary men of Juche type (Kimilsungism), in order to construct a communistic society. 'Child Care Education Law', which is the legal foundation of the child care system, regulates institutions for nursery schools and kindergarten and informs people that the country is responsible for support of child care. Despite their interest and progress in both quantity and quality in the child care system until the 1980s, the free child care system was partially disrupted, and discrepancies between ideology and actual situation were revealed due to economic difficulties from the 1990s. Because people's survival and physical health have been threatened, it is barely possible to find any study investigating the effect of institutional child care from early childhood and the instillation of unique ideology by group education from the preschool period on mental health.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.215-221
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• 2023

Advancements in digital technology have led to increased usage of digital devices among teenagers. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the subsequent implementation of social distancing policies have further accelerated this change. Consequently, a new concept called the metaverse has emerged. The metaverse is a combination of a virtual reality universe that allows individuals to meet, socialize, work, play, entertain, and create. This review provides an overview of the concept and main features of the metaverse and examples of its utilization in the real world. It also explains the unique developmental characteristics of childhood and adolescence, as well as the possible negative influences of the metaverse on them, including addiction, antisocial behavior, cyberbullying, and identity confusion. This review summarizes several suggestions for future research because the metaverse is a relatively new concept.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2004

A historical overview of the relationship between law and medicine, particularly psychiatry, was presented along with the religious, social and legal aspects of the societies in the Western hemisphere as they affected the concepts and philosophy of the legal system in each society at different point in history. The evolution of the modern concept of juvenile court system and changing patterns of implementing the juvenile law in the United States, particularly the mental health evaluation process to determine the youths' competence to stand trial, were presented in detail. The ultimate goals of protecting the civil rights of children, adolescents and youths are emphasized.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2024

Objectives: Although adolescents appear less vulnerable to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the side effects of this pandemic can still be devastating. Bullying and suicidality are significant global issues with detrimental effects on young people, particularly during school closure. This study aimed to identify the relationship between bullying and suicide risk among adolescents in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on adolescents aged 14-18 years in May 2020 in Bandung, Indonesia, using a web-based closed survey. The Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument and the Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised were used to measure bullying and risk of suicide. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: This study included 268 participants in 2020 and 175 participants in 2019. In 2020, the prevalence of perpetrators and victims of bullying combined was 74.6%. Meanwhile, in 2019, the prevalence of perpetrators and victims of bullying combined was 82.9%. Risk of suicide increased from 26.1% in 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) to 36.5% in 2020 (during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic). The risk of perpetrators and suicide victims was higher than that of perpetrators and victims alone (odds ratio [OR]=4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.5-6.6 vs. OR=1.3, 95% CI=1.0-2.9 and OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.1-2.8, respectively). Conclusion: Bullying can enhance the likelihood of suicide among adolescents in Indonesia, and the risk was highest for the combination of victims and perpetrators. It is very important to provide early risk prediction for youths with bullying behavior and improve the knowledge and understanding of families and schools regarding the negative effects of bullying behavior.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2021

Purpose: This study investigated the factors that influence depression in adolescents diagnosed with asthma in South Korea, providing basic data supporting efforts to improve adolescents' mental health. Methods: Multiple regression analysis was conducted on 4,020 subjects who had been diagnosed with lifelong asthma among the 57,303 respondents to the 15th Korea Youth Risk Behaviour Web-Based Survey from 2019. Results: The participants were more likely to have depression if they were female, in middle school, their academic achievement was poor, they were drinkers or smokers, if they felt a very high amount of stress, and if they experienced very inadequate recovery from fatigue. Adolescents with asthma were 9.00 times more likely to experience depression when they felt a very high amount of stress (95% confidence interval [CI]=5.51-14.69, p<.001) than when they felt no stress. Conclusion: Given these factors, measures to improve the mental health of adolescents should be developed and expanded, especially to decrease their stress levels. A separate program that is different from the school's regular health curriculum should be developed to manage the stress levels of adolescents with asthma, such as an after-school program or a program conducted at a local community centre.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.121-126
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• 2019

Objectives: Awareness of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults has significantly increased; however, clinical data specific to the Korean population are insufficient. Clinical experience of ADHD may differ based on whether psychiatrists have received pediatric psychiatry-specific training. In order to prepare a practice parameter for adult ADHD patients in Korea, we examined questionnaire data to observe how pediatric psychiatry training could affect clinical practice for adults with ADHD. Methods: A questionnaire about the diagnosis and treatment process was distributed to both general psychiatrists (GPsy) and child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAP) at the summer and winter workshop meetings of Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Results: In total, 142 psychiatrists participated in the survey (86 GPsy, 56 CAP). GPsy and CAP preferred pharmacotherapy (GPsy 82.40%, CAP 64.30%) as the primary treatment option and answered that the clinical psychiatric interview is the most necessary step in diagnostic assessment (GPsy 22.16%, CAP 19.00%). The GPsy responded with an optimal and average treatment duration that was shorter than that reported by CAP. Conclusion: Identification of the initial presenting symptom as the correct diagnosis and the optimal duration of pharmacotherapy differed between GPsy and CAP in practice, whereas concepts in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults were similar for both groups. These results suggest the urgent need for the Continuing Medical Education program for psychiatrists treating adults with ADHD.