• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.667-683
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• 2018

This study reviews advances in research made during the last decade in studies of aging families in Korea. Specifically, we provide a critical review of the theoretical directions and empirical findings of 87 research articles focused on aging families published in the Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society between 2008 and 2017. Topics and issues covered include: (a) diversity in family structures and households, (b) intergenerational relations, (c) intimate relations, and (d) family problems in later life. We found that while research applying theories and employing advanced methodologies has increased, embracing more diverse theories and ensuring nationally representative panel data from multi-reporters within families will enhance future research in aging and families. The authors conclude that more multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are needed in the field of family studies and gerontology in Korea.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.753-772
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to examine the social gerontology studies in the Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society during 1980-2008 in terms of research topics, research methods, and theoretical trends. A total of 161 studies were analyzed; 27 studies in 1980's, 52 studies in 1990's, and 82 studies in 2000's. The major findings were as follows. First, the research topics were classified into five categories; 1) social change and social system (34 studies), 2) actual socio-condition (62 studies), 3) social problem and deviation (34 studies), 4) social culture (25 studies), and 5) gerontology study and gerontological theory (6 studies), and the major research trends and research results were examined. Second, in research methods, most of studies in 1980's were literature reviews and studies tended to be gradually expanded to quantitative research, but there were only eight quantitative researches. In statistical methods applied to the quantitative researches, thirty-six percent of the researches used basic statistical techniques, sixty-four percent advanced statistical techniques, and the basic ones were gradually replaced by the advanced ones. Third, most of the studies examined the social facts through relevant documents and statistics, or introduced the theories. So, only 12 studies (7.5%) were based on theories. Finally, the studies on various sociological research topics, qualitative studies, longitudinal studies, studies based on theories, and international cooperative studies, inter-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary studies were suggested for the future.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.431-446
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to introduce the theory of Gerotranscendence and the ninth stage of Erikson & Erikson(1997)'s psycho-social development theory in order to enable the academic Korean field to have a more positive and fresher point of view on aging. In order to meet this objective, this study will first take a look at Erikson's 9th stage expansion theory on human development. Then we will study Gerotranscendence as the most representing phenomena among the 9 stage theory so that the Korean Gerontology field can utilize it for future plans. The definition of Gerotranscendence was first introduced by Tornstam(1994) and has been applied as Erikson & Erikson's 9 stage theory ever since. Gerotranscendence can be described as an individual that has entered his golden years after middle age, which transforms one's point of view on life from a materialistic and logical one to a more universal and transcending one. Gerotranscendence is a voluntary and overcoming process of oneself that is displayed in many seniors which leads to a lesser focus on oneself in the eyes of the society, but increases the inter-relational bonding between past and future generations. The following is a summary of the theorhetical evaluation on Gerotranscendence which was analyzed in this study. First, this study introduces the Gerotranscendence theory, which is recognized as the most representative phenomena among Erikson's 9th stage theory that has hence expanded the application of Gerontology theories in the academic field of Gerontology. Second, this study has provided a new point of view towards the elderly in the practical field of senior citizen social welfare. With this understanding, practical levels of services from various points of view can be provided to acknowledge the needs of the elderly. Third, a much wider field of research can be exchanged and provided along with other fields of studies by applying and extending this Gerotranscendence theory in Korea. It would also be especially beneficial to exchange researches within related fields of study such as psychology, sociology, nursing science, family science and the study of religion. Not to mention also lending support to hospitals for the elderly(nursing homes) and institutions related to senior welfare, or practical fields where there is an active exchange of research using Gerotranscendence theory.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.743-757
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• 2010

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to infer one's own and other people's mental states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions. Although the majority of research in ToM has focused on young children or autistic individuals, several studies have investigated ToM in normal old age and in the demented elderly. This article provides an overview on existent findings of theory of mind in aging populations and suggests future directions for research including applying neuroimaging techniques and real-life tasks. It is still unclear how ToM in aging is associated with other aspects of cognition. However, it is expected that ToM perspective on aging will increase our understanding of aging of cognition and social functioning.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.733-752
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• 2008

This study aims to suggest the academic roles and direction of the social welfare for the elderly in Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society. For this purpose the trends of research on the social welfare for the elderly were analyzed by means of reviewing articles published from 1980 to 2008 in Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society. Out of all published articles, 215 articles were selected on the basis of unanimity among 3 reviewers including this author. First, in 1980s there were very limited numbers of articles. It had been mainly introduced foreign and domestic institutions of social welfare for the elderly and focused on the serious issues for the elderly in aging society. Secondly, in 1990s, there were explosive increases of research in elder welfare studies. The subjects of the articles were diversified and research methods were sophisticated in this period. Thirdly, it showed that the numbers, subjects, and research methods of the articles concerning social welfare for the elderly were enriched and differentiated during 2000-2004. Lastly, the research trends have focused on the issues of successful aging, quality of life, and psychological well-being in consideration of the quality of life for the elderly up to now since 2005. But the research trends have had some limitations in showing only application of theories and models or in simply introducing the knowledge in Western countries. It is necessary to have clear academic identity which can be faithful to Korean Gerontological studies.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.745-766
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the research trends regarding the published articles in the Journal of Korean Gerongological Society within the past 10 years. This study is based on the article written by Won and Mo (2008). This article classified previously published studies into themes, methods, and application of theory. Out of the total of 187 articles published in the past 10 years, 11 articles were about social change and institution, 94 articles were about social issues, 12 articles were about social problems and deviation, 42 articles were about social culture, 14 papers were about gerontological theory and 13 papers were about residence/architecture. In the last 10 years, the most popular topic was around the various ways aging. New topic that emerged was the effect of IT and technology on the quality of life among the older adults. Other topics that gained interest were age discrimination and prejudice on aging. Trends in research methods showed increased use of qualitative methods. In the future, more research needs to be completed to theorize the results of quantitative research. Furthermore, the use of qualitative research methods needs to be increased in order to understand the lives of older adults in depth. Through more meta analysis, the results of past research articles should be synthesized to get a bigger picture of the Korean older adults.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.797-813
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to analyze the trends and to achieve in-depth understanding about the research on families in later life. The journal articles related to the elderly and family studies published between 1980 and 2008 were analyzed for theories, research subjects and methodology. A total of 181 research articles were published focused on the elderly and families during this period of time. The results are as follows; there has been a steady increase in the number of research articles analyzing the elderly and families since 1980. However, there was little effort to integrate empirical findings with theories. With regards to the methodology, the majority of the studies used quantitative methods, although the number of the qualitative studies increased after 1990. The size of samples in most of the quantitative studies was large enough to test inferential statistic techniques. The research subjects such as family relations(parent-adult child, grandparent-grandchildren), family conflict, support system were studied in depth; however, the practical use of these research findings in welfare policies and service programs was not so effective. In future, researchers should be expected to play important roles in the practical fields and the policy implementation process utilizing their research findings.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.815-829
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• 2008

The purpose of the present study was to review psychological studies which have appeared in the "Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society". All told, 130 psychological papers have published for the last 30 years. Nineteen studies appeared in the 1980's, among which were 14 empirical ones and the remainders were review papers. In the 1990's were 51 papers published, and 49 ones were empirical and the rest of 2 literature review ones. In the 2000's did 56 papers appear, among which 56 ones were empirical and the rest of 4 literature review or theoretical ones. Research topics mainly examined about the aged were about mental health, life satisfaction and leasure, parent care and family relations, developmental change in cognition, and the old age general. After review of research trends for the last three decades, findings on each of research topics were examined. Finally, some limitations on the previous studies and future research directions were mentioned.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1629-1644
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• 2009

This study was to examine the relationship between self-differentiation and mental health of elderly couples. This study also tries to investigate the effect of self-differentiation on mental health. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire method with 271 elderly couples over 55 years old who lived in Chollabuk-Do province. The results showed that first, there was no significant difference in the level of total self-differentiation between husbands and wives. While the level of mental health(depression, somatization) were higher for wives than for husbands. Second, both husbands' and wives' mental health were negatively correlated with self-differentiation. Finally, results of multiple regression analyses showed that both husbands' and wives' mental health were negatively influenced by self-differentiation. Specifically, the variable significant affecting the husbands' mental health was the emotional reactivity of self-differentiation and the variable significant wives' mental health was the emotional cut-off of self-differentiation. These findings confirmed the concept of self-differentiation in applying to mental health of elderly couples.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.777-800
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• 2012

This paper aims to estimate the effects of environmental variables on volunteering among older persons and decide relationships between independent and dependent variables. The thesis conceptually points out that the integrated theory of resources too much emphasizes the important roles of human, social and cultural capital, but overlooks the influences of ecological environments in explaining volunteering among the older persons. And the thesis tries to apply the general ecological theory of aging to explaining volunteering of older people together with resource frameworks, and to estimate the effects of ecological environment variables on volunteerism for senior citizens. Using a micro data of 2009 National Social Survey by Statistics Korea, the paper screens out 10,268 subjects who are believed to socially retire and be above 55 years older. The multiple OLS regression and binomial logistic regression techniques are used to estimate the effects of ecological environments and resources on volunteering. The analysis results show that all of environmental and resource variables are related to volunteering at the level of p<.000. This means that environmental variables have independent effects on the volunteerism, controlling for resource variables. This results suggest that both theories have empirical evidences in explaining volunteerism in Korea. Also, at the end of paper, theoretical and policy implications for practices and future studies are discussed.