원예활동이 저소득층 아동의 상태불안 및 자기조절능력에 미치는 영향

Effects of Horticultural Activity on the State Anxiety and Self-Regulation of Children in Low-income Bracket

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of horticultural activities on the state anxiety and self-regulation of children from low-income bracket. For that purpose, the investigator selected eight children using the service of S Community Children’s Center in S-gun, K Province for the control group and another eight for the experiment group. Total 25 sessions of horticultural activities were given to the children every tuesday from January 3 to June 26, 2012. The program was designed to provide children with chances to handle and grow various plants and help them reduce their state anxiety and form a sense of belonging through group activities. They were also allowed to select materials themselves and give out presents so that they could increase their self-regulation. The evaluation results were as follows: as for state anxiety, the control group reduced from 50.38 to 49.50 with no significance(p=0.236), whereas the experiment group reduced from 50.50 to 40.63 after horticultural activities with significance(p=0.012). As for self-regulation, while the control group slightly improved from 56.63 to 57.25 with no significance(p=0.481), the experiment group made a significant increase from 57.00 to 64.64 after horticultural activities(p=0.012). When self-regulation was considered in each sub item, the experiment group increased their attention scores from 8.88 to 9.88 after horticultural activities with no significant difference (p=0.054); they made a significant increase from 8.00 to 9.63 in the composure test after horticultural activities(p=0.041); they increased their concentration scores from 11.00 to 13.13 after horticultural activities with no significant difference(p=0.058); they made a significant increase in normatively from 16.25 to 18.38 after horticultural activities(p=0.041); and they increased their interpersonal relationships scores from 12.88 to 13.63 after horticultural activities with no significant difference(p=0.496). In short, various horticultural activities such as floral decoration, planting, and growing seem to be effective for reducing state anxiety and improving self-regulation in children from low-income families.