ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Children are exposed to dangers of loneliness. This problem is associated with violent aggression, depression and anxiety. Therefore, the effect of peer relationship and family function on children's loneliness was investigated in this study. METHODS: This study was based on the survey administered to 198, 5th and 6th grade students of five elementary schools in Seoul, Korea, in May, 2007. We investigated family function, peer relationship and children's loneliness by self-rating using the Smilkstein's Family APGAR, Peer Environment Scale and Children's Loneliness Scale. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS ver. 12.0. RESULTS: Comparison group of children with different gender showed significant difference in the peer relationship, especially emotional support. On the other hand, data showed children's loneliness and family function were not affected in male or female children. Group of children with more intimate relationship and healthier family function reduced children's loneliness. Peer relationship and family function had the greatest infl uence on children's loneliness. CONCLUSION: Group of children with more intimate relationship and healthier family function reduced children's loneliness. Accordingly, family physicians should heed to their family function and know that it has an effect on children's emotions.
Subject(s)
Child , Female , Humans , Male , Aggression , Anxiety , Depression , Family Relations , Hand , Korea , Loneliness , Peer Group , Physicians, FamilyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial dysfunction (VED) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and is associated with insulin resistance and with visceral obesity. Therefore, in this study the predicting factor of vascular endothelial dysfunction was investigated in healthy premenopausal obese women by pulse-wave analysis (PWA) combined with provocative pharmacological testing. METHODS: Thirty three obese women (BMI> or =25), aged 20~45 y and 25 age-matched control subjects (BMI; 18.5~22.9) were examined. All women were sedentary (<1 hr/wk of physical activity), non-smoker and were excluded if they had type 2 diabetes melitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, or acute inflammatory disease and were studied in folicullar phase of the cycle, within the first week after cessation of menstrual bleeding. They underwent determination of anthropometric measurements, metabolic variables, adipose tissue regional distribution, and endothelial function by performing pulse-wave analysis (PWA) combined with provocative pharmacological testing. RESULTS: Augmentation Index (AIx) fell significantly after the administration of salbutamol, which causes endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, but response was significantly reduced in obese women compared with controls (10.28 6.72% vs 17.2 6.84%, P=0.0003). The change in after Nitroglycerin, which causes endothelium-independent vasodilatation, did not differ significantly (30.86 9.67% vs 30.6 10.11%, P=0.9172). In our obese subjects, visceral adipose tissue area was independently a significant predictor of vascular endothelial dysfunction (beta= 0.1381, P=0.0038, Adj-R2=0.348). CONCLUSION: Increased abdominal adiposity is a powerful independent predictor of VED in obese healthy women. Future studies of vascular endothelial function should account for the independent effects of abdominal fat.