Abstract
This chapter summarizes the findings supporting the two continua model of mental health and illness, the benefits of flourishing to psychosocial functioning, and sociodemographic correlates of subjective well-being in South Korea. The results of our confirmatory factor analysis showed that a correlated two-factor solution provided a suitable fit to the present data. Completely mentally healthy adults reported the highest levels of mental, emotional, and physical health and the highest levels of resilience, goal formation, and intimacy. However, 7.9 % of South Koreans were completely mentally healthy, and roughly one in five adults met the criteria for languishing, indicating that there is much room for improvement in the positive mental health of South Koreans. The analysis of determinants of mental health indicates that family income, education level, and community type play an important role in explaining variations in positive mental health in South Korea.
The present research has been conducted by the Research Grant of the Korean Psychological Association in 2010.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cho, M., Chang, S., Lee, Y., Bae, A., Ahn, J., Son, J., Hong, J., Bae, J., Lee, D., Cho, S., Park, J., Lee, J., Kim, J., Jeon, H., Sohn, J., & Kim, B. (2010). Prevalence of DSM-IV major mental disorders among Korean adults: A 2006 National Epidemiologic Survey (KECA-R). Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 3, 26–30.
Diener, E., & Emmons, R. A. (1985). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1105–1117.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 403–425.
Freedom House. (2010). Freedom in the world 2010. Freedom House. Available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=439.
Kaufman, D., Kraay, A., & Mastruzzi, M. (2009). Governance matters VIII aggregate and individual governance indicators 1996–2008. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4978. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1424591.
Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 121–140.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 207–222.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2003). Complete mental health: An agenda for the 21st century. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived (pp. 293–312). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental health and/or mental illness? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 539–548.
Keyes, C. L. M., & Lopez, S. J. (2002). Toward a science of mental health: Positive directions in diagnosis and interventions. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 45–59). New York: Oxford University Press.
Keyes, C. L. M., Wissing, M., Potgieter, J., Temane, M., Kruger, A., & van Rooy, S. (2008). Evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum—Short Form (MHC-SF) in Swetsana-speaking South Africans. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 15, 181–192.
Lu, L., & Gilmour, R. (2004). Culture and conceptions of happiness: Individual oriented and social oriented SWB. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5, 269–291.
OECD Factbook. (2008). Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. Available at: http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=764185/cl=11/nw=1/rpsv/fact2008.
Park, C. (2009). The quality of life in South Korea. Social Indicators Research, 92, 263–294.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069–1081.
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (1998). Human health: New directions for the next millennium. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 69–85.
Strümpfer, D. J. W., Hardy, A., De Villiers, J. S., & Rigby, S. (2009). Organisationally relevant variables and Keyes’s Mental Health Continuum Scale: An exploratory study. Journal of Industrial Psychology, 35, 1–7.
United Nations Development Programme. (2010). Human development report 2010. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: http://www.beta.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/HDR/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_reprint-1.pdf.
Westerhof, G. J., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2010). Mental illness and mental health: The two continua model across the lifespan. Journal of Adult Development, 17, 110–119.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lim, YJ., Ko, YG., Shin, HC., Cho, Y. (2013). Prevalence and Correlates of Complete Mental Health in the South Korean Adult Population. In: Keyes, C. (eds) Mental Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5195-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5195-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5194-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5195-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)