The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between juveniles'' perceived depression and their subjects of emotional attachment. In general, depression is known to be caused by a sense of loss for certain subjects. The subjects may be p...
The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between juveniles'' perceived depression and their subjects of emotional attachment. In general, depression is known to be caused by a sense of loss for certain subjects. The subjects may be persons or things. This study reviews whether it would be possible to fill the sense of loss with other subject of emotional attachment. In order to prove such a possibility, a hypothesis that religion or pet as subject of emotional attachment would relieve juveniles of depression was set up, and thereby, a questionnaire survey was conducted by sampling 690 juveniles enrolled in the middle schools and 1st and 2nd grades of high schools in Seoul and capital area. In order to measure juveniles'' depression levels, the researcher used the CDI (Children''s Depression Inventory) developed by Kovacs and Beck (1981) to assess children''s and juveniles'' cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms of depression. As a result of comparatively analyzing the relationship between depression and religion by means of T-test, no significant difference of depression level was found between test and control groups. In addition, religious tendency scores were not significantly correlated with depression levels. Namely, scores of depression did not differ significantly between religious and non-religious juveniles, and religious tendency was not significantly correlated with depression levels, either. However, those juveniles active in religious activities or engaged long in a religion scored higher in religious tendency scale.On the other hand, as a result of T-testing the correlations between depression and pet, the two groups differed significantly in depression scale. Namely, those juveniles rearing a pet was less depressed than the other group. In addition, as a result of analyzing juveniles'' affection of pets, it was found that those juveniles loving their pets more were less depressed than their counterparts. Since juveniles'' depression has not much been researched until now, it is necessary to research more widely into it in consideration of the fact that many juveniles are seriously depressed and that the spreading effects of juveniles'' depression are serious.