The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among private tutoring hours, academic motivation, use of learning strategies, and academic achievement test scores using structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 3,607 7th graders from Korean middle schools who were included in the Korean Education Longitudinal Study. The results suggest that there was no evidence that the private tutoring hours predicted students' motivation and learning strategy use. It was found that the private tutoring hours predicted achievements in English and Math, but it was negligible in magnitude. As for achievement test scores, academic motivation and the use of learning strategies played more critical role rather than the private tutoring hours.
A total of 181 college students(61 males 121 females) with at least 5 years of living abroad (Returnee Group) and another group of 181 students (92 males and 93 females) without extended period of living abroad (Comparison Group) participated in the study by completing a questionnaire consisting of Acculturation Index, Multidimensional Acculturation Scale, Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, CES-D, and WHOQOL. The results indicated that the Returnee Group, compared to the Comparison Group, reported as good adjustment toward college life in Korea and positive attitude toward the Korean identity, but a higher level of loneliness. When the Returnee Group were divided into 4 different groups on the basis of acculturation pattern, the Integration and Assimilation Type reported a better adjustment to college life, lower depression and loneliness and better quality of life than the Marginalization Type. The Mariginalization Type appears to be the most vulnerable group, experiencing difficulties in all areas of adjustment, and is clearly in need of interventions. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research were discussed.
In this paper, we reviewed the community-based approaches to suicide prevention and national strategies for the decrement of suicide rate, and made some suggestions to decrease the suicide rate in South Korea. Until now, efforts to understand and prevent suicide have been pursued singularly by specialized interest groups such as psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health practitioners, and private organizations with little interaction between them, resulting in narrow approaches toward suicide that existed in relative isolation to one another and that have been largely ineffective. To decline the suicide rate in South Korea, the people lived in Korea community ought to have enough knowledge related to suicide and have to cooperate with other people. Through these efforts, Korea community would have established social safety networks to improve the community’s mental health. The most important factor in suicide prevention and declining the suicide rate is reducing the stigma and increase the self-help seeking behaviors associated with suicide and mental health. Therefore, suicide is not an individual problem solved by suicidal patient, but a community’s problem solved by community in recognizing, managing and preventing suicide.
The present study was to explore the suicide from the perspective of cultural psychology. The result was that: First, the main reason to commit the familial suicide in korea is due to cultural characteristic. Korean people does not think the relationship of parents and children is separate or independent. So, When they can not bring up their child, Korean parents commit the familial suicide. Second, many people commit suicide not individual problems but interpersonal problems. This result reveal that korean people think relationship between the people is very important. Third, there art too many alcohol problem in korea. The reason is generous attitude about alcohol problem. Fourth, suicide of man due to economic problem on the other hand, women due to personal health problem. The reason of this is cultural characteristics of korea. In traditional Korean culture, the family responsibility rest with man and the household affairs responsibility rest with women. Also, it is suggested that further psychological researches must be performed in the serious consideration of the indigeneous characteristics of Korean culture.
Media reports of suicides has been found to increase suicide cases that were temporally and spacially proximal to the reports, but the psychological mechanisms, social learning, underlying the negative effects was not directly tested. The present study examined the cognitive processes of social learning that media reports of suicides, especially positive contents toward suicides, might change people's perception, memory, and attitudes toward suicides positively and subsequently increase subsequent suicide intentions and behaviors. Through an internet survey, 300 adults reported their perception, memory, and attitudes toward news reports of suicides, and rated whether the suicides were described positively or negatively in the reports. Finally they reported their suicide intentions and behaviors. The results revealed that people tended to remember more the contents of suicide reports suggested to increase copycat suicides. Also, people were found to have an ironic view to suicide reports of media that they acknowledged the dangers of suicides reports and approached the reports with curiosity. More importantly, the perception of the positive reward that suicides might achieved through suicides was related with positive attitudes toward suicides and behavioral intention to suicides. The present findings was discussed in the social learning understanding of copycat suicides and their implications for suicide-prevention strategies.
This study examines the influence of parental social support and resiliency of efficacy on stress, depression and stress management behavior. A total of 799 participants (male=386, female=413), consisting of 184 elementary school, 354 middle school, 274 university students completed a questionnaire that included Rhode Island Stress Scale (Horiuchi, Tsuda, Tanaka, Yajima & Tsuda, in press), Stress Management Behavior Scale (Evers, Prochaska, Johnson, Mauriello, Padula & Prochaska, 2006), Becks' Depression Inventory (BDI-Ⅱ, Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996; CES-D, Radloff, 1977), Resiliency of Efficacy (Bandura, 1995), and Parental Social Support (Kim & Park, 1999). The results of path analysis are as follows. First, resiliency of Efficacy had a direct and negative effect on stress and depression and direct positive effect on stress management. Second, stress management behavior did not have any influence on stress. Third, parental social support had a direct and positive effect on resiliency of efficacy. This pattern of results were found for elementary school, middle school and university students. When depression was measured by CES-D Scale (Center for Epidemiological Study of Depression) parental social support and resiliency of efficacy had a different parental of influence on stress, depression and stress management behavior, pointing out the importance of conducting comparative analysis of various measures of depression.