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Both undergraduate and graduate students of the School of Counseling Psychology and Social Welfare of Handong Global University received student-led research awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) annual conference held in Washington, DC from August 3rd to August 6th.
A team consisting of Lee Young-Kwang (4th grade), Choi Dong-Ho (5th grade), and Choi Ju-Won (1st grade) was awarded Second Place, and Honorable Mention was awarded to another Handong team: Song Yong-Soo (2nd grade, Department of Psychology of Handong General Graduate School), Song Ju-Suk (4th grade), and Bae Jin-Han (2nd grade). Professor Shin Sung-Man led both teams.
The second place team conducted a study of how depression might be affected by in-school adjustment, parental expectations, and smartphone dependence. Lee Young-Kwang (4th grade) stated, “it is meaningful just receiving an award from the American Psychological Association, one of the largest associations in the world where the most prominent scholars gather. Based on this precious experience, I will continue to strive on being an excellent scholar who can help people needing help in the future. Finally, we glorify God who always gives the best results.
The award-winning team receiving Honorable Mention conducted a study under the title, "Mediating effect of self-control with relationship between Facebook addiction and stress." Song Yong-Soo said, “It seems that interest in new behavioral addictions, such as social media addiction, is continued throughout study while studying behavioral addiction during graduate school. We hope that this study will help increase the awareness of Facebook addiction and identify the basics of the addiction so that the problem can be solved.”
Professor Shin Sung-Man from the School of Counseling Psychology and Social Welfare, overseeing the two teams, mentioned, “It is very meaningful that these students have been researching and analyzing this for one and two years without any weekends or vacations. We know that the judges of American Psychological Association highly appreciate the undergraduates’ understanding and presentation of structural equations. Most of the research was done by PhD students, but the research led by our undergraduates was awarded the second place prize, following the research team representing the University of Alabama. Another team placed fourth. And awarded alongside with Handong's second place team was a research team from the McGill University of Canada. We will continue to do our best in actively pursuing undergraduate-student-centered research.”
