The Mental Health Status and Intellectual Ability of Unwed Mothers Dwelling in Korean Shelter Homes

Suyeon Jo, Soowon Park, Jung Hae Youn, Bo Kyung Sohn, Hyo Jung Choi, Ji Yeon Lee, Jin Yong Lee and Jun-Young Lee
Additional contact information
Suyeon Jo: Department of Psychiatry, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, Korea
Soowon Park: Department of Education, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea
Jung Hae Youn: Department of Art Therapy & Counseling Psychology, Cha University, Gyeonggi-do 11160, Korea
Bo Kyung Sohn: Department of Psychiatry, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, Seoul 01757, Korea
Hyo Jung Choi: Department of Psychiatry, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, Korea
Ji Yeon Lee: Department of Psychiatry, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, Korea
Jin Yong Lee: Public Health Medical Service, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, Korea
Jun-Young Lee: Department of Psychiatry, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 07061, Korea

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Although many unwed mothers have issues concerning mental health and intellectual ability, little research has focused on their mental and cognitive status. Due to the public stigma attached to unwed mothers in South Korea, they tend to conceal their status and are less likely to seek psychiatric and psychological help. In this context, this study aims to assess the current status of their mental health and intellectual characteristics. A total of 48 unwed mothers from two shelter homes in South Korea agreed to participate in the study. We compared the mental health status of these unwed mothers with that of the general female population. Unwed mothers were more likely than those of the general female population to have mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol and nicotine use disorders, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Among the 48 unwed mothers, 20 (41.7%) had an IQ of less than 70, and the mean IQ (78.31) was significantly lower than the normalized mean IQ of the general female population. This study confirmed that unwed mothers dwelling in Korean shelter homes are more likely than the general female population to have mental disorders.

Keywords: unwed mother; mental health; intellectual ability; Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/637/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/637/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:637-:d:138874

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().