Trends of Value Changes in Korea : Comparison of the Survey Results of 1979, 1998 and 2010

Translated from the article published in the Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology vol. 24, no. 4 (2010), with permission from the Society for Social and Personality Psychology in Korean psychological Association.By combining the survey result of 2010 to those of 1979 and 1998, this research aims to figure out how Koreans values have shifted for three decades and how it is expressed in generation gap. For that purpose, we conducted a face-to-face interview survey to 800 people after sampling 100 women and men respectively from people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s living in Seoul, six metropolitan cities and Gyeonggi Provinces cities and towns. The questionnaires in the survey were composed of 21 questionnaires on values (three questionnaires for individualism centered on oneself and family, post-authoritarianism, assertiveness, uncertainty avoidance, future orientation, gender egalitarianism, and affluent life), the same ones as those used in 1998, and one questionnaire on post-materialism The result showed that just like during the 19 years from 1979 to 1998, individualism centered on oneself and family and gender egalitarianism increased the most during the 12 years from 1998 to 2010. In some questionnaires in regards to post-authoritarianism and assertiveness, the importance on consideration for the seniors and humility showed a tendency of significant growth during the latter 12 years. In most of the values that radically changed, people in their 20s showed a much faster change during the first 19 years compared to people in their 50s, which contributed a significant generation gap. However, during the latter 12 years, we witnessed a generation gap being a little bit narrowed down as people in their 50s swiftly started to adjust to the changing world. Moreover, the survey conducted in 1998 right after the Asian financial crisis showed that people were retreating a little bit towards materialism and such tendency was spreading much more quickly among younger people. However, in 2010, even though the proportion of post-materialists was still higher among the younger population, the mixed type has decreased as the proportion of materialists among youngsters increased. The mixed type increased among the older generation as materialists among them has decreased, bringing down the generation gap. The 2010 survey was unique in that an increased number of respondents said that we do not have to be particularly hospitable to foreigners, which reflects a new cultural environment of the 21st century where the number of foreigners with various nationalities is dramatically rising. The values that received more than the majority of peoples approval regardless of their age and gender for the last three decades are important as the common ground for communication

A routine activity approach to understand cybergrooming victimization among adolescents from six countries

Little attention has been given academically to empirically tested theoretical frameworks that aim at measuring the risk of adolescents falling victim to cybergrooming. To this end, we have applied the routine activity theory (RAT) to investigate whether exposure to motivated offenders (PC/laptop ownership and Internet access in one's own bedroom), capable guardianship (parental mediation strategies of Internet use), and target suitability (adolescents' online disclosure of private information) might predict cybergrooming victimization among adolescents. Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 5,938 adolescents from Germany, India, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States, ranging in age from 12 to 18 (M = 14.77, SD = 1.60), we found that PC/laptop ownership and Internet access in one's own bedroom, parental mediation, and online disclosure are all directly associated with cybergrooming victimization. Although instructive parental mediation is negatively related to online disclosure and cybergrooming victimization, restrictive mediation is positively related to both. In addition, online disclosure partially mediated the relationship between parental mediation and cybergrooming victimization. The analyses confirm the effectiveness of applying RAT to cybergrooming. Moreover, this study highlights the need for prevention programs, including lessons on age-appropriate information and communication technology usage and access, to educate parents on using instructive strategies of Internet mediation, and inform adolescents about how to avoid disclosing too much private information online. RAT could function as a theoretical framework for these programs

Identification of gut dysbiosis in axial spondyloarthritis patients and improvement of experimental ankylosing spondyloarthritis by microbiome-derived butyrate with immune-modulating function

IntroductionDysbiosis is an environmental factor that affects the induction of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) pathogenesis. In the present study, we investigated differences in the gut microbiota of patients with axSpA and revealed an association between specific gut microbiota and their metabolites, and SpA pathogenesis.MethodUsing 16S rRNA sequencing data derived from feces samples of 33 axSpA patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs), we examined the compositions of their gut microbiomes.ResultsAs a result, axSpA patients were found to have decreased α-diversity compared to HCs, indicating that axSpA patients have less diverse microbiomes. In particular, at the species level, Bacteroides and Streptococcus were more abundant in axSpA patients than in HCs, whereas Faecalibacterium (F). prausnitzii, a butyrate-producing bacteria, was more abundant in HCs. Thus, we decided to investigate whether F. prausnitzii was associated with health conditions by inoculating F. prausnitzii (0.1, 1, and 10 μg/mL) or by administrating butyrate (0.5 mM) into CD4+ T cells derived from axSpA patients. The levels of IL-17A and IL-10 in the CD4+ T cell culture media were then measured. We also assessed osteoclast formation by administrating butyrate to the axSpA-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The CD4+ IL-17A+ T cell differentiation, IL-17A levels were decreased, whereas IL-10 was increased by F. prausnitzii inoculation. Butyrate reduced CD4+ IL-17A+ T cell differentiation and osteoclastogenesis.DiscussionWe found that CD4+ IL-17A+ T cell polarization was reduced, when F. prausnitzii or butyrate were introduced into curdlan-induced SpA mice or CD4+ T cells of axSpA patient. Consistently, butyrate treatment was associated with the reduction of arthritis scores and inflammation levels in SpA mice. Taken together, we concluded that the reduced abundance of butyrate-producing microbes, particularly F. prausnitzii, may be associated with axSpA pathogenesis

The Therapeutic Effect of STAT3 Signaling-Suppressed MSC on Pain and Articular Cartilage Damage in a Rat Model of Monosodium Iodoacetate-Induced Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease that induces pain, cartilage deformation, and joint inflammation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are potential therapeutic agents for treatment of OA. However, MSC therapy can cause excessive inflammation. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) modulates secretion of many proinflammatory cytokines. Experimental OA was induced by intra-articular (IA) injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) to the right knee of rats. MSCs from OA patients (OA-MSCs) were treated with STA21, a small molecule that blocks STAT3 signaling, by IA or intravenous (IV) injection after MIA injection. Pain severity was quantified by assessment of secondary tactile allodynia using the von Frey assessment test. Cartilage degradation was measured by microcomputed tomography image analysis, histological analysis, and the Mankin score. Protein and gene expression was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunohistochemistry, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. MSCs increased production of proinflammatory cytokines under inflammatory conditions. STA21 significantly decreased expression of these proinflammatory molecules via inhibition of STAT3 activity but increased gene expression of molecules related to migration potential and immunomodulation in OA-MSCs. STAT3-inhibited OA-MSCs administrated by IV or IA injection decreased pain severity and cartilage damage in rats with MIA-induced OA rats by decreasing proinflammatory cytokines in the joints. Combined IA and IV-injected STAT3-inhibited OA-MSCs had an additive effect of pain relief in MIA-induced OA rats. STAT3 inhibition may optimize the therapeutic activities of MSCs for treating OA by attenuating pain and progression of MIA by inhibiting inflammation and cartilage damage