PURPOSE: This cross-sectional study was designed to explore the relationship among social support, experienced stressful life events and health behaviors of Korean undergraduate students, and validate the mediator effect of social support. METHOD: One thousand four hundred fifty-three undergraduate students were randomly selected from five universities located in the middle area of Korea. RESULT: The health behaviors of Korean undergraduates tend to have unhealthy patterns. In the case of the students living without family, experiencing more stressful life events and perceiving lower social support, health behaviors are poor. The relationship between perceived social supports, the frequency of the experienced stressful life events and the score of health behavior patterns is statistically significant. After controlling the effect of social support, the correlation coefficient between the frequency of experienced stressful life events and the score of health behavior patterns was slightly lower. The score of health behaviors between the group with an extremely high score of social support and the group with an extremely low score were statistically significantly different. CONCLUSION: Future studies need to be pursued to develop various strategies such as a health education programs and counseling programs for health maintenance and health promotion of undergraduates.

PURPOSE: This study measures the subjectivity on stressful life events of middle- aged women. METHOD: Q-Methodological method was used for that purpose. As for the research method, Q-statements were collected reliminary to the study of through in-depth interviews and a literature review. For the study 38 Q-statements were selected. There were 28 middle aged women as subjects for the research. Q-Factor Analysis by using PC Quanl Program to supply the material. RESULT: Through the result of this study, the stressful life events of middle-aged women could be identified by 4 types. The type I is called the conflict in relationship with husband's family members. The type II is called lack of marital intimacy. The type III is called low self-esteem. The type IV is called changing life cycle itself. CONCLUSION: Therefore, identifing the subjectivity on the stressful life events of middle-aged women would be a basic step for the understanding of middle aged women.

Koreans rarely complain of depression or other psychological problems because mental illness is viewed as a stigmatizing and threatening experience. This study examined the relationships among stressful life events, close relationships, self-esteem, and depression in 400 college women aged 18 to 30 years. Depression was positively related to stressful life events(r=.21 p=<.01). Depression and stressful life events were negatively associated with self-esteem(r=-.67: r=-.11, p<.01; p<.05 respectively). Close relationships with women and men friends were each negatively associated with depression (r=-.24; r=-.16, p<.05). Close relationships with women and men friends were positively associated with self-esteem (r=.23; r=.20, p<.01). Forty nine percent of variance in depression rates in this sample was explained. After adjustment for degrees of freedom, a total of 49% of the variance in depression was explained by self-esteem and stressful life event. This investigation into the relationships among the variables influencing depression for college women is a critical issue as health professional interventions are those designed for specific populations to meet unique care needs and since young Korean women may be at considerable risk for depression.