• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2009

Purpose: The study was aimed to investigate the levels of marital intimacy and quality of life (QOL) among women with breast cancer. Methods: As a descriptive study, a total of 67 married women with breast cancer was recruited via convenient sampling from a breast clinic in an university hospital. A structured, self-reported questionnaire was administered to the participants. Results: The most participants were housewives in their 40s and 50s, and were in high socioeconomic status. Two thirds of women perceived the marital intimacy with their spouse were increased after the diagnosis of breast cancer. Women's marital intimacy significantly differed by their levels of education. The level of cognitive intimacy was the highest among the subscales, whereas, sexual intimacy was the lowest. The family factor of QOL showed the highest score, and there were differences in QOL by employment status and cancer stage. The QOL and marital intimacy were not correlated significantly. Conclusion: Further research on the couples with breast cancer and intervention for increasing their marital intimacy are needed in the future.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.429-435
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• 2011

Although Korean population has been growing steadily during the past four decades, the nation is rapidly becoming an aging society because of its declining birth rate combined with an increasing life expectancy. In addition, Korea has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world due to fewer married couples, advanced maternal age, and falling birth rate. The prevalence of low birth weight infants and multiple births has been increased compared with the decrease in the birth rate. Moreover, the number of congenital anomalies is expected to increase due to the advanced maternal age. In addition, the number of interracial children is expected to increase due to the rise in the number of international marriages. However, the maternal education level is high, single-mother birth rate is low, and the gender imbalance has lessened. The number of overweight babies has been decreased, as more pregnant women are receiving adequate prenatal care. Compared to the Asian average birth weight, the average birth weight is the highest in Asia. Moreover, the rate of low birth weight infants is low, and infant mortality is similarly low across Asia. Using birth data from Statistics Korea and studies of birth outcomes in Korea and abroad, this study aimed to assess the changes in maternal and infant characteristics associated with birth outcomes during the past four decades and identify necessary information infrastructures to study countermeasures the decrease in birth rate and increase in low birth weight infants in Korea.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.61-75
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• 2003

The goals of this study were threefold. First, the researcher sought to describe the perceptions of wives and husbands concerning the degree of fairness in the division of household labor. Second, the determinants of wives and husbands' perception of the fairness in the division of household labor were analyzed. Third, the factors that affect wives' perception of the fairness in the division of household labor were compared with the factors that affect husbands' perception of the fairness. The data of this study were collected from a survey of 139 married couples with children of high school age or younger, residing in Seoul, Inchon, and Kyunggido. A structured questionnaire was used in the survey. Frequencies, percentiles, mean, Peason's correlations, Cronbach's alpha, t-tests, and multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The results show that both the wives and the husbands perceived the division of household labor as unfair for the wives. Further, husbands' gender-role attitudes and household labor preference affected wives and husbands' perception. Most comparison reference variables affected significantly the wives and husbands' perception. Lastly, there was a gender difference in the significance of comparison reference variables and demographic variables. The wives mainly employed within-marriage comparisons but the husbands mostly used outside-marriage comparisons. The demographic variables affected the wives' perception, but not the husband's.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.153-172
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to find out cultural differences and types of adjustments made in response to the differences between married female immigrants and Korean men of multicultural families. The data were collected by in-depth interviews with 15 female immigrants and 5 Korean men. The major findings of this study were as follows : The female participants experienced cultural differences between Korea and their country in the areas of living culture, stereotyped gender role, and family's cultural traits. The male participants reported cultural differences in terms of the economic supports provided to the wife's family. The types and strategies of acculturation were as follows : adjusting themselves to the spouse's cultural type, the couple's mutual acceptance of the other's cultural type, and female participants resignation to accept help from their husband. The types of acculturation to the cultural differences based on couples' personal efforts and hard work invested into acculturation and the support from their family and society. The results of the study supported that multicultural families' perception of cultural differences and types of adjustment originited from their own experiences and cultural background.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.123-136
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the marital satisfaction of husbands in multicultural families. This study will provide basic data to develop the policies and services related to multicultural families. Data were collected through the questionnaire method from 99 multicultural couples. Analysis of the data consisted of t-tests to compare the psychological characters of the couple and multiple regression to analyze the independent effects of the related variables. The results can be summarized as follows: First, self-esteem, depression, and multicultural acceptance attitude are significantly higher for the wife than for the husband. Second, regarding the influence of the relevant factors on the husband's marital satisfaction, the most significant factors include the gap in the couple's ages, the husband's self-esteem and sex role attitude, and the wife's sex role attitude, godiness, and marital satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.103-117
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• 1990

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference of mid-life family stress and family coping strategies according to conjugal sex and social class. This study was also intended to examine the relations between mid-life family stress and family coping strategies. The subjects of this study were 150 married couples(300 persons) who were 40 to 59 years old in Seoul. McCubbin, Wilson & Patterson (1979)'s "Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes" and McCubbin, Larsen & Olson (1982)'s "Family Coping Strategies" were used to gather data for the study. For the statistical analysis of data, factor analysis, T-test, Duncan's multiple Range Test, Pearson's r and cronbach's α for reliability were performed. The major results of this study were summarized as follows; 1. There were significant differences according to conjugal sex and social class in family stress; Wives reported more family stress than husbands. And the lower social class of the family, the more family stress were found. 2. There were some significant differences according to conjugal sex and social class in family coping strategies; Wives reported more family coping strategies than husbands in "freind and neighbor's support", "religious support". And the lower social class of the family, the more "passive attitudes" were found. 3. There were some significant correlations between family stress and family coping strategies; The higher extent of the total family stress, the lesser positive attitudes were found.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.63-80
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• 2005

This study examines the family concept and family-related values among pre-service home economics teachers. Questionnaires are completed by 242 pre-service home economics teachers. The results indicate that the respondents defined the family as a blood ties, a resting place, affection, and warmth. They tend to regard divorced, remarried, and adopted members as families, while classifying homosexual couples, members living together in a communal fashion, and great-great grandparents into nonfamily groups. Majority of them agree that it had better to get married or it depends on personal circumstances. In terms of cohabitation, they think it can be an opportunity to check the compatibility before marriage. Also, they perceive parenthood as a personal lifestyles, statement of social maturation, sound mind, and realization of morality. They agreed to divorce relatively high in case of unfaithfulness and relative troubles, but agreement of divorce was relatively low because of instrumental reason and psychological factors, The group majoring clothing and textile perceives the most negatively the influence of divorce to children. Further discussion and implications are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.303-314
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to investigate the satisfaction with sharing a bedroom among grandparent(s) and grandchildren, and the differences in the housing norms and satisfactions among the three generations of the extended families in Cheong-Ju city. Each three generations of the 50 extended families was interviewed with the questionnaire designed for each generation. The respondent family had at lest one child aged from 10 to 14 years old. The results showed that 40.0% of the elderly parents and 76.0% of the grandchildren shared a bedroom with someone beside a spouse, while about 90.0% of married couples had their own bedrooms. However, sharing a bedroom did not reduce the housing satisfaction of the grandparent(s) and the grandchild. The living arrangement of coresidence was mostly preferred by the grandparents, followed by the parents. The younger generations reported the more alternatives in living arrangement for the elderly. The number of bedrooms was the most important factor to be considered with coresidence of three generations but the most inadequate characteristics of the current housing to coreside. There were some differences in elderly housing norms and coresidence housing satisfactions among the three generations. The grandparents were most satisfied with coresidence living arragement, followed by the grandchildren and the daughters-in-law.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 1983

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between wive's sex-role attitude and their marital satisfaction for understanding a part of marital relations. For this purpose, a questionnaire was constructed and administrated to 626 married women. the sex role attitude scale was a modified version of the sex-role attitude scale constructed by Osmond and Martin, and the marital satisfaction scale was developed basing upon the scales used by Terman and Hayes & Stinnett. The result of this study are summarized as follows; The majority of wives have relatively modem attitude toward their sex role in the extra familial roles. Wives have relatively modem attitude toward their sex role when the couples are younger, more educated, on a higher income level and working or a job (especially or a professional job). Wife's education level, husband's education level and family income make significant difference in their marital satisfaction specifically, a wife would be relatively more satisfied when she has more education and the family income level is higher. It is founded that wives sex role attitude has significant relationship with their marital satisfaction. A wife tends to be more satisfied when she has a traditional sex role attitude . A professional wife who has a traditional attitude shows most satisfaction and one who has a modern attitude and not having a job tends to be most dissatisfied with her marriage. It is also founded that a wife who has traditional attitude and received college education are above shows most satisfaction while the wife who has modern attitude and received high school education or below shows most dissatisfaction with their marriage lives.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2005

The importance of time grows greater these days. For that reason, much research has been conducted to investigate time use. In particular, time spent in housework has been a focus in the human ecology. This study aimed to look into the field of research about time spent in housework from 1991 to 2004. To conduct the inquiry, 35 research projects were analyzed by subject. It turned out that most of the research studied the actual state of time use and related variables. Secondly, the research was classified by the measurement method, such as who wrote the time log or questionnaire, what type of response the researcher wanted and what kind of recording method was used. In 30 research projects, respondents wrote in their time logs and questionnaires by themselves. A few research projects presented certain types of behavior as examples of the actions in everyday life. For the recording method, 22 of the projects employed the time log method and 11 used questionnaires. Thirdly, all the research was categorized by the respondent of each project. 14 projects were targeted .at housewives and 14 were for married couples. Lastly, the definition of time spent in housework was used to consider these 35 studies. Most of the research studies defined the 'time spent in housework' as the total amount of the time spent in eating, clothing, housing, family care and household management.