Microbusinesses and Occupational Stress: Emotional Demands, Job Resources, and Depression Among Korean Immigrant Microbusiness Owners in Toronto, Canada / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: While occupational stress has long been a central focus of psychological research, few studies have investigated how immigrant microbusiness owners (MBOs) respond to their unusually demanding occupation, or how their unresolved occupational stress manifests in psychological distress. Based on the job demands-resources model, this study compared MBOs to employees with regard to the relationships among emotional demands, job resources, and depressive symptoms. METHODS: Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 1288 Korean immigrant workers (MBOs, professionals, office workers, and manual workers) aged 30 to 70, living in Toronto and surrounding areas. Face-to-face interviews were conducted between March 2013 and November 2013. RESULTS: Among the four occupational groups, MBOs appeared to endure the greatest level of emotional demands, while reporting relatively lower levels of job satisfaction and job security; but MBOs reported the greatest job autonomy. The effect of emotional demands on depressive symptoms was greater for MBOs than for professionals. However, an inspection of stress-resource interactions indicated that though MBOs enjoyed the greatest autonomy, the protective effects of job satisfaction and security on the psychological risk of emotional demands appeared to be more pronounced for MBOs than for any of the employee groups. CONCLUSIONS: One in two Korean immigrants choose self-employment, most typically in family-owned microbusinesses that involve emotionally taxing dealings with clients and suppliers. However, the benefits of job satisfaction and security may protect MBOs from the adverse mental health effects of job stress.

Microbusinesses and Occupational Stress: Emotional Demands, Job Resources, and Depression Among Korean Immigrant Microbusiness Owners in Toronto, Canada / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES@#While occupational stress has long been a central focus of psychological research, few studies have investigated how immigrant microbusiness owners (MBOs) respond to their unusually demanding occupation, or how their unresolved occupational stress manifests in psychological distress. Based on the job demands-resources model, this study compared MBOs to employees with regard to the relationships among emotional demands, job resources, and depressive symptoms.@*METHODS@#Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 1288 Korean immigrant workers (MBOs, professionals, office workers, and manual workers) aged 30 to 70, living in Toronto and surrounding areas. Face-to-face interviews were conducted between March 2013 and November 2013.@*RESULTS@#Among the four occupational groups, MBOs appeared to endure the greatest level of emotional demands, while reporting relatively lower levels of job satisfaction and job security; but MBOs reported the greatest job autonomy. The effect of emotional demands on depressive symptoms was greater for MBOs than for professionals. However, an inspection of stress-resource interactions indicated that though MBOs enjoyed the greatest autonomy, the protective effects of job satisfaction and security on the psychological risk of emotional demands appeared to be more pronounced for MBOs than for any of the employee groups.@*CONCLUSIONS@#One in two Korean immigrants choose self-employment, most typically in family-owned microbusinesses that involve emotionally taxing dealings with clients and suppliers. However, the benefits of job satisfaction and security may protect MBOs from the adverse mental health effects of job stress.

A Prospective Study on Changes in Health Status Following Flood Disaster

OBJECTIVE: We examined changes in general health status, the prevalence of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and the existence of pre-trauma contributing factors in an agricultural population following a massive flood. METHODS: Eighty-three of 160 residents of Garisan-ni, Inje-gun, Gangwon-do, were assessed using the Korean version of the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36-K) between April and June 2006, just prior to a massive flood. Among those initially assessed, 58 residents were available for follow-up 18 months after the flood. Participants completed the SF-36-K, Beck Depression Index (BDI), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-PTSD, and the Korean version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) to detect depression and PTSD. Trauma experiences were also assessed. Factors related to changes in health status were then analyzed. RESULTS: SF-36-K total scale scores decreased significantly, suggesting a significant reduction in health-related quality of life. The largest reductions were noted in physical and social functioning. Fifty-three percent of the subjects were at least mildly depressed, and 17% had severe depression. In addition, 22% had PTSD on both the IES-R and MMPI-PTSD. Factors that contributed to the deterioration of health status following the flood were the number of disaster events and existence of depression (as assessed by the BDI). CONCLUSION: The flood was found to lead to deterioration of health status and to provoke depression and PTSD among the agricultural population in the mountainous region. We suggest that the number of disaster event experiences and existence of depression contriuted to changes in health status after the flood.

Alcohol Dependence, Mortality, and Chronic Health Conditions in a Rural Population in Korea

To determine the effects of excessive drinking and alcohol dependency on mortality and chronic health problems in a rural community in South Korea, this study represents a nested case-control study. In 1998, we conducted the Alcohol Dependence Survey (ADS), a population survey of a village in Korea. To measure the effects of alcohol on chronic health conditions and mortality over time, in 2004, we identified 290 adults from the ADS sample (N=1,058) for follow-up. Of those selected, 145 were adults who had alcohol problems, either alcohol dependence as assessed in the ADS by the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (N=59), or excessive drinking without dependency (N=86). Further 145 nondrinkers were identified, matching those with alcohol problems in age and sex. We revisited the village in 2004 and completed personal interviews with them. In multivariate logistic regressions, the rates of mortality and morbidity of chronic health conditions were three times greater for alcohol dependents compared with the rate for nondrinkers. Importantly, however, excessive drinking without dependency was not associated with the rates of either mortality or morbidity. Future investigations would benefit by attending more specifically to measures for alcohol dependence as well as measures for alcohol consumption.

Mental Health of Youth in Korean Immigrant Families / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the well-being of immigrant adolescents is complicated due to the empirical data showing poorer psychological and behavioral adjustment in native-born second generation immigrant children to those of foreign-born immigrant children. Some researchers argue the phenomenon of "healthy immigrant effect". This research is to examine the valicity of such effect. METHODS: The immigrant sample for this study was drawn from the pool of families involved in the Korean Mental Health Study (Noh et al, 1992) in the Metro area of Toronto. Of the 860 families, 318 Korean adolescents participated in this study. Immigrant control and Canadian control samples participated in the same survey. ANOVA and MCA were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The self reported depression in Korean sample was slightly higher than the controls. The self reported anxiety level is slightly higher in Korean than the controls. The self-reported instrumental and social competence were lower among Korean youth compared to the foreign-born and Canadian-born controls. CONCLUSION: The data are not consistent with the "healthy immigrant effect". A serious design issue in the studies of national data comparing immigrant children is that the impact of immigration on mental health can not be estimated accurately by comparing minority children of varying nativity status to children born in the host country. With close matching of the samples, we found that immigrant children do not have an advantage over their non-immigrant cohort.

Mental Health of Youth in Korean Immigrant Families / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the well-being of immigrant adolescents is complicated due to the empirical data showing poorer psychological and behavioral adjustment in native-born second generation immigrant children to those of foreign-born immigrant children. Some researchers argue the phenomenon of "healthy immigrant effect". This research is to examine the valicity of such effect. METHODS: The immigrant sample for this study was drawn from the pool of families involved in the Korean Mental Health Study (Noh et al, 1992) in the Metro area of Toronto. Of the 860 families, 318 Korean adolescents participated in this study. Immigrant control and Canadian control samples participated in the same survey. ANOVA and MCA were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The self reported depression in Korean sample was slightly higher than the controls. The self reported anxiety level is slightly higher in Korean than the controls. The self-reported instrumental and social competence were lower among Korean youth compared to the foreign-born and Canadian-born controls. CONCLUSION: The data are not consistent with the "healthy immigrant effect". A serious design issue in the studies of national data comparing immigrant children is that the impact of immigration on mental health can not be estimated accurately by comparing minority children of varying nativity status to children born in the host country. With close matching of the samples, we found that immigrant children do not have an advantage over their non-immigrant cohort.

Validity Assessment of the CISS(Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation) in Korean High School Students / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: CISS(Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation) is one of the measures to access the coping dimension with dispositional approach. Consisting of three subscales (i.e., task-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping), CISS has 48 items and each subscales has 16 items. We undertook an investigation of the psychometric properties of the CISS in Korean highschool students to determine the extent to which this measure was generalizable to non-western populations. METHODS: The duration of the survey was from 1st of May to 30th of June, 1997. The subjects were 300 of 2nd grade students from 6 highschools in Seoul. Exploratory factor analysis was performed, and reliability, correlations and mean difference were estimated. RESULTS: Comparison of the factor loading patterns in our sample with published factor loading of the CISS confirmed that our loading patterns replicated established task-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping constructs. However, 9 out of the 48 items were problematic. Of the avoidance-focused subscale, 4 items had unclear results, and of the emotion-focused subscales, 5 items had unclear results. Internal coefficients of the three subscales of the CISS range from 0.82-0.90 for male and female students. In intercorrelations among subscales, independence among factors was found in female students, but independence among subscales was not found in male students. CONCLUSION: Our results were equivocal in suggesting the cross-cultural stability ofthe structure of the CISS. We identified three underlying factors that replicated the established structure of the CISS in North America. However, instances of cross-loading among items and significant intercorrelations between factors suggest that these constructs may not constitute the mutually independent measures. Conceptualization of coping can be affected by theinfluence of cultural practices and preferences. The implication of the results is that Korean students in this sample did not consistently distinguish uniquely among the specificdimensions of coping as measured by the CISS in North America. We may have experienced more difficulties in replicating the factor structures of more abstract domains than concrete constructs due to the nuance of translation.

Readjustment and Social Support of the Post Hospitalized Stroke Patients / 간호학회지

An explanatory design was employed to identify the relationship of physical, emotional & social readjustment and social support of post hospitalized stroke patients and their caregiver. A convenient sample of 254 patients who given follow-up care at the outpatient department after discharge and 225 caregivers were recruited. Mental Status Questionnaire(MSQ), Social Support Inventory Stroke Survivors(SSISS), Illness intrusiveness(II), Instument Activity of Daily Living(IADL), Center of Epidnmilogic Studies-Depression(CES-D), social activity and caregiver burden were used for measurement in this study. Results showed patient's physical level measured by IADL and psychological level measured by depression were high. But social activity was low. Cognitive function, depression & social activity were not significantly different by the posthospitalized period, but IADL was. The source of professional support was mostly the physician at the outpatient department. The family support was found significantly related to patient's depression & social activity and caregiver's subjective related to patient's IADL & depression. ILLness intrusiveness as a mediating variable was a significantly predicting power on patient's IADL & depression. The path analysis was used to identify the variables to predict the physical, emotional, and social status of patients, the physical, emotional, and cognitive function, illness intursiveness and professional support significantly predicted the level of siveness and family support significantly predicted the level of depression ; and patient's age and family support significantly predicted the level of social activity of posthospitalized stroke patients. Based upon these results, the rehabilitation programs to reduce the illness intrusiveness and improve cognitive function were recommended for the readjustment of the stroke patients. This model of the readjustment of the posthospitalized stroke patients is recommended as the framework for care of the stroke patients.