Purpose
This study aimed to identify predictive factors affecting adolescents’ subjective happiness using data from the 2023 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey. A random forest model was applied to determine the strongest predictive factors, and its predictive performance was compared with traditional regression models.
Methods
Responses from a total of 44,320 students from grades 7 to 12 were analyzed. Data pre-processing involved handling missing values and selecting variables to construct an optimal dataset. The random forest model was employed for prediction, and SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations) analysis was used to assess variable importance.
Results
The random forest model demonstrated a stable predictive performance, with an R2 of .37. Mental and physical health factors were found to significantly affect subjective happiness. Adolescents’ subjective happiness was most strongly influenced by perceived stress, perceived health, experiences of loneliness, generalized anxiety disorder, suicidal ideation, economic status, fatigue recovery from sleep, and academic performance.
Conclusion
This study highlights the utility of machine learning in identifying factors influencing adolescents’ subjective happiness, addressing limitations of traditional regression approaches. These findings underscore the need for multidimensional interventions to improve mental and physical health, reduce stress and loneliness, and provide integrated support from schools and communities to enhance adolescents’ subjective happiness.

Purpose
The rising prevalence of smartphone overdependence among adolescents and its detrimental impact on mental health have become a growing concern. This study aimed to investigate the association between smartphone overdependence and the mental health of Korean adolescents.
Methods
Participants were drawn from the 16th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey conducted in 2020. The dependent variable as smartphone overdependence, while the main exposure of interest was mental health, encompassing generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), perceived stress, sources of perceived stress, perceived loneliness, and perceived depressive symptoms. The study employed the Rao-Scott chi-square test and multiple logistic regression using IBM SPSS version 26.0.
Results
The participants comprised 54,948 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. Among them, 25.1% (n=13,775) were categorized as smartphone overdependence group. Specifically, 20.3% of adolescents who reported GAD ≥10 and 22.5% of those who reported experiencing high levels of perceived loneliness were identified as smartphone overdependent. The GAD increased a risk of smartphone overdependence by 2.61 times (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 2.46–2.77). Perceived loneliness was associated with 1.98-fold (95% CI: 1.87–2.09) increased risk of smartphone overdependence. Additionally, conflict with peers was found to increase the risk of smartphone overdependence by 4.63-fold (95% CI: 3.89–5.52), followed by conflict with parents (odds ratio [OR]: 4.52, 95% CI: 3.84–5.31), and family environment (OR: 4.52, 95% CI: 3.75–5.46).
Conclusion
The findings underscore a significant association between smartphone overdependence and mental health in Korean adolescents. Healthcare services to improve their emotional coping and interpersonal skills are necessary.

Citations

• Factors Influencing Suicidal Ideation in Female Adolescents With Smartphone Overdependence
  Hyeongyeong Yoon
  Journal of Pediatric Health Care.2025; 39(2): 225.     CrossRef
• Excessive smartphone use, smartphone dependency and body image distortion in Korean adolescents
  Young Gyu Cho
  Korean Journal of Family Medicine.2025; 46(2): 58.     CrossRef

Purpose
This study aimed to identify factors affecting the mental health status of children from multicultural families in South Korea.
Methods
This study was based on Dahlgren and Whitehead's (1991) rainbow model as a conceptual framework and used data from the second phase of the multicultural adolescents panel study conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS version 26.0, with p<.05 considered to indicate statistical significance.
Results
In the final model, stress (odds ratio [OR]=0.53, p<.001), life satisfaction (OR=2.09, p=.004), self-esteem (OR=1.73, p=.032), and peer support (OR=1.46, p=.019) affected the mental health status of children from multicultural families. The living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions did not significantly influence the mental health status of children from multicultural families in the final model.
Conclusion
As components of Dahlgren and Whitehead's model, individual hereditary and lifestyle factors, as well as social and community networks, affected the mental health status of children from multicultural families. Therefore, in order to improve the mental health of children from multicultural families, efforts are needed to alleviate their stress, increase life satisfaction and self-esteem, and strengthen their social support.

Citations

• Beyond Borders: Exploring the Clinical Journeys of Multicultural Nursing Students
  Lee Jiyoung
  Asian Nursing Research.2025; 19(2): 120.     CrossRef
• Factors Affecting the Life Satisfaction of School-Aged Children with Vietnamese Immigrant Mothers in Korea
  Yoon-Hee Cho, Joohyun Lee
  Healthcare.2023; 11(17): 2465.     CrossRef

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a positive psychology-based mental health promotion program for high school students.
Methods
This study used a randomized control group pretest-posttest design. A total of 47 high school students participated from two high schools in Gyeonggi Province. They were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=24), which participated in the 8-session program, or to a control group (n=23). Psychological well-being, depression, and self-esteem were measured.
Results
A significant difference in psychological well-being was observed between the two groups after the program. However, there were no significant between-group differences in depression or self-esteem.
Conclusion
The positive psychology-based mental program was effective at increasing psychological well-being in adolescents, especially high school students. This study suggests that a school curriculum could incorporate positive psychology-based mental programs for high school students to promote their mental health.

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate resilience, coping, and mental health in relation to burnout and to identify factors influencing burnout in student nurses.
Methods
A descriptive correlational study was conducted. The participants were 241 student nurses from 2 universities in B city. Data were analyzed using the t-test, analysis of variance, the Pearson correlation coefficient, the Scheffé test, and multiple regression analysis.
Results
The mean score for burnout in student nurses was 3.01 out of 5 points. Burnout explained 29.2% of the variance in satisfaction with college life (β=-.367, p<.001), coping (β=.293, p<.001), mental health (β=.228, p=.011), and training hospital (β=-.198, p=.026).
Conclusion
The results of our research suggest that satisfaction with college life is an important variable affecting burnout student nurses. Therefore, education is needed in order to develop for more effective teaching coping methods and strategies and to reduce burnout with nursing practice.

Citations

• Factors affecting academic burnout of nursing students according to clinical practice experience
  Eunhee Hwang, Jeonghyun Kim
  BMC Medical Education.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• The mediating effects of social support on the influencing relationship between grit and academic burnout of the nursing students
  Hae‐Ok Kim, Insook Lee
  Nursing Open.2022; 9(5): 2314.     CrossRef
• The Effects of Clinical Practice Stress and Resilience on Nursing Students’ Academic Burnout
  Sujin Shin, Eunhee Hwang
  Korean Medical Education Review.2020; 22(2): 115.     CrossRef
• Effect of Incivility, Resilience, and Social Support Experienced by Nursing Students on Burnout in Clinical Practice
  Eun Jung Lee, Mi-Hae Sung, Hye-Kyong Ahn, Yun Ah Kim
  Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing.2019; 25(1): 86.     CrossRef
• Effects of Academic Relationships on Academic Burnout in Health Professions Students
  Junhwan Jang, Seonhwan Bae, Gyungjae Kim, Doyoung Kim, Junseong Park, Seunghyeon Lee, Mira Park, Do-Hwan Kim
  Korean Medical Education Review.2019; 21(2): 100.     CrossRef
• Stress due to End-of-Life Care, Coping Strategies, and Psychological Well-being among Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Units
  Eun Hee Kwon, Hyeon Ok Ju, Eun Ok Jeung, Chun Hee Han, Jin Ju Im, You Ri Lee, Min Seung Jung, So Yeon Park
  Child Health Nursing Research.2018; 24(4): 475.     CrossRef

Purpose
The aim of this study was to assess the body weight perception of adolescents and to investigate the difference between mental health and weight control behavior according to body weight perception.
Methods
Study data on 12-18 years old adolescents with normal BMI was obtained from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2015). Rao-Scott Chi-square test and ANOVA were used for the analysis.
Results
The percentage of adolescents with a misperception of body weight was 43.3%, and their subjective health status (p=.013), stress perception (p=.001), and depression (p=.001) were worse than for adolescents who had the correct perception of their body weight. The percentage of adolescents who were trying to lose weight while perceiving their body weight as normal was 36.9%. Body weight control behavior had significant differences according to dietary intake (frequency of eating dinner (p=.015)), energy intake (p=.004), and carbohydrate intake (p<.001), but there was no significant difference according to exercise.
Conclusion
Parents, school teachers, and nurses should make efforts to ensure that Korean adolescents perceive their body weight correctly, and prevent unhealthy weight control behaviors.

Citations

• Network analysis based on big data in social media of Korean adolescents’ diet behaviors
  JongHwi Song, SooYeun Yoo, JunRyul Yang, SangKyun Yun, YunHee Shin, Girish C. Melkani
  PLOS ONE.2022; 17(8): e0273570.     CrossRef
• Does perceived overweight increase risk of depressive symptoms and suicidality beyond objective weight status? A systematic review and meta-analysis
  Ashleigh Haynes, Inge Kersbergen, Angelina Sutin, Michael Daly, Eric Robinson
  Clinical Psychology Review.2019; 73: 101753.     CrossRef
• Effect of Body Image Distortion on Mental Health in Adolescents
  Hyun Jung Yun
  Journal of Health Informatics and Statistics.2018; 43(3): 191.     CrossRef

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate parents’ perceptions and attitudes regarding a screening test for and subsequent management of students’ emotional and behavioral problems.
Methods
A descriptive research design was used, and included disproportional stratified and cluster random sampling. The sample comprised 223 parents of elementary, middle, and high school students. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, and ANOVA with SPSS/WIN 21.0.
Results
Overall, parents responded that they knew of the goals, types, and tools of screening tests for students’ emotional and behavioral problems. In total, 64.6% of parents reported having information for the screening test in advance. Only 13.5%(n=30) of students had emotional and behavioral problems in the last year. Among these students, 56.7%(n=17) were referred to mental health facilities but only 29.4%(n=5) of them received ongoing management from these facilities.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that parents should receive information about the screening test for and subsequent management of students’ emotional and behavioral problems. Health professionals need to build strategies to provide ongoing management for students who have emotional and behavioral problems.

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to analyze the mental health and health risk behaviors of multicultural adolescents according to their mothers’ native country.
Methods
For this study raw data from the 11th Youth Health Behavior Online Survey (2015) was examined. Mental health and health risk behaviors for 62,985 adolescents were analyzed according to their mothers’ native country. Collected data were analyzed with the SPSS program using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis, to which the complex sample design was applied.
Results
The odds ratio of depression in multicultural adolescents compared to Korean adolescents was 44.92 (CI: 5.77-349.59) for adolescents whose mothers came from Cambodia and 3.00 (CI: 1.57-5.76) for adolescents whose mothers came from North Korea. The odds ratio of attempted suicide was 14.73 (CI: 3.09-70.22) for adolescents whose mothers came from Cambodia and 8.63 (CI: 3.45-21.62) for adolescents whose mothers came from North Korea. The odds ratio of problematic drinking in multicultural adolescents was 7.47 (CI: 1.71-32.67) for adolescents whose mothers came from Mongolia.
Conclusion
Findings indicate that when planning a health promotion program for adolescents from multicultural families, a customized approach should be sought taking into account the characteristics of mothers’ native country.

Citations

• Comparison of Risk Factors for Habitual Substance Use Among Adolescents in Korea by Maternal Nationality: Analysis of 18th and 19th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (2022 and 2023)
  Hyeon Ok Ju, So Yeon Park
  Children.2025; 12(4): 458.     CrossRef
• Mental health and health behaviors in multicultural families: The impact of parents’ cultural background
  Yoora Hwang, Mijeong Kwon, Jimin Kim, Hyekyeong Kim
  Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion.2024; 41(2): 1.     CrossRef
• Applying target congruence theory to victimization risk of students from multicultural backgrounds: A comparison of South Korean, North Korean, and other multicultural family adolescents
  Jaeyong Choi, Nathan Kruis, Julak Lee
  Children and Youth Services Review.2020; 118: 105392.     CrossRef
• The Mental Health of Ethnic Minority Youths in South Korea and Its Related Environmental Factors: A Literature Review
  Yeeun Lee, Minji Lee, Subin Park
  Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolesc.2019; 30(3): 88.     CrossRef
• Effects of the Culturally Sensitive Education of Perinatal Care on Knowledge, Skills, and Self-Efficacy among Korean Husbands and Vietnamese Wives
  Youngmee Kim, Kap-Chul Cho
  Child Health Nursing Research.2017; 23(4): 515.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship of self-differentiation, family function and mental health among adolescents.
METHODS
The data were collected from 967 adolescents and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson correlation coefficient and Stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS program.
RESULTS
Mental health differed according to grades, sibling position, father's education and mother's education. Self-differentiation and family function had a significant negative correlation with mental health. Multiple regression analysis showed recognition.emotional function, emotional cutoff and family projection as influencing self-differentiation, Grades, affective responsiveness in family function, and sibling position explained 20.8% of the total variance in mental health.
CONCLUSION
The findings show that self-differentiation and family function influence mental health, indicating a need to develop nursing intervention programs to enhance adolescents' mental health and prevent negative outcomes. For these programs, the family must be included.

Citations

• Perceived Family Functioning of Adolescents with Affective Disorders: A Multicentric Cross-Sectional Study
  Huan Wang, Xing Xie, Zuowei Li, Lian Xue, Qiaoling Liao
  Psychology Research and Behavior Management.2024; Volume 17: 2505.     CrossRef
• Development of a Family-Based Mental Health Program for Runaway Adolescents Using an Intervention Mapping Protocol
  Dabok Noh, Soobin Choi
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2020; 17(21): 7794.     CrossRef
• Mediating Effects of Cognitive Emotion Regulation on Influences of Self-differentiation and Family Function in High School Students' Problem Behavior
  Jin Joo Chang, Sung Hee Shin
  Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Menta.2017; 26(3): 248.     CrossRef
• Effect of Self-differentiation and Self-esteem on School Adjustment among Adolescents
  Hea-Shoon Lee
  The Journal of the Korea Contents Association.2013; 13(1): 333.     CrossRef
• Relation of the Self differentiation, Self esteem and Mental Health in Adolescents
  Hea Shoon Lee
  Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Menta.2011; 20(2): 199.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
The purpose of this research was to develop an interpersonal caring program "Muldan Dongsan" for vulnerable adolescents in mental health clinics and to identify the effect of this program.
METHODS
The interpersonal caring program was composed of group interpersonal caring (one time per week for two weeks, for a total of 8 hr) and individual interpersonal caring (1-2 times per day for 2 weeks). For this research, a non-synchronized quasi-experimental model including nonequivalent experimental and control groups was used. The experimental group was made up of 17 students and the control group, of 22 students. The data were collected from May 11 to July 25, 2009 and the collected data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 17.0 program.
RESULTS
The interpersonal caring program "Muldan Dongsan" was effective for mental health, including self-esteem, hope, and quality of life for vulnerable adolescents.
CONCLUSION
The positive findings on the effectiveness of the interpersonal caring program "Muldan Dongsan" and the participants' high satisfaction with this program indicate that it can be utilized actively as a specific nursing intervention program for adolescents at school and in the community.

Citations

• Analysis of Korean Nursing Studies Applied in Interpersonal Caring Theory
  Heeyoung Kim
  Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursi.2020; 27(2): 116.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to identify factors affecting mental health and behavioral problems among high school students through the lens of a Social Cognitive Career Theory.
METHODS
A descriptive study was carried out with 384 high school students in Seoul, Korea. A self-administrative questionnaire was used. It consisted of items on person . background variables, career-related variables including career barriers, learning experiences, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and career indecision, and mental health and behavioral problems. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed using the SPSS 21.0 program.
RESULTS
The results showed that perceived stress (t=5.12, p<.001), perceived health status (t=-4.08, p=.002), and school record (t=5.46, p<.001) were statistically significant variables. Also, career barriers (t=10.57, p<.001) was a significant factor influencing mental health and behavioral problems.
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate that among career-related variables, career barrier needs to be considered for preventive and therapeutic approach to mental health and behavioral problems in adolescents. Furthermore, the results suggest that career-related stress level should be assessed in high school students on a regular basis.

Citations

• The Association Between Social Stigma, Career Barrier, and Depressive Symptoms Among Out-of-School Korean Adolescents Based on a National Sample
  Hyun-Ju Chae, Sung-Man Bae
  Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal.2024; 41(5): 781.     CrossRef
• Longitudinal causal relationship between social withdrawal, perceived career barriers, and depression in multicultural adolescents
  Eun Hye Kim, Lina Cui
  Korean Journal of Child Studies.2024; 45(1): 39.     CrossRef
• Sex differences in adolescent mental health profiles in South Korea
  Jun Mo Sung, Yeon Jung Kim
  Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.2020; 34(6): 563.     CrossRef
• Effects of Anger and Entrapment on Psychological Health of High School Boys: Focused on the Mediating Effects of Social Support
  Sun Yi Yang, Yun Hee Oh
  Child Health Nursing Research.2017; 23(4): 429.     CrossRef
• International Students’ Use of a University Health Center
  Jin Hee An, Youngmee Ahn, Seong-Ill Woo, Mi Roung Song, Min Sohn
  Child Health Nursing Research.2016; 22(1): 29.     CrossRef
• Effect of Stress and Sleep Quality on Mental Health of Adolescents
  Hyun Jung Yun
  Journal of the Korean Society of School Health.2016; 29(2): 98.     CrossRef

The purpose of this study was to investigate the gender difference of relationships between the self-esteem and physical and mental health of adolescents. The sample were consisted of 410 adolescents, 202 boys and 208 girls in two urban city of Korea and the mean age was 17.4 years old. The instruments used in this study were Hare Self-Esteem Scale(Hare, 1985) and School Health Efficacy Questionnaire(Froman & Owen, 1991) which is consisted of both physical and mental health. The results showed that there was no gender difference in self-esteem of adolescents. However, the school domain of self-esteem was related to physical health of boys, and both the family domain and the school domain of self-esteem were related to physical health of girls. And both the school domain and the peer domain of self-esteem were positively related to mental health of boys, and all domains of self-esteem(peer, school, and family) were positively related to mental health of girls. In conclusion, there was not gender difference in degree of self-esteem, but there were gender difference in specific domains of self-esteem related with physical and mental health in adolescents.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of EP-IGAP(Internet Game Addiction Prevention Educational Program) on increasing the self-control and decreasing the time spent on internet games.
METHOD
The research design was a quasi-experiment, repeated measures design with non-equivalent control group. Participants in this study were 269 elementary school students of elementary school(134 for the experimental group, 135 for the control group). The instruments used in this study were the Self-control of Internet Game Scale and Time spent on internet games per week. The experimental group participated in the EP-IGAP for 6 weeks.
RESULTS
After the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase in self-control related to internet games. But, there was no statistical difference in the time spent on internet games between the two groups.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that EP-IGAP is effective in increasing the self-control related to internet games in elementary school students. Further research is needed to modify the EP-IGAP.