• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.49-68
• /
• 1990

Family Life Education(FLE) is an educational specialty which was originated in reaction to changing social conditions, industrialization, and urbanization It deals with the perceived inadequacies of families to cope with these changes, thereby reducing social problems involved with and improving family life. With an assumption that the studies about FLE have not been so active in Korea, the present thesis examines the FLE in Korea; i.e. the definition, the objectives, the scope, the approximation of family life education, and the necessity of marital education in Korea based upon the published theories of FLE in th United Stated of America. Also it attempts to formulate a tentative plan for the promotion of a FLE program in Korea. The concept of FLE in Korea was manifested in the social educational law and life-span education, specified as the 4th among ten presidential regulations; and it has drawn an institutional, governmental attention It is defined as " the life-span developmental education to enhance the quality of human life, to solve family problem, to develop an individual's potentiality, and to strengthen the family correlations." of the FLE programs, the marital education is considered one of the crucial subjects because it is the core of the family life. With this premise, FLE tries to support the healthy marital relations, , subsequently helping to explore the family potentiality and to strengthen family ties, Considering the seemingly dual characteristics of the Korean family types, the contents of marital education program should be consisted of the following; marital communication, role cooperation, and effective expressions of mutual affection, In addition, reciprocal understanding and cooperation of the married couples to overcome the differences of value, personality, hobby, and religion, the educational methods in raising kids, and the effective management of home economics should be included. The objects of the FLE program are unmarried, pre-married, and married persons. Fro the married persons, the FLE program should be arranged in accordance with their marital status divided by the family life cycle so that they may prevent possible family problems at each stage of the family life. Also, to prevent the problems incurred in the curse of carrying out family functions, the FLE program should be provided with on the basis of a family unit, thereby improving the quality of the family functions.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.51-74
• /
• 2017

Objectives: This study observes how providing family support - financial, emotional, and instrumental - is related to depression in babyboom women. Method: I analysed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families 5th wave, collected by the Korean Women's Development Institute. The analysis was conducted using regression, t-test, Chi-square test, frequency analysis, and Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: Financial support for grown-up children, either married or unmarried, increases depression in babyboom women. In the dimension of instrumental support, caring for grandchildren reduces babyboom women's depression. It implies that contact with grandchildren is perceived as an emotional support rather than a physical burden. The results of this study also show that babyboom women are comforted by living with their own parents, but not by living with parents-in-law. The most impressive observation, however, is in the dimension of emotional support, which showed that the conversation with elderly parents reduces baby-boom women's depression, but that the conversation with married children increases it. The opposite directions in the effects seem to be related to the subjects of the conversations. The subjects of the conversation with children are mostly about problems and agenda of the children, while those with elderly parents are mainly about parents' health and care for each other. Conclusions: The results of the analyses suggest that babyboom women should become less involved with their grown-up children's lives. It also calls for the societal efforts to be put into building up the support system, especially for eco-boom generation, to reduce babyboomer's burden of supporting the children.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.111-131
• /
• 2018

Objectives: This study examined the effects of residential proximity to adult children on the mental and physical health of middle-aged and older parents. The study also evaluated whether the parental age and gender of the adult child in closest proximity to the parent might moderate the association. Method: Data were drawn from five waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging(2006-2014). The analytic sample consisted of 7,359 parents aged 45 or older who had at least one non-coresidential adult child aged 19 or older. The analyses were conducted by estimating a series of fixed effects models while adjusting for the nested structure of the data. Results: The results showed that first, a closer distance between an adult child and the parent was generally associated with the parent experiencing a decrease in depressive symptoms. Yet, the mental health benefit was smaller for parents aged 65 years or older whose closest living adult child was a son. Second, a closer distance was observed to affect chronic illness only among middle-aged parents (aged 45 to 64). When the closest living adult child was a daughter, the middle-aged parent experienced deterioration in their chronic illness. On the other hand, the opposite pattern was observed when the closest living adult child was a son. Conclusions: The parental age and gender of the adult child in closest proximity to the parent might have varying effects on parents' health. A closer distance between an adult child and their parent has a positive impact on the mental health of the parent as a whole, whereas the effect of living closer was mixed in relation to the parental physical health.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.75-98
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent-young adult relationship and self-differentiation on interpersonal problems among 20s. Method: The subjects were 504(195 male, 309 female) young adults in their twenties. The questionnaire was consisted of measures on the Parent-Child Relationship Instrument, Self-Differentiation Inventory, and Short form of Korean Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex. Descriptive, t-test, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with SPSS 23.0. Results: The major findings are as follow. First, the result showed that there were gender differences in the level of self-differentiation and interpersonal problems, while there were no differences between male and female in parent-young adult relationship. Second, correlational analyses results indicated that parent-young adult relationship was positively related with the level of self-differentiation. However parent-young adult relationship and the level of self-differentiation were negatively related with the interpersonal problems. Third, hierarchical regression analyses showed that parent-young adult relationship and the level of self-differentiation had significant influences on the interpersonal problems(moving toward people, moving against people and moving away from people among 20s). Conclusions: The results indicate that both parent-young adult relationship and the level of self-differentiation need to be considered to reduce young adults' interpersonal problems in counseling situations.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.123-141
• /
• 2016

Objective: This study examined correlates of residential proximity between parents and non-coresident married children. A majority of existing studies on intergenerational living arrangement has focused on exploring factors that are associated with intergenerational coresidence only, despite an increasing number of parents and children who do not live together but close by. Because residential proximity facilitates frequent contacts and support exchanges between the two generations, it is important to understand its correlates. Method: The data were drawn from first wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA, 2006), a nationally representative sample of adults 45 years or older and their spouses. The analytic sample consisted of 3,950 parents with 10,946 non-coresident married children. Both regression with robust standard errors and sibling fixed effects regression models were estimated using the reg and xtreg procedures in STATA. Results: Younger, less depressed, and more physically impaired parents lived closer to at least one of their married children (within a 30-minute distance by public transportation). Fathers (compared to mothers), parents living in cities (compared to those living in rural areas), parents with at least one co-resident child or fewer numbers of married children tended to have at least one married child living nearby. With regard to child characteristics, married children who were less educated, homeowners, and had more children lived closer to their parents. Also, sons (compared to daughters) lived in closer distance to their parents. Conclusion: Overall, findings suggest that intergenerational residential proximity may primarily be motivated by the childcare needs of married children or parents' needs for assistance with functional impairment. Also, the traditional patrilineal norms of intergenerational support may still be a critical factor in residential decisions as observed in the difference between married sons and daughters in proximity to their parents.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.119-145
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Grounded in a life-course perspective, this study examined the effects of non-coresident children's transitions to marriage and parenthood on the frequency of contact with their parents. Gender of adult children and the educational levels of both adult children and their parents were evaluated as potential moderators of the transition-contact linkages. Method: The analytic sample consisted of adult children aged between 20 and 50 whose parents participated in four waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012). For analysis, fixed effects regression models were estimated using the xtreg procedure in Stata. Results: First, transition to marriage was associated with a decrease in face-to-face contact, whereas a greater increase in contact with parents via phone, mail, email etc. occurred only among newly married with less than college education compared to the newlywed with college degrees. Second, transition to parenthood was associated with an increase in contact via phone, mail, email etc. In addition, a greater increase in face-to-face contact was found with parents who completed high school or more education compared to those with less than high school education. Conclusions: The findings suggest that adult children's transitions to marriage and parenthood may bring about increases in contact with their parents, particularly for adult children with less than college education and parents with more than high school education.

• Journal of Family Relations
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.73-93
• /
• 2016

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine how children's transition to adulthood might be related to their parents' marital satisfaction and relationship satisfaction with children. Specifically, we investigated if the numbers of children who (1) graduated from 4-year college, (2) were employed, (3) were married, (4) moved out of parental homes and lived independently, and (5) had at least one child might be associated with better marital satisfaction and higher relationship satisfaction with children among midlife and older parents. We also evaluated if the associations might differ by gender of the children (sons vs. daughters) as well as by their gender and birth order (first-born son, later-born son, first-born daughter, later-born daughter). Method: The analytic sample was drawn from the 2006 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The sample consisted of 1,905 parents whose children were aged between 25 and 35. For analysis, regression models with robust standard errors were estimated using Stata. Results: Results suggest that sons' (especially first-born sons') transition to adulthood exerted more consistent impacts on parents. More specifically, first-born sons' completion of higher education, marriage, and independent living arrangement were associated with either higher levels of parental marital satisfaction or relationship satisfaction with children. With regard to later-born sons, their completion of college education was linked to higher levels of parental marital satisfaction and relationship satisfaction with children. Conclusion: Korean parents appear to place greater importance on first-born sons' successful transition to adulthood compared to those of other children. Overall, however, transition to adulthood may have limited influence on Korean parents.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.1035-1055
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between public care and family care. Public care for older adults began in 2008 with the implementation of the Long-Term Care insurance in South Korea. Although the expansion of public care has the purpose of reducing the care burden for the family, it is not easy to say whether the developments of public care system reduce the amount of family care for older family members. Theoretically, public care and family care are expected to have various relationships depending on the degree of the role and function(substitution, hierarchical compensatory, task specific, supplementation, complementarity). And literatures have showed inconsistent results depending on the country, data, and methods. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between two care types focusing on home care services for older persons. Analyses were based on data from the second(2008) to sixth(2016) waves of Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA). To investigate elderly care dynamics in the households, we pooled the data for four changes between two periods(2008-2010, 2010-2012, 2012-2014, and 2014-2016). This study used an analytic sample of 262 older adults, who are aged 55 over and experienced public care at least one point of time. We used Fixed-Effects(FE) model to analyze the differences within the same individuals under the condition that time-invariant unobserved factors are controlled. This study distinguished the cases of entry into public care and other cases of exiting public care. The results showed that older people who are dependent on public care are less dependent on family care than before. In both entry and exit groups, negative relations were maintained, but in the entering stage of public care, the degree of negative relations was relatively small, whereas in the stage of maintaining or departing from public care, relatively negative relations were strong. At the beginning periods, even though public care increased, family care did not decrease significantly. On the other hand, at the time of ending public care and relying on family care, family care increased significantly. The results of this study show that the relationship between public care and family care is close to hierarchical compensatory model and varies according to the stage of caring transition. Also, it was found that the cases of transition from public care to family care have the biggest burden of elderly care than other groups.

• Korean Journal of Family Medicine
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.340-346
• /
• 2018

Background: Several studies have revealed the frequency of family mealtimes to be inversely associated with depressive symptoms in adolescents. However, there have been few studies in older populations. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between family mealtime frequency and depressive symptoms in elderly Koreans. Methods: This study analyzed 4,959 elderly men and women (aged 65 years or older) who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess depressive status, family mealtime frequency, and covariates. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association using the eating alone group as a reference. Results: After adjusting for all covariates, participants who had family meals 3 times a day had fewer depressive symptoms than the eating alone group; adjusted odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) were 0.72 (0.58-0.89) for point depressiveness/anxiety and 0.73 (0.56-0.94) for depressiveness lasting for at least 2 weeks. In suicidal ideation, the OR (95% CI) of eating with family twice a day was significant after full adjusting for covariates at 0.67 (0.50-0.88). Conclusion: Family mealtimes were closely associated with depressive symptoms in elderly Koreans, which suggests that maintaining intrafamilial bonding is important for mental health in an older population.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.89-100
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for the familial voluntary service of the Healthy Family Center and then verify the effectiveness of its application in order to improve family healthy through a familial voluntary service. Study subjects were both volunteers who belonged to family volunteer corps of 12 Healthy Family Centers. Collected data was analyzed SPSS WIN 12.0 program. The results were as followed. First, a 54.1% of subjects is taking part in a familial voluntary service, while a 45.9% of them is not. Their positive intention of future participation is a 77.4%. The period of participation is from 6 months to two years. The frequency of participation is once or twice a month, and the length of activities per participation is for 3 hours. They have taken part in the service with a variety of public relations, and their motive of participation is by and large selfish. Second, as for the influence of participation in a familial voluntary service upon family healthy, the family healthy of participant group is higher in all the four sub-variables of family healthy than that of other groups. The group of which frequency of participation is once a week is better in family communication than the group of which frequency of participation is once or twice per month. The group of which motive of participation is altruistic is higher in sharing a value system among families than the group of which motive of participation is selfish.