The elderly living in single-person households in South Korea: a latent profile analysis of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and depression.

OBJECTIVES: Elderly living alone in South Korea report higher rates of psychological distress compared to the population at large. Using a person-centered approach, the aim of the present study was to identify the latent profiles of South Korean elderly living alone based on self-esteem, life satisfaction, and depression. METHOD: Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted based on data of 1545 older age individuals living alone. In addition, we examined significant factors that differentiate the observed profiles using multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We identified five profiles: "extremely depressed (n = 44, 2.9%)," "severely depressed (n = 169, 10.9%)," "mildly depressed (n = 529, 34.2%)," "low life satisfaction (n = 128, 8.3%)," and "positive adaptation (n = 675, 43.7%)." In addition, results of multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that males (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.02-2.81), and elderly with lower income (OR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.81-0.91), lower level of physical health (OR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.33-0.57), and lower social relationship satisfaction (OR: 0.25; 95% CI: 0.18-0.35) were more likely to fall in the "low life satisfaction" rather than the "positive adaptation" profile. In addition, being female (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.30-0.79), of older age (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01-.1.07), and higher income (OR: 1.14; 95% CI: 1.08-1.20) were related to classification in the "mildly depressed" rather than the "low life satisfaction" profile. The "severely depressed" group was differentiated by older age (OR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01-1.08), lower level of physical health (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.34-0.71), and lower satisfaction with social relationship (OR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.38-0.76). CONCLUSION: The results highlight the need for welfare policies that secure income and physical health in elderly living alone to enhance their quality of life. Furthermore, interventions that aim to maintain social networks are tantamount in order to prevent isolation in the elderly living alone.

The Relationship between Children's School Adaptation, Academic Achievement, Happiness, and Problematic Smartphone Usage: A Multiple Informant Moderated Mediating Model.

The school environment is a primary realm of life for school-aged children and thus their adaptation to school and academic performance may affect their degree of happiness. The age of smartphone users has declined, and problematic smartphone usage has widely expanded such that young children are also affected by such devices. This study assessed adaptation to school, academic achievement, problematic smartphone usage, and general happiness in a panel data sample of 695 Korean 10-year-old children and their teachers and mothers, and a moderated mediation model of these variables was tested. Results revealed that school adaptation affected general happiness of children through academic performance, and problematic smartphone usage demonstrated significant moderating effects on the relationship between school adaptation and academic achievement. Specifically, in children with a high level of adaptation to school life, the difference in problematic smartphone usage did not affect academic performance. However, lower level of adaptation led to greater differences in academic performance depending on problematic smartphone usage, and children with high problematic smartphone usage showed poorer academic performance. This study is meaningful because variables related to adaptation of 10-year-old children were collected from multiple informants. In addition, this study focused on general happiness, a positive factor, as the outcome variable to test the effects of variables related to school and problematic smartphone usage. Limitations include that a causal relationship cannot be examined, and qualitative differences in smartphone usage were not measured. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11482-022-10080-w.

The Mediating Role of Catastrophizing in the Relationship Between Emotional Clarity and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Earthquake Survivors in Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Difficulties in emotion regulation reportedly contribute to the development and maintenance of PTSD following exposure to natural disasters. Based on the extended process model of emotion regulation, the present study hypothesized that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies will mediate the relationship between emotional clarity and posttraumatic stress symptoms in a sample of earthquake survivors. A total of 195 adult residents of Gyeongju and Pohang, southeastern coastal cities in Korea, who had experienced recent earthquakes participated in an online survey study. They completed questionnaires assessing emotional clarity, emotion regulation, and posttraumatic stress symptoms a year and 10 months after the Gyeongju earthquake and 7 months after the Pohang earthquake. Bootstrapping procedures were used to test for a mediation effect. The results suggest that emotional clarity was indirectly associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms through maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, especially catastrophizing. The findings suggest that individuals with low emotional clarity tend to use maladaptive strategies, catastrophizing in particular, which may contribute to posttraumatic stress symptoms. This may reflect the mechanism underlying emotional clarity and offer suggestions for target of treatment in the management of long-term psychological difficulties in earthquake survivors. Replication of the current results in a sample of patients diagnosed with PTSD is necessary to better understand the development and progression of the disorder, as well as effective interventions for PTSD.