• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.407-418
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify mediating effects of self-concept on mental health of children and adolescents who fell victim to violence. Methods: A survey was conducted on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders from 2 elementary schools and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students from 3 middle schools (n=2,391). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and AMOS. Results: The mean scores of mental health and self-concept in the subjects were 4.5 and 184.9 respectively. The rate of poor mental health in students who had fallen victim to violence was more than twice as high as that in students who had never experienced it. The self-concept of students who experienced violence had a tendency to decline. Violence experience and self-concept accounted for 47.7%(43.0% for boys and 53.4% for girls) of the changes in mental health. The indirect mediating effects of self-concept were significant. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the following is suggested. Schools should offer a self-concept improvement program for students with a distorted self-concept caused by falling victim to violence. It could help such adolescents have a positive self image and improve their mental health.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.229-241
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• 2019

Objectives: This study analyzed the relationship between dietary behavior and health-related characteristics and experiences of major oral disease symptoms using online raw data on adolescent health behavior. Methods: Using the raw data on 61,858 adolescents collected through the 13th Adolescent Health Behavior Online Survey, a complex samples logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess risks of major oral diseases. Results: The less one consumes sweet drinks and the more one eats vegetables per day, the less likely one is to experience symptoms of tooth decay and periodontal diseases. Undergoing scaling and oral health education help prevent major oral diseases. Brushing after school lunch prevents periodontal diseases and foul breath, and using dental floss and interdental brush also help prevent periodontal diseases. Conclusions: To minimize experiences of oral diseases during adolescent years, it is necessary to periodically scale teeth and provide knowledge regarding the personal management of dental plaque through school oral health education.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-60
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• 2023

Purpose: This study explored the influencing factors on suicide-related behaviors (ideation, plans, and attempts) focusing on mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and loneliness) among Korean adolescents. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted with data from the 16th Korean Youth Health Behavior Survey collected from in 2020 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: After the adjustment of demographic characteristics and health risk behaviors, the influences of mental health problems on suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts showed the anxiety odds ratio (OR) for severe anxiety vs. minimal (OR 4.65, 4.67, and 3.75), depression (OR 4.27, 3.69, and 4.49), loneliness (OR 2.18, 1.96, and 1.96). Health risk behaviors (violence experience, drug use, stress, smoking, and drinking alcohol) and demographic variables (gender, school record, and socioeconomic status) were also significantly associated with suicide-related behaviors. Conclusion: Anxiety, depression, and loneliness were strong predictors of suicide-related behaviors. Early detection of suicide risks through screening for comprehensive mental health problems was recommended. Suicide prevention that considers the risk factors, including mental health problems and other risk factors, needs to be developed and implemented to reduce suicide risks among adolescents.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.414-429
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• 1990

Numerous research reports have substantiated the role of stressful life events in relation to the onset of health changes. The relationship tends to hold across different age groups. Theoretically, adolescence has been considered a developmental crisis period of great stress, impoverished coping skills and high vulnerability to biological, social and psychological demands. The research problem addressed by this study was to examine the relationships between stressful life events and health symptom patterns, and the effect of two variables, coping and social, support, theoretically considered to mediate the relationship between stress and health symptoms in adolescents. The following five hypotheses were tested in this research : 1. Health symptoms are positively related to stressful life events in adolescents, 2. Health symptoms are negatively related to coping in adolescents, 3. Health symptoms are negatively related to social support in adolescents, 4. When coping is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will decrease, and 5. When social support is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will increase. The study subjects consisted of 1090 high school students of the metropolitan city of Seoul. The following sampling procedure was used : 1. Of the 169 high schools in nine school administrative districts in the city, a proportional sample of ten schools was selected. 2. One class from each of the freshman and sophomore was randomly selected and all the students who were in the sampled class were used as the study sample. The study was limited to freshman and sophomore adolescents, aged 15 to 18(mean＝16.6). Of the 1090 subjects 688(63%) were boys and 402(37%) were girls. An Adolescent Inventory of Stressful Life Events, a Health Symptom Questionnaire and an Adolescent Coping Inventory were adapted for this study. The Norbeck Social Support questionnaire was utilized to collect the data on perceived social support. Five high school teachers in the areas of school health and counselling reviewed the items of each questionnaire for content validity. A pilot study was undertaken to ascertain reliability. Fifty three high school students responded to the questionnaires and gave their opinions on the items. For stressful life events, health symptoms, coping, and social support, the Cronbach's alpha's on the study were .70, .94, .77, and .76, respectively. Research assistants attended all the sampled classes with the school proctor to explain the purpose and procedures of the study to the students. The questionnaires along with a ballpoint pen were distributed to the students who were asked to complete each item. The research assistants left the ballpoint pen with the students as a gift for their cooperation. An average of 50 minutes was required to complete the questionnaires. Using an SPSS, the first, three hypotheses were tested using Gamma, a measure of association for ordinal variables. Partial gamma was used to test the fourth and fifth hypotheses. Patterns of elaboration described by Babbie were selected to interpret the relationship of the three variable analyses. The significance of gamma was determined by Chisquare at a .05 level of significance. There was a positive relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events(Gamma＝.35, p＝.000). Thus the first hypothesis was supported. Unexpectedly, coping was positively related with health symptoms(Gamma＝.13, p＝.000). That is, the higher the coping levels, the greater number of health problems. The third hypothesis, the higher the level of social support, the fewer the health symptoms, was not accepted in this adolescent study group. When coping was controlled, under the condition of low coping the association between health symptoms and stressful life events increased significantly to a partial gamma of .39, and under the condition of high coping it was .30. According to the elaboration model, when one partial relationship is the same or greater than the original and the other is smaller, the control variable should be considered to be specifying the conditions. When social support was controlled the relationship between stressful life events and health symptoms increased under the condition of low social support, but with high social support, the relationship decreased. Both partial gamma were statistically significant at .05 level(.43 and .26 relatively). It can be interpreted that stressful life events are strongly and positively related to health symptoms under the condition of low social support, however this relationship can not be expected with high social support. Thus, the last two hypotheses were conditionally sustained. In this study, the relationships between stressful life events and health symptoms, and the specified me diating roles of coping and social support were found to have statistical interaction. This finding supports the theoretical position of this study. It suggests that stressful life events would create high susceptability to biological social and psychological health symptoms and coping and social support buffering the relationship between stressful life events and health symptom. The findings of this study have implications for nursing practice. When adolescents are confronted with non-developmental life events that are perceived as stressful, nurses should recognize the evidence of the stress-buffering effect of coping and social support on health symptoms and utilize the diverse sources of social support that are readily available to adolescents.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.651-659
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of family economic deterioration caused by COVID-19 on mental health among adolescents in grandparent-headed families. For the purpose, this study used raw data from the 16th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey constructed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in 2020 and analyzed the influence of family economic deterioration caused by COVID-19 on anxiety, stress, depression, and suicidal ideation. The main results regarding research questions are as follows. First, 39% of 589 adolescents in grandparent-headed families experienced family economic deterioration caused by COVID-19. Also, compared with adolescents who did not experience family economic deterioration, those who experienced deterioration showed higher scores of anxiety and stress as well as higher percentages of experiencing depression and suicidal ideation. Second, regression analyses showed that family economic deterioration caused by COVID-19 positively significantly influenced anxiety, stress, depression, and suicidal ideation. Based on the analyzed results, strategies to protect the mental health of adolescents in grandparent-headed families in disaster like COVID-19 were discussed.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.507-516
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at evaluating the dietary intakes of Korean adolescents affected by food insecurity, in comparison with those who were food secure. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study used one day 24-hour dietary recall data from the $6^{th}$ Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study subjects consisted of 1,453 adolescents of whom 695 were middle school-aged and 758 were high school-aged. Food security status was assessed using the 18-item questionnaire. Nutrient intake was evaluated in terms of nutrient density, insufficient intake, and excessive intake for selected nutrients, in addition to meeting the appropriate range for total energy intake and energy intakes from carbohydrate, sugar, protein, fat, and saturated fatty acids. Food intake was evaluated in terms of food group servings and dietary diversity score (DDS). RESULTS: The percentages of food insecurity were 11.1% for middle school-aged adolescents and 16.8% for high school-aged adolescents. Food insecure middle school-aged adolescents had higher intake of carbohydrate (P = 0.006) but lower intake of fat (P = 0.010) and saturated fatty acids (P = 0.005) than their food secure counterparts although the intake of both groups was in the recommended ranges. Nutrient intake among high school-aged adolescents was generally similar regardless of food security status. Both food secure and insecure adolescents showed insufficient intake of vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, and excessive sodium intake. They additionally had low prevalence of meeting appropriate intake ranges for energy, carbohydrate, and sugar. Food intake in terms of food group servings and DDS was also similar regardless of food security status among both age groups, with low intakes of foods from fruit and dairy groups. CONCLUSIONS: Except for a few nutrients among the middle school-aged adolescents, dietary intakes among Korean adolescents did not differ by food security status in this study.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.92-101
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the influence of social pressure related to appearance and body image dissatisfaction on mental health in adolescents. Methods: Participants included 293 high school students. The data were collected from March 4 to 29, 2019, and were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression with SPSS ver. 21. Results: Mental health was positively correlated with social pressure related to appearance and body image dissatisfaction. Factors influencing mental health were peer pressure (β=.28, p<.001) and parental pressure (β=.22, p<.001) related to appearance; body image dissatisfaction (β =.11, p=.034); "high" (β=-.18, p=.004) and "moderate" (β=-.22, p<.001) perceived school achievement; and "satisfied" response to school satisfaction (β=-.27, p=.028). These factors explained 32% of the variance in mental health. Conclusion: These results imply the need to develop effective intervention programs that enhance body image satisfaction to prevent poor mental health in adolescents.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was done to compare health risk behavior prevalence for youth living in metropolitan, medium sized and small cities or rural area, in order to enhance understanding regional differences. Methods: For this study, data from the 2006 Youth Health Risk Behavior Online Survey collected by the Korean Center for Disease Control were analyzed using SPSS. Results: In the metropolitan areas, prevalence for disease and perceived obesity were higher than in other areas. Lack of intense or moderate physical activity, obesity, fast food intake, and insufficient sleep showed higher prevalence than in rural areas. Prevalence of lifetime smoking, lifetime alcohol consumption, present alcohol use, fruit intake less than once a day, and not wearing a seat belt were higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Gender, smoking, and alcohol use were correlated. Spearman correlation between living with parent and skipping breakfast were significant. Smoking, alcohol use, and sexual behavior were correlated. Conclusion: As significant differences in prevalence of youth health risk behaviors exist between regional areas, health education and health promotion programs considering these differences have to be developed and implemented for adolescents. Programs for prevention of smoking and alcohol use, programs for improvement of fruit intake and safety are suggested for adolescents in rural areas, whereas programs to enhance physical activity and obesity management are suggested for adolescents in metropolitan areas.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find the factors influencing adolescents' adult media engagement. The study is based on Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) and a micro-systemic perspective. Methods: The study examined 479 middle school freshmen who participated in the fourth wave of the Korean Children & Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) conducted by National Youth Policy Institute. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and reliability analysis using SPSS 22.0 Ver. Also, hypothesis testing was performed via covariance-based structure equation modeling (CB-SEM) using Amos 21.0 Ver. Results: Strain factors had positive effects on adolescent depression, and depression had a positive effect on adult media engagement. Also, cell-phone dependency had a positive mediation effect between depression and adult media engagement. Conclusion: The study's result identified the factors affecting adult media engagement. Therefore, we suggest intervention programs considering adolescents' strains, depression and cell-phone dependency to improve their health.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2008

Adolescents in Busan area were asked in a survey about their perception and attitudes towards fast food. Most respondents answered that they consume fast food once a month because it is fast, easily accessible and tasty. Although they perceived fast food as unhealthy and less nutritious, they were less aware of its effect on their health and nutritional status. The more knowledgeable respondents were about nutrition and health the less likely they were to choose fast food over other meals. However, respondents who had little or no knowledge about the nutritional factors of fast food accounted for 43.1%. As to their source of dietary information, students relied on themselves(31.0%), parents(20.5%) and mends(19.9%). The medium through which students got the most nutrition and health information was television(66.8%), followed by the Internet(36.7%) and magazines(29.7%). This study will enable educators to plan more effective strategies for improving the dietary knowledge of the adolescent population.