Counselors in South Korea: A Qualitative Study of Senior Professionals

The author describes a qualitative analysis of interviews with 12 senior counselors in South Korea. The participants were certified by the Korean Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy as professional counselors (sang‐dam sim‐li chun‐mun‐ga) and are among the first generation of counselors in South Korea. Eight semistructured questions were asked about the work of these counselors. Qualitative analysis identified practice, relationships, and emotional well‐being as 3 domains of professional experience, each consisting of 2 categories. The results provide (a) a view of counseling practices as experienced by senior members of the profession and (b) a starting point for further research on mental health workers in South Korea.     

A global portrait of counselling psychologists’ characteristics,perspectives, and professional behaviors

Counseling psychologists in eight countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) responded to survey questions that focused on their demographics as well as their professional identities, roles, settings, and activities. As well, they were asked about satisfaction with the specialty and the extent to which they endorsed 10 core counseling psychology values. This article reports those results, focusing both on areas in which there were between-country similarities as well as on those for which there were differences. These data provide a snapshot of counseling psychology globally and establish a foundation for the other articles in this special issue of the journal.     

Cybercounseling in the United States and South Korea: Implications for Counseling College Students of the Millennial Generation and the Networked Generation

The National Board for Certified Counselors describes cybercounseling as the provision of some aspects of counseling through technology, via such applications as e‐mail, Web‐based information access, course registration, academic advising, and career guidance. The authors explore the characteristics of cybercounseling, describe its current use in the United States and South Korea, explore its advantages and disadvantages, and consider issues and concerns for college counselors.     

Conceptualizing stress associated with clinical experiences of Korean counseling repatriates

This study explored stress associated with clinical experiences of Korean counseling repatriates who returned to South Korea after obtaining their doctoral degree in the United States. Concept mapping revealed six major clusters of stressors: difficulties associated with language and communication, cultural differences between therapists and clients, clients’ attitudes toward and expectations regarding therapy, lack of ethical standards and licensure issues, hierarchical collectivistic working culture, and mental health system not being well-established.     

Concerns of South Korean Patients and Family Members Affected with Genetic Conditions: A Content Analysis of Internet Website Messages

The genetic counseling profession is expanding globally, and many countries, such as South Korea, are in the early stages of developing programs to prepare healthcare professionals specifically trained as genetic counselors. However, little research has investigated the concerns of South Korean patients and family members that have genetic conditions. The present study assessed their concerns by accessing and analyzing messages posted to websites devoted to genetic conditions. Eighteen websites were accessed—1 website concerns general genetic conditions, and 17 concern specific conditions. A sample of 700 messages was translated into English and analyzed using grounded theory analysis. Three major themes and 30 categories were extracted. The themes are: 1) Medical Concerns (e.g., clinical symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, recurrence risk, prevention, inheritance); 2) Psychosocial Concerns (e.g., emotions, social stigma, social support); and 3) Management Concerns (e.g., therapy and alternative treatments, education, financial support, nutrition, medical facilities, folk remedies). The findings provide insight into the types of information and genetic counseling services that might benefit South Korean individuals and family members.     

Emotional Intelligence and Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy: National and Gender Differences

This study examined the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on career decision‐making self‐efficacy (CDMSE) in an East Asian context, as well as the moderating roles of gender and country. Data were collected from undergraduate students from China (N = 149) and South Korea (N = 218). The results showed that all 4 factors of EI were positively related to CDMSE. Moreover, while the effects of 3 EI factors on CDMSE were found to be greater among the Chinese students than the South Korean students, no gender differences were detected. By introducing cultural influences, the findings provide important implications for career counseling.     

The Role of Attachment and Stigma in the Relationship Between Stress and Attitudes Toward Counseling in South Korea

Using structural equation modeling, the authors investigated the mediators between stress and attitudes toward seeking professional help among 298 undergraduate students in South Korea. Results indicated that attachment styles (avoidance and anxiety) and stigma (public and self‐stigma) mediated the relationship between stress and attitudes toward seeking help. Furthermore, public and self‐stigma had different paths depending on attachment styles related to help seeking. Regarding previous counseling experience, differences in the relationships between stress, attachment styles, stigma, and attitudes toward seeking help were evident.     

Current Status and Prospects of Korean Counseling Psychology: Research, Clinical Training, and Job Placement

En Corée, la psychologie du counseling s'est développée régulièrement au cours des six dernières décennies. Au cours de ce développement, divers problèmes sont apparus en provenance aussi bien de l'intérieur que de l'extérieur de la discipline. Dans cet article, nous survolons rapidement l'histoire de la psychologie du counseling coréenne et analysons ses forces et ses faiblesses internes, ainsi que les opportunités et les menaces en provenance de l'environnement. Cette analyse SWOT a été focalisée sur trois thèmes majeurs de la discipline, la recherche, le soutien clinique et l'orientation professionnelle. En conclusion, on esquisse un projet pour la psychologie du counseling en Corée.
Counseling psychology in Korea has been steadily growing in the past six decades. Along with its growth, various issues have emerged from the inside of the field as well as from the outside. In this article, we briefly review the history of Korean counseling psychology and then discuss internal strengths and weaknesses of the field and external opportunities and threats that the field is facing. This SWOT analysis was centered on three major themes of the discipline: i.e. research, clinical training, and job placement. Finally, a vision for counseling psychology in Korea is discussed.     

Comparative Analysis of Work Values Across Four Nations

Work values are important factors in career counseling and development. The purpose of this study was to test the measurement invariance of Terada's ( 2009 ) Vocational Values Inventory, as well as compare the means of 5 latent variables across 4 nations (Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Germany) using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the assumptions of configural, metric, and intercept invariance were satisfied across the 4 nations. A comparison of the means of the 5 latent variables indicated that job security, an extrinsic work value, was perceived as the most important work value across the 4 nations.     

Swapping Gender Traditionalism: Christianity,Buddhism, and Gender Ideology in South Korea

South Korea provides an ideal setting for studying religion and gender because Western and local religions are both prominent, and Confucianist beliefs still shape gender norms. Using the 2018 Korean General Social Survey, this study examines the extent to which two dimensions of gender traditionalism in South Korea–Confucian patriarchal ideology (i.e., belief in the subordination of women for Confucian patriarchy) and separate spheres ideology (i.e., belief that men are better suited to work and women to domestic responsibilities)—vary across Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, and the nonaffiliated. The findings show that Christians have the lowest endorsement for Confucian patriarchal ideology while supporting separate spheres ideology as much as Buddhists, who are most gender traditional in both dimensions. The results illustrate the dynamics between religion and gender norms in South Korea's context, demonstrating how Christianity combines Western modernization with gender-essentialist traditionalism, while Buddhism maintains Confucian patriarchal values.     

The Cross‐Cultural Relevance of Person‐Centered Counseling in Postapartheid South Africa

In this article, the need for effective cross‐cultural counseling in South Africa is emphasized against the background of the country's sociocultural context. The characteristics of person‐centered counseling that make it cross‐culturally suitable in the South African situation are discussed. Rogers's cross‐cultural group work during his visits to South Africa is briefly described. The ways in which specific cross‐cultural obstacles can be overcome by means of the person‐centered approach are pointed out. The relationship between person‐centered counseling and traditional African healing practices is described. Finally, ways to address the language barriers in cross‐cultural counseling in South Africa are discussed.     

Professional Counseling in South Africa: A Landscape Under Construction

The focus of this article is on the history, status, and trends of the counseling profession in South Africa and on the similarities with the development of the counseling profession in the United States. A need exists for South African professional counselors to refocus their research efforts to reflect the realities of the 21st century and link counseling practice and theory with global realities to suit the needs and collectivist origins (ubuntu) of the South African population.     

Negotiating Cultures and Identities: Education and Adaptation Among Young North Korean Settlers in South Korea

This paper examines the formation of diverse identities and the emergence of dynamic changes in cultural forms in the power structures of both newcomers and hosts in the case of North Koreans settling in South Korea. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the formerly homogeneous nation of Korea has been politically divided under two separate regimes: a communist society in the North and a capitalist democracy in the South. In the end of 1990s, the number of North Koreans immigrating to South Korea began to rapidly increase due to severe famine in the North; by 2014, the number of North Korean settlers in South Korea had reached more than 27,000. This qualitative study explores the resulting cultural gaps and issues of conflict, power, and resistance and emphasizes the strategies that young North Korean settlers employ as they shape and position themselves in capitalist society.     

Between Two Worlds: Counseling South Asian Americans

This article examines some of the mental health issues associated with counseling South Asian immigrants in the United States. A profile of the South Asian family is developed. Its structure and values are examined in relation to those of the American counseling community.     

Family Policy in South Korea: Development, Current Status, and Challenges

We provide a comprehensive review of family policy in South Korea (Korea hereafter) for international readers. Alarmed by recent social and demographic changes, the Korean government has started to establish explicit family policies from the mid 2000s. These policies have signified a symbolic attention shift to family matters in the history of social policy in Korea. In this paper, we focus on three areas of family policy: (a) work-family policies, (b) a healthy family policy, and (c) a policy for multi-cultural families. Work-family policies aim to help working families with young children balance work responsibilities and family caregiving through multiple leave options and child care support. The Framework Act on Healthy Families, the first explicit family policy in Korea, requires local governments to provide family services through Healthy Family Support Centers. The Multi-Cultural Family Support Act also established a formal support system for multi-cultural families with immigrant spouses, a population group that has recently increased in Korea. We further discuss the domestic and comparative contexts of Korean family policy and provide suggestions for the remaining challenges.     

Counseling in South Africa: Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow

This article discusses counseling in South Africa by delineating three developmental periods: (a) the stage in which psychology aided and abetted apartheid, (b) the stage in which it professed political neutrality, and (c) the current stage in which psychotherapeutic professionals are actively rebuilding a society nearly destroyed by apartheid.     

Leisure Satisfaction and Quality of Life in China, Japan, and South Korea: A Comparative Study Using AsiaBarometer 2006

Leisure satisfaction is positively associated with quality of life (QOL), more specifically, subjective QOL, which is often expressed as happiness. Compared to industrial nations in North America and Europe, however, significantly less is known about Asian nations. The purpose of this study is to examine the understudied areas of China, Japan and South Korea, all of which share cultural values and practices (e.g., Confucianism). Internationally representative 2006 AsiaBarometer data from Mainland China (n = 2,000), Japan (n = 1,003) and South Korea (n = 1,023) are employed to examine the concept of QOL, and the association between leisure satisfaction and QOL in these specific Asian populations. Results of confirmatory factor analysis demonstrate the validity of the QOL concept based on a series of satisfaction measures (i.e., leisure, income, health, family, spirituality, and friendship). Subsequently, generalized ordinal logistic regression was used to model QOL as a function of leisure satisfaction and covariates. Results show that leisure satisfaction is independently positively associated with QOL only in South Korea, although other satisfaction measures including income, health and spiritual satisfactions are consistently significant in all three nations. These findings may be useful for developing locally-sensitive policies and services to improve/maintain QOL in each nation. Possible explanations about the diverse relationships between leisure satisfaction and QOL are discussed in view of the different stage of societal development, common Confucian values, as well as each nation’s unique characteristics.     

Social capital,acculturation attitudes,and sociocultural adaptation of migrants from central Asian republics and South Korea in Russia

This research examines the relationship of social capital with the acculturation attitudes and sociocultural adaptation of 122 migrants from Central Asian republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan) and 136 migrants from South Korea. The questionnaire included scales for assessing acculturation attitudes (integration, assimilation, and separation), individual social capital (bridging and bonding), and sociocultural adaptation. Using parallel mediation analysis, we found that acculturation attitudes for migrants from Central Asia are secondary to their social capital in relation to sociocultural adaptation. However, among migrants from South Korea, social capital is not linked to their acculturation attitudes, and in general, its role in sociocultural adaptation is lower as compared to the role of acculturation attitudes. As a whole, our research shows that although sociocultural adaptation for all ethnic groups is linked to acculturation attitudes and social capital, acculturation attitudes for certain ethnic groups can be dependent on social capital.     

Oversight framework over oocyte procurement for somatic cell nuclear transfer: comparative analysis of the Hwang Woo Suk case under South Korean bioethics law and U.S. guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research

We examine whether the current regulatory regime instituted in South Korea and the United States would have prevented Hwang’s potential transgressions in oocyte procurement for somatic cell nuclear transfer, we compare the general aspects and oversight framework of the Bioethics and Biosafety Act in South Korea and the US National Academies’ Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and apply the relevant provisions and recommendations to each transgression. We conclude that the Act would institute centralized oversight under governmental auspices while the Guidelines recommend politically-independent, decentralized oversight bodies including a special review body for human embryonic stem cell research at an institutional level and that the Guidelines would have provided more vigorous protection for the women who had undergone oocyte procurement for Hwang’s research than the Act. We also suggest additional regulations to protect those who provide oocytes for research in South Korea.     

Guilt,shame, and adjustment in three cultures

While guilt and shame may form a second-order factor of ‘sensitivity of conscience’, they form relatively distinct first-order factors. A study of male and female subjects from the United States (Hawaii), the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) revealed a high degree of consistency across national groups in whether individual test items describing socially disapproved conduct loaded on guilt vs shame factors and also in the relative seriousness with which each of these lapses in conduct were viewed. In general, guilt was unrelated to neuroticism and negatively related to psychoticism while shame was positively related to neuroticism and negatively related to psychoticism. Cross-cultural similarities are substantial and call to question the belief that Asian and Occidental societies (at least the better educated segments of such groups) differ in the degree to which guilt vs shame are used as mechanisms for social control.