Effects of Early Childhood Peer Relationships on Adolescent Mental Health: A 6- to 8-Year Follow-Up Study in South Korea

OBJECTIVE: Peer relationships are one of the important factors in children's development. The present study examines the relationship between the effects of early peer relationships and adolescent psychological adjustment. METHODS: The first survey took place from 1998 to 2000, and a follow-up assessment obtained data in 2006, as the original participants reached 13-15 years of age. The first assessment used the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL) and simple questions about peer relationships to evaluate the participants. The follow-up assessment administered the Korean Youth Self Report (K-YSR). RESULTS: Children's peer relationships have longitudinal effects on mental health and adjustment. Children who had qualitative peer-relation problems were more likely to exhibit internalizing problems as adolescents. CONCLUSION: Children who have poor peer relationships might become more vulnerable to emotional problems and social adjustment as adolescents.

Psychosocial Risk Factors Associated with Internet Addiction in Korea

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of Internet addiction in middle school students and to identify associated psychosocial risk factors and depression. METHODS: This study was part of a larger epidemiological study on childhood psychiatric disorders conducted in Osan, a city of Republic of Korea. We used IAS for internet addiction, K-YSR for subjects' emotional and behavioral problems and K-CDI for depressive symptoms. We used the data of n=1217 completed cases. We put on independent variables, which are sex, age, smoking and alcohol experiences, economic status, age of first Internet use, K-YSR and K-CDI score. RESULTS: The subjects consisted of addicted users (2.38%), over users (36.89%) and normal Internet users (60.72%). Attention problems, sex, delinquent problems, K-CDI scores, thought problems, age and aggressive behavior were predictable variables of internet addiction. Age of initial Internet use negatively predicted Internet addiction. CONCLUSION: This result showed similar to other researches about sociodemographic, emotional or behavioral factors related to internet addiction. Generally, subjects with more severe internet addiction had more emotional or behavioral problems. It means that they already have had various difficulties when we found internet addiction of adolescents. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate whether the subjects have any emotional or behavioral troubles and to intervene to prevent internet addiction.

Gender and Grade Differences in the Relationship between Psychopathology and Internet Usage in Children and Adolescents / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between internet addiction and emotional and behavioral problems in 5th and 6th grade elementary school students and middle school students. METHODS: Two elementary school and two middle schools were chosen to participate. The participants completed self-report questionnaires designed by authors, an internet addiction scale, and the Korean Youth Self Report (K-YSR). RESULTS: The prevalence of internet addiction was 1.5%. We defined the upper 30% of internet addiction scores as an addiction tendency group and the lower 30% as a control group. There were significant differences in the gender ratio, age, and average length of each internet use, years of internet use experience, and exposure to pornography between the two groups. Linear regression analysis showed that significant association was found between internet addiction scores and withdrawn problems in middle school students but not in elementary school students. The level of internet addiction was associated with a high occurrence rate of total behavioral problems and delinquent behavior problems in boys and depression/anxiety problems in girls. CONCLUSION: This data supports that withdrawn and delinquent behaviors could be predictable factors of internet addiction, and gender differences may exist in the development of internet addiction. The intervention focused on these findings could be effective to prevent and treat internet addiction in children and adolescents.

Internet Game Addiction and Emotional and Behavioral Characteristics in Upper Grade Elementary School Students and Middle School Students

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed at investigating the relationship between internet game addiction and emotional and behavioral characteristics of students both in the 5th and 6th grade of elementary school and in middle school. METHODS: Two elementary schools and two middle schools were chosen to participate. The students completed self-report questionnaires designed by the authors, called the Internet Game Addiction Scale, Korean youth self-report (K-YSR). RESULTS: Compared to previous studies, the rates of those in the obvious game addiction group were much lower in this study. We defined the upper 10% of internet game addiction scores as a high risk user group and the lower 10% as a control group. There were significant differences between the groups with respect to the the ages at which internet gaming began, the frequency of game play per week, and the average length of each game playing session. Significant associations were also found between the level of internet game addiction and the withdrawn and delinquency subscales of the K-YSR. However, the association between game addiction and the withdrawn subscale was found only in middle school students. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggested that withdrawn and delinquent behaviors could be predictors of internet game addiction. Results also suggested the importance of early childhood intervention for preventing the development of more severe psychopathology in early adolescence.

A Study of Adolescent Problem Behaviors and Parenting Behaviors / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the problem behaviors of adolescents and to discriminate between parenting behaviors of problem behavior groups and those of non-problem behavior group. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 792 high school students in Seoul. We administered 'Parenting Behavior Inventory' and Korean version of Youth Self-Report(K-YSR) to the subjects in order to evaluate the parenting behaviors perceived by adolescents and the problem behaviors of adolescents. We analyzed the relationship between parenting behaviors and problem behaviors. We classified the subjects into problem behavior groups(internalizing group, externalizing group, internalizing-externalizing group) and a non-problem behavior(normal) group. We studied the differences of parenting behaviors among the groups. RESULTS: The results are as follows. 1) There were significant negative correlations between the positive parenting behaviors such as affection, reasoning, and monitoring and the problem behaviors of adolescents. By contrast, there were significant positive correlations between the negative parenting behaviors such as physical abuse, intrusiveness, over-expectation, neglect, and inconsistency and the problem behaviors of adolescents. 2) Adolescents of the internalizing group perceived significantly more parental abuse, intrusiveness, over-expectation, neglect, and inconsistency than those of normal group. Meanwhile, they perceived significantly less affection than normal adolescents. Adolescents of the externalizing group also perceived significantly more parental abuse, intrusiveness, over-expectation, neglect, and inconsistency than those of normal group. Also, they perceived significantly less monitoring than normal adolescents. 3) Adolescents of the internalizing-externalizing group perceived significantly more intrusiveness from both parents than those of either the internalizing or the externalizing groups. Adolescents of the internalizing-externalizing group perceived significantly less affection and more neglect from their mothers than those of the internalizing or the externalizing groups. In addition, adolescents of the internalizing-externalizing group perceived significantly more physical abuse from their fathers than those of the internalizing or the externalizing groups. CONCLUSION: Parenting behaviors such as abuse, intrusiveness, over-expectation, neglect, and inconsistency are associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, our results suggest that parenting behaviors such as affection, monitoring, and reasoning might decrease the various problem behaviors of adolescents.