Korean Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3: Its Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity in Non-Clinical Samples

OBJECTIVE: The aim here is to examine the factorial structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the Korean version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (K-ASI-3) in student samples in Korea. Also, we investigated the cross-cultural differences in the Social Concerns factor. METHODS: K-ASI-3 was administered to non clinical samples in Korea. Internal consistency, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were undertaken to examine the factorial structure and reliability of the K-ASI-3. RESULTS: Results from CFA comparing our data to factor solutions commonly reported as representative of European-American samples indicated an adequate fit. The K-ASI-3 showed good performance on the indices of internal consistency and concurrent validity. In addition, using regression analyses, we found the Social Concerns factor is most strongly related to life satisfaction and worry. However, we found no evidence that Korean college students express more Social Concerns than their European Caucasian counterparts. CONCLUSION: The authors demonstrate that the K-ASI-3 has highly internally consistent and psychometrically sound items, and that it reliably measures three lower-order domains assessing Physical, Social, and Cognitive Concerns.

Cultural Difference in Applicants for FAA Physical Performed in Korea 1997~2008 / 항공우주의학회지

BACKGROUND: There have been some reports that under-reporting of pilots concerning their medical history and current use of medications resulted in fatal accidents. From the AME (Aviation Medical Examiner)'s perspective, accurate documentation of the application forms with careful examination of the applicant is necessary to avoid errors and any mishaps that may be contributed by falsification by the pilot. This article examines FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) physicals performed in Korea from 1997 to 2008 to show how Korean and foreign applicants differ in terms of making statements concerning their medical history and current use of medications and to see what can be done to overcome such differences. METHODS: From 1997 to 2008, all FAA physicals performed in one medical institution, was examined. Using the SPSS, the data was analyzed to compare the two groups, the Korean and the expatriate pilots. RESULTS: The total number of applicants was 811 with 785 (96.7%) males and 26 (3.2%) females. Some of the astounding results found among the group of applicants with different citizenship, basically between the Korean applicants and those out of the country including the U.S. and other nations, was that the reporting of any current use of medication (prescription or nonprescription) and of the medical history was vastly different. In reporting the current use of any medication, 13 among 429 (3.0%) Koreans reported yes, whereas for expatriates 82 among 382 (21.5%) reported the current use of medicine. In describing the medical history of the past and present, only 86 (20.0%) Koreans described yes, whereas 217 (56.8%) expatriates did so (Fig. 3). In any visits to a health professional within the last 3 years, only 48 (11.2%) Koreans described yes, whereas there were 188 (49.2%) expatriates. CONCLUSION: In this study, the difference between Korean pilots and the expatriates concerning the disclosure of applicants' medical history, the current use of medication(s), and recent visit to a health professional is obvious. Issues of debate may be that Korean applicants comprise of young age pilots as opposed to relatively older group of expatriates, and so age-related factor cannot be disregarded. In conclusion, proper documentation and examination of pilots may prevent many mishaps related to medical conditions and the use of medication(s) that were not initially recognized and the failure to do will result in fatal accidents.

Native Research of International Affective Picture System:Assessment in University Students / 中国临床心理学杂志

Objective:The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) is developed to provide a set of standardized emotional stimuli for experimental investigations of emotion and attention.However,the concerned parameters have not been systematically assessed or testified in Chinese people living in totally different culture from American.Methods:300 subjects were selected to assess the valence,arousal and dominance of all the 704 pictures in IAPS with the order to make the native assessment in China.Results:The results showed significant difference in dimensions of valence and arousal between assessed scores of Chinese subjects and the original data of IAPS,despite a high correlation was observed between them.On pictures containing intense feeling or sexy which contradicted traditional Chinese culture,the valence scores assessed in China were significantly lower than the original data while the arousal scores were significantly higher.Conclusion:It is concluded that native assessment should be seriously considered to select pictures from IAPS while making research for Chinese subjects allowing for the eastern and western cultural differences.

Native Assessment to the Montreal Battery of Musical Evaluation / 中国临床心理学杂志

Objective: This research carried out the native assessment to the Montreal Battery of Musical Evaluation, including MBEA and Musical emotion test. Methods: 60 normals were tested by MBEA (including 30 university students). Also 40 students were tested by musical emotion recognition battery. The correct rates were recorded and compared with western normals’data. Results: There were significant differences in pitch judgments and musical emotion recognition be- tween Chinese and Westerners, while rhythm perception and memory of music did not have significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Culture difference mainly influences the musical pitch perception in brain but rhythm. Chinese have its own understanding of western musical excerpts. Although MBEA is wildly accepted abroad, native analogy testing tool is acquired.

A Preliminary Study on Standardization of Korean Form of Geriatric Depression Scale(KGDS) / 신경정신의학

The purpose of this study was to construct Korean Geriatric Depression Scale(KGDS) items and test the reliability and validity of KGDS. Total 151 items from GDS, BDI, SDS, MMPI-D, and K-CES-D were administered to 81 depressed elderly and 75 elderly control groups. Sixty-four preliminary items which have discrimination power between depression and control groups were selected. Then by correlational analysis considering adjusted item-total correlation, 40 items were finally chosen to construct KGDS. The values of Cronbach's alpha and split-half reliability were 0.88 and 0.79, respectively. The differences of means was signified at alpha=.001 level(patients group mean=23.40+/-8.13, control group mean=12.50+/-8.82, t=9.76). The result of factor analysis showed that KGDS had six factors. They were labeled negative thinking and unhappiness feeling(factor 1), emotional discomfort(factor 2), cognitive dysfunction(factor 3), decreased vitality(factor 4), physical weakening and inclosed somatic concern(factor 5), social withdrawal and loss of interest(factor 6), which represent depressive features of the elderly in thought, emotional, cognitive, physical, and social aspects. The total percentage of variance of the 6 factors was 51.2%. The result of discrimination analysis showed that hit ratio of KGDS was 76.7%, and the score of 16 was suggested as the optimal cut-off score. Additionally, by using percentile score distribution of control(normal) group, it is suggested that the score of 16-22 represents borderline or mild depression, the score of 23-25 are moderate depression, and greater than the score of 26 severe depression. Conclusively, KGDS not only improves diagnostic discrimination power 10% more than other depression scales including GDS, but also show sufficient reliability and validity, thus can be used for evaluaion of elderly depression. Finally, some issues relevant to sample selection and the necessity of concising content and items of KGDS are discussed.

A Study on the Comparison of Disease Status between Foreign Patients and Korean Patients / 한국역학회지

The objective of this study is to identify any differences in disease status between foreign patients staying in Korea and Korean patients. The study results are : First, more foreign stayers than Korean in their 20's and 30's seek medical services but those after age of 60 show the opposite pattern. This difference seems to feflect cultural difference in the concept of medical services and health seeking behavior. Second, foreign pateints were much more frequently(almost threee times) diagnosed as having an acute disease, and the fact that the most common diseases were "diseases of the respiratory system" can suggest the seriousness of air pollution problem in Korea. And, the fact that foreign stayers, especially those from developed countries, tend to take more periodic general physical examina-tion indicated that their health maintenance efforts place emphasis on prevention. Foreign patients seek more medical services during the spring and summer time when compared to Korean patients, and Korean patients visited the clinic more frequently during the autum time. Also, the review of the number of outpatients seeking medical services and the average duration of outpatient follow-up mainten-ance after discharge suggest that foreigners suffer less severe diseases than Koreans do. Finally, in contrast to the usual practice of Koreans of coming to the center without prior calling for reservation, most foreign patients tend to make reservations before coming(usually a day before) in general. This is also reflective of cultural difference related to the way of utilizing medical services.

A Study of Standardization of Korean Form of Geriatric Depression Scale(KGDS)

This study was aimed to standardize the Korean Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS). In order to slove the unsatisfied discriminating power of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS:Yesavage et al. 1983) presented in Korean studies, the authors made KGDs. The preliminary KGDS was costructed of 40 items selected from GDS, BDI, SDS, MMPI-D, CES-S and had satisfied reliability and validity, but had some problems in item contents, number of times, and sampling. Thus by correcting these problems, the authors made new KGDS of 30 item, and tested the reliability and validity of the final version of KGDS. The values of Cronbach's alpha and Split-half reliability were .88 and .79 respectively, and correlational coefficent with GDS was .87. The differences of means was signified at alpha=.001 level (patients group mean=17.82 (10.52), control group mean=10.52 (5.12), t=12.07). On factor anlaysis, 5 factors in KGDS were extracted. They were labeled Emotional discomfort (factor 1), Negative thinking and Unhappinesss feeling (factor 2), Physical weakening and decreased vitality (factor 3), Cognitive dysfunction (factor 4), Decreased social interest and activity (factor 5), which represent depressive features of the elderly in thought, emotional, cognitive, physical, social aspects. The total percentage of variance of 5 factors was 53.72%. The result of discriminatin anlaysis showed that hit ratio of KGDS was 75%, and the score of 14 was suggested as the optimal cut-off score. Additionally, by use percentile score distribution of control group (normal) subjects, each of the score of 14-18, 19-21, over 22 suggested borderline or mild depression, moderate depression, severe depression, respectively. Conclusively, the final version of KGDS not only improved diagnostic discriminatory power approxtimately 10% than GDS, but also showed satisfiable reliability and validity. So the KGDS could be a useful tool for evaluaion of elderly depression.

A Reliability and Validity Study of Geriatric Depression Scale / 신경정신의학

OBJECTS: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS). METHODS: GDS, BDI, SDS, MMPI-D, K-CES-D were administered to 81 depressed elderlies and 75 nondepressed elderlies. Those who obtained the 'definite impairment' score in MMSE-K were excluded in the final analyses. RESULTS: The values of Cronbach's alpha and test-retest correlation coefficient were 0.88 and 0.66(p< .001) respectively, The GDS was highly correlated with BDI(r= .72), SDS(r= .78), K-CES-D(r= .75), and MMPI-D(r= .65). The result of the factor analysis showed that GDS had seven factors. They could be labeled as core depressive feature(factor 1), loss of interest/pleasure(factor 2), feeling of unhappiness(factor 3), agitation(factor 4), cognitive inefficiency (factor 5), social withdrawal tendency(factor 6), and lack of motivation(factor 7), which represent important characteristics (emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects) of depression in the elderly. The total percent of variance of 7 factors was 53.4%. finally, the result of discrimination analysis showed that the hit ratio of GDS was 64%. CONCLUSION: Although GDS had the reasonable reliability and validity, it seemed to have some limitations in relation to absolute discrimination power. It is necessary to investigate the cultural differences in geriatric depressive symptoms and to develope a new depression scale for elderly people with consideration of the cultural differences.