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Poor health behaviors among North Korean refugees (NKRs) in South Korea are serious risk factors hindering their overall well-being. Despite their significance, little is known about the roles of social networks in promoting health behaviors of NKRs. Thus, we examined how social network characteristics were associated with health-promoting behaviors among 202 NKRs. We found that social networks featuring members of religious organizations were positively associated with overall health-promoting behaviors, health responsibility, exercise, and nutrition, whereas networks with South Korean friends were negatively associated with nutrition. Findings suggest that health interventions facilitating religion-based network ties may promote health behaviors among NKRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the risk factors associated with the occurrence of child physical and psychological abuse in South Korea based on the ecological theory of child maltreatment. A subsample of 3‐ to 18‐year‐old children from "A Study on the Current State of Child Abuse and Neglect," a nationally representative study on child abuse and neglect, was utilized for secondary data analysis. The sample was divided into two age groups (third graders in elementary school and below and fourth graders and above). We utilized hierarchical logistic regression for each age group separately to analyze the data. The variables at each level of the system (i.e., ontogenic development, microsystem, and exosystem) were entered into the model in sequential order. The results showed the common risk factors for both age groups are the caregiver's experience of abuse in childhood, the child's problem behavior, exposure to domestic violence, community size, and informal social control. The child's age was also significant in both groups but in the opposite direction. Social support was a significant predictor for the younger age group only, while the caregiver's level of education was significant for the older age group only. Implications for future research and practice are discussed based on the study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the development of South Korean special education policy and suggests that different strategies of policy diffusion influenced the design of the policy at different times. Historically, South Korea relied on external pressures and influences, particularly US law and UN guidelines, to develop much of its human rights law, including special education. This article suggests that development of democratic infrastructure in South Korea led to improvements in the legislative development process in relation to current special education law, and this led to legislation that better identifies and addresses the needs of children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study examined subjective well-being of 10- to 12-year-old children from rural South Korea ( n = 489) and rural United States ( n = 1286) using the Children's Worlds Survey within the framework of the ecological, relationship-based model of children's subjective well-being. Applying Structural Equation Modeling to the analysis, a large proportion of the variance was explained and children's subjective well-being was predicted in both countries by microsystem factors of family relationships, parent involvement, and school quality, and individual factors of age (younger), and gender (male). Additional microsystem factors predicting subjective well-being were neighborhood quality in South Korea, and peer relationships in the United States, which may reflect contextual influences of collectivistic (South Korea) and individualistic (United States) macrosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]