Background: Smartphone addiction among children and adolescents has a negative effect, as excessive use of smartphones can cause physical symptoms, such as fatigue, indigestion, and sleep problems, as well as psychopathological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out using the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2019 conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute. The total number of participants was 4656 youths (2290 in grade 5 and 2366 in grade 8), and the dependent and independent variables were smartphone addiction in children and parents, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was conducted by Stata 15.0 SE. Results: First, the level of parents’ smartphone addiction affected that of children and adolescents. Second, the children’s and adolescents’ age affected the level of smartphone addiction, while their gender did not affect it. Third, the relationship between the levels of parents’ and children’s smartphone addiction was not moderated by the genders and ages of the children and adolescents. Conclusions: It was confirmed that as parents’ smartphone addiction increased, that of children increased, and smartphone addiction was found to increase in the second grade of middle school (12 years old) rather than grade 5 of elementary school (10 years old). Parents’ and children’s smartphone addiction was not moderated by children’s and adolescents’ gender and age.

Background: Korea had the highest suicide rate among OECD countries for the 10 years leading up to 2016; however, the suicide rate in Korea has declined since 2010, after policy-driven interventions were implemented. Methods: Suicide rates from all of the 229 cities, counties, and districts in Korea were reliably estimated from the period 2010 to 2017, and data were examined by Stata 14.0 and M-plus to identify regional suicide rate change patterns by latent growth modeling. The dependent variable is the suicide rate, and independent variables as characteristics of the various districts are the region (cities, counties, and autonomous districts), proportion of elderly residents, financial independence rate, establishment of mental health and welfare centers, and number of social welfare facilities. Results: Three suicide rate change patterns were identified: ‘average’, ‘precipitous drop’, and ‘high level’. Two of the three patterns exhibit features that are markedly different to the national data as a whole, and the three patterns appear across the 229 cities, counties, and districts of Korea. Some of the determinant factors have been postulated here. While a high proportion of elderly residents in a given area is a significant indicator that the suicide rate will increase, having a large elderly population in combination with an increased number of social welfare facilities centers appeared to show a discrete pattern of suicide rate reduction when compared with average national data. Conclusions: Policy-driven interventions should be planned and implemented by central and local governments in conjunction, by considering regional characteristics to decrease local suicide rates more effectively.

Background: Smartphones are an important part of children’s and adolescents’ lives, and they often spend a lot of time using them. This study aims to precisely discover the effects of smartphone addiction on sleep duration as moderated by age and gender. Materials and methods: The data utilized in this study are from the ‘Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018′ by the National Youth Policy Institute; a total of 4940 youths (2399 in grade 4 and 2541 in grade 7) from the survey were analyzed by Stata 15.0 S. The dependent variable is sleep duration, and the independent variables are the sub-factors of smartphone addiction: disturbance of adaptive functions, virtual life orientation, withdrawal, and tolerance. An independent t-test was conducted to confirm the differences in the main variables according to gender and age. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to verify the moderating effects of gender and age in the relationship between children’s smartphone addiction and sleep duration. Results: First, the average sleep duration among grade 4 students was 9.17 h and grade 7 students was 7.96 h. Second, sleep duration was significantly higher for males than females, while there was no difference in smartphone addiction by gender. Third, smartphone addiction, particularly the sub-factor of tolerance significantly affected sleep duration. Fourth, age significantly affected sleep duration and gender had a moderating effect on sleep duration. Conclusions: Interventions to develop a healthy smartphone usage culture on family and societal levels would be beneficial for increasing awareness of smartphone addiction and its adverse effects on children and adolescents. Furthermore, targeted intervention would be more effective at modifying addictive behavior and sleep duration than trying to administer blanket interventions to youths as a whole.

Background: Hypertension has the characteristic that the risk of complications can be reduced through appropriate medication in daily life. Hence, it is important to consider practical measures to increase medication adherence, particularly among older patients. Methods: This study used the Korea Health Panel 2020 data (Version 2.0.1), jointly conducted by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and National Health Insurance. A total of 2300 patients with high blood pressure over 65 years of age were selected. In order to identify types of medication adherence in older hypertensive patients, and examine factors that influence the types, the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and logistic regression were performed. Results: The types of adherence groups were classified into two groups: an ‘adherence group’ (87.1%) and a ‘non-adherence group’ (12.9%). Furthermore, age, living alone, and depressive symptoms were identified as determinants of medication adherence type among older hypertensive patients. Conclusion: The significant impact of sociodemographic status (age, living alone, and depressive symptoms) on medication adherence among older hypertensive patients indicates the need to establish more specific empirical interventions based on each type’s characteristics. It is expected that this study will provide an in-depth understanding of factors associated with medication adherence among older patients with hypertension, which can support interventions tailored to the specific needs of those who are non-adherent.

Background: Longitudinal studies of drinking behavior have reported inconsistent changes in drinking behavior as people age. Thus, this study aims to characterize the changes in drinking behavior among Korean adults and to reveal differences in their demographics, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Methods: This study used the Korea Welfare Panel Study data over nine years (2009 to 2017), analyzing a total of 7506 participants. Growth mixture modeling was applied to classify patterns of change in drinking in these participants. The χ2 test and analysis of variance were used to analyze the differences in demographics, depression, and suicidal thoughts according to patterns of change in drinking. Results: Changes in drinking among Korean adults were categorized into four types: “high-risk retention”, “medium-risk to high-risk”, “high-risk to low-risk”, and “low-risk retention”. Gender, age, education, marital status, living arrangement, living area, and depression differed among these groups. Conclusion: We identified four types of changes in adult drinking behavior in South Korea, which varied in their demographics and depression levels. These results suggest that tailoring interventions to the type of behavioral changes might be more useful than batch interventions.