Min Jeong Kim1*, Hae Kyung Choi2*, Chul Ho Oak3

1Department of Neurology, Kosin University Gospel Hospital, Busan, Korea 2Department of Social Welfare, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea 3Department of Internal Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea


Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the spiritual well-being on social nicotine dependence, alcohol consumption, use of internet and gambling among medical students (n＝271).
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 271 medical students using self-administered questionnaires including the spiritual well-being scale, KTSND score, the alcohol use disorder identification test, the internet addiction test, and the Canadian problem gambling index (Korean Version).
Results: : There were significant negative relationships between spiritual well being and addictive behaviors such as social nicotine dependence (r＝-0.160, P＜0.05), alcohol consumption (r＝-0.357, P＜0.001), internet overuse (r＝-0.156, P＜0.01). High social nicotine dependence was related with high alcohol consumption (r＝ 0.317, P＜0.01), as well as internet overuse with gambling (r＝0.165, P＜0.01). Spiritual well being on was significantly related to alcohol consumption (β＝-0.244, P＜0.01) and use of internet (β＝-0.136, P＜0.01). This suggests the higher spiritual well being score the student has, the lower possibility of alcohol or internet overuse he or she tends to have. On the other hand, the impact of spiritual well being on social nicotine dependence or gambling were not significant.
Conclusions: The milestone of the current study is to provide the importance of better understanding of spiritual background of an individual, and to address the necessity of its holistic approach. Moreover, new spiritual counseling model and its healing program should be developed and validated before application.
Korean J Health Promot 2015;15(4):209-216

Keywords: Spiritual well-being, Nicotine dependence, Alcohol consumption, Internet, Gambling