College of Nursing and Brain Korea 21 FOUR project, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Nursing, Suwon Women's University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 8;13(1):16965. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-43741-3.
Loneliness negatively predicts post-traumatic growth (PTG) among North Korean defectors (NKD), one of the representative groups of refugees. Additionally, evidence also suggests that females, who account for 70% of NKDs entering South Korea, are vulnerable not only to past trauma but also to the current acculturation stress and loneliness affected by neighborhood social cohesion. This study explores whether the mediating effect of loneliness on the relationship between acculturation stress and PTG was moderated by the neighborhood social cohesion among female NKDs. In this study, the data of 166 female NKDs who completed an online survey regarding acculturation stress, PTG, loneliness, and neighborhood social cohesion were used. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted using SPSS PROCESS macro program. Loneliness was associated with PTG (B = - 1.896, p < 0.001), and mediated the association between acculturation stress and PTG (indirect effect = - 0.278, 95% LLCI - 0.403, 95% ULCI - 0.166). Neighborhood social cohesion moderated the mediation effect of loneliness on the association between acculturation stress and PTG (B = - 0.016, 95% LLCI 0.001, 95% ULCI 0.035). The indirect effect of acculturation stress on PTG through loneliness was notably high for those with low neighborhood social cohesion. Therefore, increasing neighborhood social cohesion would reduce loneliness caused by acculturation stress and support the positive growth among female NKDs. This represents the most effective approach to aiding female NKDs in achieving growth, even after suffering trauma.
孤独感会对朝鲜脱北者（NKD）的创伤后成长（PTG）产生负面影响，NKD 是难民的一个代表性群体。此外，有证据表明，占进入韩国的 NKD 人数 70%的女性不仅容易受到过去创伤的影响，还容易受到当前文化适应压力和邻里社会凝聚力影响的孤独感的影响。本研究探讨了孤独感在 NKD 女性的文化适应压力与 PTG 之间的关系中是否存在中介作用，以及邻里社会凝聚力是否调节了这种中介作用。本研究使用了 166 名完成了关于文化适应压力、PTG、孤独感和邻里社会凝聚力的在线调查的女性 NKD 的数据。使用 SPSS PROCESS 宏程序进行了有调节的中介分析。孤独感与 PTG 相关（B = -1.896，p < 0.001），并介导了文化适应压力与 PTG 之间的关系（间接效应= -0.278，95%LLCI -0.403，95%ULCI -0.166）。邻里社会凝聚力调节了孤独感在文化适应压力与 PTG 之间的中介作用（B = -0.016，95%LLCI 0.001，95%ULCI 0.035）。对于邻里社会凝聚力低的人来说，通过孤独感对 PTG 的影响的间接效应显著较高。因此，增加邻里社会凝聚力将减少文化适应压力引起的孤独感，并支持女性 NKD 的积极成长。这是帮助女性 NKD 实现成长的最有效方法，即使她们遭受了创伤。
