A Study on the Relationship Between Clothing Behaviors and General Values, Socio-Economic Backgrounds, for A Group of Male Adults in Seoul

성인남자의 의복행동에 관한 연구 -가치관과 사회경제적 배경을 중심으로-

The purpose of this present study is not only to investigate mutual relationship between general values and clothing behaviors, but to analyize the differences in clothing behaviors in view of socio-economic backgrounds, such as professions, social classes, educational levels, monthly income, etc. For the measurement of the general values, a total of 45 questions were made use of from both part I and part II of 'The study of General Values' jointly developed by Allport-Vernon-Lindzey, while for the measurement of the clothing behaviors were used questions selected from 'The clothing variables Inventory' developed by Creekmore and from those previously used in our country for the same purpose. Data were obtained from 460 Persons and the selected sample was composed of 238 Persons from the upper class and of 222 persons from the lower class. The former class is mainly represented by government officials, doctors, company directors, professors, while the latter by factory workers, clerks, drivers. Analysis of the data in this present study reached its conclusions as follows ; 1. Among the general values valiables, the selected group in this study ranked, theoretical values' first, 'political values' 'econmic values', 'social values', aesthetic values', 'religious values' in that order, and also among the clothing behaviors variables it ranked in the following order ; economy' 'modesty' 'aesthetic' 'conformity' 'status symbol'. 2. A significant relationship between general values and clothing behaviors was found as follows ; there are negative relationships between 'theoretical values' and 'aesthetic', 'status symbol', between 'aesthetic values' and 'conformity', between 'social values' and 'status symbol', between 'political values' and 'conformity', on the one; there are positive relationships between political values' and 'status symbol', between religious values' and 'aesthetic', on the other, 3. In view of profession, it was found that a group of company directors placed the most importance upon 'status symbol', a group of factory workers upon 'economy', a group of drivers upon 'conformity' among the clothing behaviors. In light of social classes, 'economy' was given a high priority by the lower class, and 'status symbol' by the upper class, respectively. Considering educational levels, it was found that the highly educated class placed more emphasis on 'status symbol' and the lower educated class showed their preference to 'economy'. In view of monthly pay, 'conformity' was given a top priority by the middle class, and 'status symbol' by the upper class. 4. As a result of investigating the influence that one's age and marriage effect on clothing behaviors, significant differences were found among the three clothing motivations of 'aesthetic', modesty', 'status symbol'.