Objective Limited data exist on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts among psychiatric patients in Korea. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of patients who engaged in NSSI and/or suicide attempts.Methods We performed a retrospective medical chart review of patients with NSSI and/or suicide attempts at the psychiatric department of a university medical center in Seoul between 2017 and 2019. According to their history, patients were allocated to one of three groups: NSSI only, suicide attempts only and NSSI and suicide attempts group. Groups were compared based on sociodemographic characteristics and psychological assessments.Results Overall, 80 patients with NSSI and/or suicide attempts were evaluated. Patients with NSSI and suicide attempts were more likely to be female than the other two groups. Patients with NSSI and suicide attempts were more likely to suffer from Cluster B personality disorder than the other groups. And patients with NSSI and suicide attempts scored significantly higher on novelty-seeking in TCI and RC8, RC9 in MMPI-2.Conclusion Patients with NSSI and/or suicide attempts were more likely to be female, younger, and showed higher levels of psychological disturbances. These findings highlight the importance of early detection and intervention for patients with NSSI.

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The present study investigates the mediating effect of experiential avoidance on the relationship between undergraduate student's motives for using Social Network Service (SNS) and SNS addiction tendency. The current study focuses on Facebook as it is the leading SNS in Korea, and the motives for using Facebook are consisted of communication, information seeking, entertainment, self-confirmation and companionship. The total data of 279 undergraduate students (male N=103, M=21.94, SD=2.76) were analyzed. The results of the study validated that all of the motives for using Facebook are positively related to SNS addiction tendency. Experiential avoidance is also positively associated with SNS addiction tendency. Moreover, the mediating effect of experiential avoidance is significant on the relationship between motives for using SNS and SNS addiction tendency except for entertainment and companionship motives. The implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

Objective Precarious workers have increased over the past two decades in South Korea. Employment instability, especially among young adults, is considered a serious social problem. The unstable employment status of precarious workers has negative impacts on their mental health, such as suicidal behavior. This study aims to identify the effect of the unstable employment conditions on the suicidal behavior of precarious workers.Methods An online survey was conducted with a panel sample of South Korean adults (n=797) who were precarious workers aged between 25–34 years. We applied Model 6 of SPSS PROCESS MACRO 3.5 to examine the multiple mediation effects of depression and anger in the relationship between employment instability and suicide.Results Unstable employment had no direct effect on suicidal behavior. The path of unstable employment to suicidal behavior via depression and anger had a significant indirect effect. However, employment and anger were negatively related. The indirect effect of depression and anger on the relation between unstable employment and suicidal behavior was statistically significant.Conclusion This study suggests an association between unstable employment and suicidal behavior, mediated by depression and anger. Specifically, a high level of unstable employment status increased depression. In contrast, a low level of unstable employment status increased anger, which ultimately led to an increase in suicidal behavior. These contrasting findings are likely to reflect the heterogeneity of precarious workers. Further longitudinal studies are necessary to identify the causality between precarious employment and suicidal behavior over time.

This study identified factors affecting changes in depression of 64 North Korean refugee youths (NKRYs) aged 13 to 23 years (40 female) using follow-up data over a three-year period. We collected intrapersonal factors (emotional regulation strategies, resilience, quality of life) and external factors (psychological and practical support, family adaptation, and cohesion) to understand the preventative and risk factors affecting changes in depression. The trend of depression symptoms significantly increased, and the proportion of people classified as depressed (cut-off score = 21) increased steadily from 45.3% to 59.4% in the third year. In addition, we conducted a panel regression analysis, which showed that individual internal factors had a statistically significant effect on changes in depression. Specifically, expressive suppression of emotions was shown to increase depression over time. Resilience and life satisfaction were significant factors reducing depression in this study. On the other hand, external factors were not significantly related to changes over time in depression of NKRYs. Interventions for NKRYs at risk of depression are necessary and should include ways to enhance resilience and life satisfaction, and foster ego strength by recognizing emotions and promoting healthy emotional expression.