• Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.614-627
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• 2018

Purpose: Asthma is a heterogeneous disease that responds to medications to varying degrees. Cluster analyses have identified several phenotypes and variables related to fixed airway obstruction; however, few longitudinal studies of lung function have been performed on adult asthmatics. We investigated clinical, demographic, and inflammatory factors related to persistent airflow limitation based on lung function trajectories over 1 year. Methods: Serial post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume (FEV) 1% values were obtained from 1,679 asthmatics who were followed up every 3 months for 1 year. First, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using Ward's method to generate a dendrogram for the optimum number of clusters using the complete post-FEV1 sets from 448 subjects. Then, a trajectory cluster analysis of serial post-FEV1 sets was performed using the k-means clustering for the longitudinal data trajectory method. Next, trajectory clustering for the serial post-FEV1 sets of a total of 1,679 asthmatics was performed after imputation of missing post-FEV1 values using regression methods. Results: Trajectories 1 and 2 were associated with normal lung function during the study period, and trajectory 3 was associated with a reversal to normal of the moderately decreased baseline FEV1 within 3 months. Trajectories 4 and 5 were associated with severe asthma with a marked reduction in baseline FEV1. However, the FEV1 associated with trajectory 4 was increased at 3 months, whereas the FEV1 associated with trajectory 5 was persistently disturbed over 1 year. Compared with trajectory 4, trajectory 5 was associated with older asthmatics with less atopy, a lower immunoglobulin E (IgE) level, sputum neutrophilia and higher dosages of oral steroids. In contrast, trajectory 4 was associated with higher sputum and blood eosinophil counts and more frequent exacerbations. Conclusions: Trajectory clustering analysis of FEV1 identified 5 distinct types, representing well-preserved to severely decreased FEV1. Persistent airflow obstruction may be related to non-atopy, a low IgE level, and older age accompanied by neutrophilic inflammation and low baseline FEV1 levels.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.53
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• pp.161-198
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• 2016

This study examined how previous financial and time transfers from mothers to their adult children affect co-residence of elderly mothers and their adult children in South Korea. This study employed multi-level logistic analysis considering hierarchical relationship structures between mothers and their adult children. A sample of 1,925 elderly mothers and 7,460 adult children was extracted from data which were from the first wave (in 2006) to the forth wave (in 2012) of Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). The result of the analysis suggested that past financial transfer from mothers to their adult children was not significantly associated with co-residence between elderly mothers and their adult children. However, likelihood of co-residence increased with the amount of time transfer, which was measured by unit of time for elderly mothers' caring for their grandchildren. This study discussed that long-term reciprocal relationships between elderly mothers and their adult children are built by intergenerational support relationships. However, the result that showed only grandmaternal child care affected intergenerational co-residence implies that intergenerational care may play an important role in intergenerational reciprocal relationships. Through these findings, this study suggested theoretical, practical, and policy implications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.36
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• pp.261-288
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• 2011

This study focuses on adolescent prosocial behavior as one of the necessary elements for youth to grow as a healthy member of the society. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of peer group on adolescent prosocial behavior by comparing the peer influence model and the individual characteristics model. For the study, we conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses using the data from the Korean Youth General Survey 2008, administered by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Results show that friends' prosocial behavior had a positive impact, but friends' antisocial behavior had a negative impact on adolescent prosocial behavior. When individual characteristics including self-esteem and empathy were analyzed simultaneously, empathy, self-esteem, friends' prosocial behavior, and friends' antisocial behavior were found to be statistically significant. The strength of association between individual characteristics and adolescent prosocial behavior was greater than that of friends' behaviors. Also, significant moderating effects of individual characteristics on the relationships between adolescent prosocial behavior and friends' behaviors were found. For example, the positive effect of friends' prosocial behavior on adolescent prosocial behavior increased as adolescent's level of self-esteem increased. On the other hand, the negative effect of friends' antisocial behavior on adolescent prosocial behavior decreased as adolescent's level of empathy increased. Based on the findings, both the peer influence model and the individual characteristics model were considered valid in explaining prosocial behavior of Korean adolescents. Finally, implications of this study for positive youth development were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.395-423
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• 2008

This study investigated population characteristics that influencing treatment service use of people who are voluntarily using drug dependency treatment services by using logistic and hierarchical regression analysis. The research model of the current study was driven by the framework of the 'the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use(the Andersen model)' that has been broadly applied to study on health behavior. This study used data from a sample group of 80 adults by using purposive sampling. This study found that some predisposing factors, enabling factors and need factors have direct effects on service use. In detail, individuals who graduated from high school use drug dependency treatment utilities more than those who did not. Further, individuals who were given more support from family, peers, or others, use the treatment utilities more frequently and were more willing to use the utilities continuously. Furthermore, the greater the perceived need felt by the dependent, the greater the tendency to enter hospitals or shelters. The important implications of this study for social work practice and social policy can be summarized as follows: first, this study supports the idea that intervention for drug dependents in Korea should be focused on environment resources rather than population characteristics; and government must support drug dependent treatment systems; the present study was the first to investigate Korean drug dependents through taking a more positive view, as well as the first to apply 'the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use', and as such represents an example of how studies could be productively conducted in the future. Despite these implications, there remain some limitations in this study. These include the following: limitation in generalizability of the results; the cross-sectional nature of the study design; survey research through the questionnaire method; using foreign scales; and the difficulty of classifying treatment settings.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.53-75
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• 2013

This article explores the impact of mergers on the experiences of students. A case design is used to gain an in-depth understanding of the students in a Korean university that was combined with a two-year college in 2007. Semi-structured interviews of 11 direct entrants, 5 transfer students, and 7 professors were conducted in 2010 for the data collection. The results suggest that mergers do not necessarily ensure the integration of the students involved. Since mergers pose enormous challenges to both transfer students and direct entrants, university leaders need to give careful attention to students' persistence and integration as the campus changes. The results also reveal that students' experience of mergers may be affected by cultural backgrounds as well as the hierarchical structure of higher education. In Korean society, where credentialism prevails, mergers can have different impacts on students who come from initial institutions of differing perceived quality, and thus mergers may incite tension among the students. In light of these concerns, this study's findings highlight the importance of student integration as a key element in mergers.

• Review of Culture and Economy
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.31-58
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• 2018

In this study, we empirically investigated the antecedents of crowdfunding success in the arts and cultural field using the case of Tumblbug in Korea. We collected data on 494 projects listed on Tumblebug in the arts and culture category that includes feature film, documentary, short film, animation, and Web series, as of June 2018. We analyzed the factors associated with the final amount raised via crowdfunding on Tumblbug using the hierarchical regression method. We find that the social capital accumulated by a focal entrepreneur (i.e., the proposer/designer of a focal project) through prior participation in other related projects and social communication activities carried out during the funding period, respectively, have positive effects on the final amount raised. More interestingly, we also find that the intensity of social communication plays a central role in the funding success of arts and culture-related projects by supplementing the lack of the entrepreneur's social capital and the reward features including a given project.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.179-207
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the performance-oriented culture of a community welfare center on the job performance of its social workers. For that purpose, the study conducted a survey by mail with 1,162 social workers working for community welfare centers around Busan and Gyeongnam Province from January 4 to 31, 2013. Of the collected questionnaires, a total of 755 from 81 community welfare centers were used in the final analysis. This study used the SPSS 21.0, AMOS 21.0, and HLM 6.02 statistical software packages to perform data analysis for each hypothesis. The analysis results of the unconditional model of the hierarchical linear model, the unconditional random coefficient model, and the conditional model show that the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of social workers had positive (+) effects on their job performance. Secondly, customer orientation, one of the sub-elements of performance-oriented culture, had positive (+) effects on the job performance of social workers, whereas the result orientation had negative (-) effects on it. In addition, innovation orientation had no impacts on their job performance. Based on those findings, the study proposed management plans for organizational culture to enhance the job performance of social workers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.261-290
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine how previous grandmaternal child care affects contacts between older mothers and their adult children. This study especially focused on intergenerational long-term reciprocity relationships. In this study, data from the first wave (in 2006) to the forth wave (in 2012) of Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing yielded a sample of 1,925 elderly mothers and 7,460 adult children. This study employed multi-level analyses considering hierarchical structures between the mothers and their adult children. In this study, past grandmaternal child care was measured by providing care behavior and unit of time for care. Intergenerational contacts was measured by frequency of face-to-face and non-face-to-face contacts. The results showed that adult children who previously received child care from their mothers were more likely to contact to their mothers. Additionally, the increasing amount of time for elderly mothers to provide care to their grandchildren led to more frequent contacts between elderly mothers and their adult children. The findings proved that grandmaternal child care was in important position in reciprocal relationships between elderly mothers and their adult children. Through these results, this study suggested theoretical, policy, and practical implications.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.531-539
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• 2021

Given the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT) and the deepening of the information gap phenomenon in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers and practitioners need to understand the changing perceptions of new phenomena such as COVID-19 information gap on the existing information-vulnerable population. In this study, an empirical analysis was performed with the digital information gap survey data in 2020 to understand the potential impact of COVID-19 on the information gap according to the information-vulnerable class. This study is to verify the effect of information gap, marginalized groups, gender, and major factors of information services (contents, social relations, life services, information production, networking, social participation, non-face-to-face services) on the change in perception of digital information technology after Corona. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the higher the content, social relationship, life service, networking, and digital non-face-to-face service, the higher the change in perception of digital information technology after Corona. Therefore, in light of the evolving phenomenon of COVID-19, it is considered that the government needs to provide education and training to strengthen the capabilities of the information-vulnerable class in order to resolve the digital information gap.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.158-167
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• 2021

This study was attempted to investigate the mediating effect of the tolerance of dating violence in the influence of female college students' perception of dating violence on their sexual self-assertion. The subjects of this study were 161 female students enrolled in universities in the Chungbuk region. As research instrument, Jeong(2013)'s perception of dating violence, Jeong(2016)'s sexual self-assertiveness, and Nam(2003)'s dating violence acceptability were used. For data analysis, frequency, percentage, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and Sobel test were performed using SPSS WIN 21.0 program. As a result of the study, first, there was a significant positive correlation between perception of dating violence and violence tolerance(r=.43, p<.001), and a significant negative correlation between violence tolerance and sexual assertiveness(r=-.20, p<.05). Second, the perception of dating violence had a significant positive effect on sexual assertiveness(𝛽=.43, p<.001), and the explanatory power was 19%(F=36.10, p<.001). Third, it was found that the decrease in the effect of female college students' perception of dating violence on sexual assertiveness was significant(Z=2.05, p<.05), violence acceptability showed a mediating effect on the effect of dating violence perception on sexual assertiveness. Based on this study, it is suggested to develop a dating violence prevention program that can lower female college students' acceptability for violence, raise perception of violence, and strengthen sexual assertiveness.