Young-gun Ko

Prevalence and Correlates of Complete Mental Health in the South Korean Adult Population

This chapter summarizes the findings supporting the two continua model of mental health and illness, the benefits of flourishing to psychosocial functioning, and sociodemographic correlates of subjective well-being in South Korea. The results of our confirmatory factor analysis showed that a correlated two-factor solution provided a suitable fit to the present data. Completely mentally healthy adults reported the highest levels of mental, emotional, and physical health and the highest levels of resilience, goal formation, and intimacy. However, 7.9 % of South Koreans were completely mentally healthy, and roughly one in five adults met the criteria for languishing, indicating that there is much room for improvement in the positive mental health of South Koreans. The analysis of determinants of mental health indicates that family income, education level, and community type play an important role in explaining variations in positive mental health in South Korea.

If gifted/learning disabled students have wisdom, they have all things!

This study explores how a historical genius with learning disabilities (LD) used his giftedness to surmount his disabilities. This study compared biographical data of a historical genius with LD to geniuses without LD using the posthumous diagnostic methodology. Niels Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Enrico Fermi were selected for investigation. Results show that Bohrs ability to achieve eminence in adulthood at a level equal to Fermis and possibly superior to Oppenheimers may be related to the fact that Bohr used wisdom more effectively than Oppenheimer or Fermi. These findings suggest that Gifted/Learning Disabled (G/LD) students may benefit from greater focus on wisdom in addition to academic achievement in their gifted programs.

Feeling lonely when not socially isolated: Social isolation moderates the association between loneliness and daily social interaction

Although it is widely acknowledged that people can feel lonely when not socially isolated, to our knowledge, no study has examined whether loneliness would be differently associated with daily social relations for people who are not socially isolated. The present study examined the role of social isolation (i.e., small social network size) in moderating the association between loneliness and characteristics of daily social interactions—interaction type and qualitative characteristics—using the 7-day social interaction diary data of 118 individuals. The moderating effect of social isolation on self-informant agreement in loneliness ratings was additionally examined, using three informant ratings of loneliness. Greater loneliness was more related to less frequency of strong tie interactions for people who are less socially isolated, while loneliness was more associated with greater self-focus during interactions for more socially isolated people. In addition, for those who are less socially isolated, the self-informant agreement in loneliness ratings was lower, suggesting that their loneliness might be underrecognized, even by those close to them. These results indicate that the relationships between loneliness and such social variables may operate differently depending upon the personal level of social isolation. In particular, our findings underscore the significant role of frequent interactions with close ties in alleviating the loneliness of people who are not socially isolated, suggesting that human social needs cannot be satisfied merely by a large number of social contacts.

The Relationship Between Positive Mental Health and General Safety Behaviors in Adolescents

본 연구의 목적은 청소년의 긍정적 정신건강 유형과 생활안전행동 간 관계를 조사하는 것이다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 제10차 청소년건강행태온라인 조사에 참여한 청소년 자료를 활용하였다. 이 조사에 참여한 청소년 74,167명 중 안전벨트를 매는 교통수단(고속버스 등)을 탑승한 적이 있다고 응답한 60,979명(남자 30,855명, 여자 30,124명)의 자료를 분석하였다. 본 연구에서는 Keyes와 Lopez(2002)의 분류에 의한 긍정적 정신건강 유형에 따라 생활안전행동에서 차이를 보이는지를 살펴보았다. 그 결과, 청소년의 생활안전행동 점수의 크기는 정신적 번영 유형, 정신적 쇠약 유형, 분투 유형, 심리적 부적응 유형의 순으로 나타났다. 위계적 회귀분석 결과, 긍정적 정신건강 유형이 생활안전행동에 미치는 영향은 성별, 학교 유형, 가정의 경제 상태를 통제한 조건 하에서도 유의미하였다. 끝으로, 본 연구의 시사점과 제한점 및 추후 연구에 대한 제언이 논의되었다.