• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.265-273
• /
• 2013

The insurance payment plan for dental implants in Korea has been criticized because the payment priority has not been properly established, and the benefits are concentrated among middle-class citizens. In the current study, the relationship between the oral health condition and socioeconomic status of the elderly was analyzed using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). This study aims to determine the reason underlying the criticism of the insurance payment plan. The subjects were >65-year-old individuals in the 2010 and 2011 database of KNHANES. Data from 2,812 subjects were analyzed. The socioeconomic status was determined based on edentulousness, molar tooth loss, and presence of 28 teeth. According to the analysis, the average income was 1,560,000 won for edentulous elderly, 1,811,000 won for elderly who had lost molar teeth, and 1,896,000 won for elderly with 28 teeth (p<0.05). In addition, elderly with a low education level demonstrated a poor oral health condition (p<0.001). In conclusion, the insurance plan currently under examination is not properly designed for economically impoverished elderly because the plan only covers 50% of the costs and is limited to implantation of molar teeth only. This plan will not provide practical benefits to elderly with a poor socioeconomic status; therefore, the insurance payment plan needs to be improved so that the appropriate beneficiaries can be targeted.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.1203-1214
• /
• 2016

Obesity is a risk factor for various diseases as well as itself a disease and associated with socioeconomic factors. The obesity proportion has been increasing in Korea over about 15 years so that investigation of the socioeconomic factors related with obesity is important in terms of preventation of obesity. In particular, the association between obesity and socioeconomic status varies with gender and has spatial dependency. In the paper, we estimate the effects of socioeconomic factors on obesity proportion by gender, considering the spatial correlation. Here, a conditional autoregressive model under the Bayesian framework is used in order to take into account the spatial dependency. For the real applicaiton, we use the obestiy proportion dataset at 25 districts of Seoul in 2010. We compare the proposed spatial model with a non-spatial model in terms of the goodness-of-fit and prediction measures so the spatial model performs well.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.201-209
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the socioeconomic inequality in malnutrition in under-5 children in Iran in order to help policymakers reduce such inequality. Methods: Data on 8443 under-5 children were extracted from the Iran Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey. The wealth index was used as proxy for socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic inequality in stunting, underweight, and wasting was calculated using the concentration index. The concentration index was calculated for the whole sample, as well as for subcategories defined in terms of categories such as area of residence (urban and rural) and the sex of children. Results: Stunting was observed to be more prevalent than underweight or wasting. The results of the concentration index at the national level, as well as in rural and urban areas and in terms of children's sex, showed that inequality in stunting and underweight was statistically significant and that children in the lower quintiles were more malnourished. The wasting index was not sensitive to socioeconomic status, and its concentration index value was not statistically significant. Conclusions: This study showed that it can be misleading to assess the mean levels of malnutrition at the national level without knowledge of the distribution of malnutrition among socioeconomic groups. Significant socioeconomic inequalities in stunting and underweight were observed at the national level and in both urban and rural areas. Regarding the influence of nutrition on the health and economic well-being of preschool-aged children, it is necessary for the government to focus on taking targeted measures to reduce malnutrition and to focus on poorer groups within society who bear a greater burden of malnutrition.

• Human Ecology Research
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.329-340
• /
• 2019

The 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' is currently witnessing growing complaints about the polarization and a sense of despair among many young people in Korean society. The 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' that compares one's subjective socioeconomic status to a spoon implies a sense of psychological superiority or deprivation. The present study empirically tested the current popular 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' based belongingness and explored how subjective socioeconomic status may affect the psychology of young people. This study examined the effects of subjective socioeconomic status on individual relative deprivation and subjective well-being. Data were collected from 307 undergraduate students enrolled at universities located in Seoul with both parents alive. The findings of this study were as follows. First, student respondents reported moderate levels of subjective socioeconomic status, relative deprivation, and subjective well-being. Second, after controlling for respondents' gender, age and family income, the students' subjective socioeconomic status was negatively associated with their level of relative deprivation. Finally, after controlling for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, the students' subjective socioeconomic status was not significantly related to all the three sub-factors of life satisfaction, positive emotion and negative emotion as well as total subjective well-being. The results indicate that 'Sliver-Spoon-Discourse' based belongingness may instigate relative deprivation of young people without affecting their subjective well-being. The implications of the results are discussed for youth programs and policies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.15
• /
• pp.6303-6309
• /
• 2015

Differences in socioeconomic status (SES) such as income levels may partly explain why breast cancer screening (BCS) disparities exist in countries where health care services are free or heavily subsidized. However, factors that contribute to such differences in SES among women living in well resourced Middle East countries are not fully understood. This quantitative study investigated factors that influence SES and BCS of Arab women. Understanding of such factors can be useful for the development of effective intervention strategies that aim to increase BCS uptake among Arab women. Using data from a cross-sectional survey among 1,063 Arabic-speaking women in Qatar, age 35+, additional data analysis was performed to determine the relationship between socioeconomic indicators such as income and other factors in relation to BCS activities. This study found that income is determined and influenced by education level, occupation, nationality, years of residence in the country, level of social activity, self-perceived health status, and living area. Financial stress, unemployment, and unfavorable social conditions may impede women's participation in BCS activities in well resourced Middle East countries.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.31-40
• /
• 2003

This study was intended to examine the effects of socioeconomic status on housing values, norms, and behaviors of young households. The purpose was accomplished using the Life Style Survey of 2001 in Ulsan, and the data from 370 households were analyzed. The importance of household income and current housing size which are used as a proxy for socioeconomic status in explaining housing values, norms, and behaviors were once again confirmed in this study, even if there were some other significant variables. This implies that housing values, norms, and behaviors tend to change according to the socioeconomic characteristics of the households under the conditions of controlling demographic ones.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.565-575
• /
• 2019

Objectives: In this study, both subjective and objective levels of oral health were used to identify the relationship between oral health inequalities. Methods: Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey data from 2013 to 2015 were combined to create an analysis plan. Oral health questions categorized as subjective oral health conditions and oral health-related diseases used dental tissue disease status as data measured by the Community Periodical Index(CPI) and decayed, missing, filled teeth(DMFT) experience. Other data on oral health behaviors such as toothache experience, the frequency of toothbrush use, chewing problems, oral examination status, and unmet dental care needs were classified and analyzed according to the socioeconomic level. Data were analyzed using frequency and cross analyses, and the statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results: It was found that higher the economic and educational level, better was the subjective oral health, lower the CPI, lower the experience of toothache, higher the frequency of toothbrush use, lower the number of people having chewing problems, and higher the frequency of oral checkups. Conclusions: Oral health inequality exists among social classes. It is suggested that continuous research and efforts be carried out to promote oral health while considering socioeconomic and educational levels. Further, active government efforts will be needed to address polarization by social class.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.234-243
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the socioeconomic status as a risk factor for hepatitis C virus infection among community-dwelling adults in Korea. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study including 2,617 adults. Data from hepatocellular carcinoma epidemiological investigation and information regarding three markers of socioeconomic status, education, employment, household income, were obtained. Multiple logistic regression was performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for hepatitis C virus infection for socioeconomic status markers, adjusting for the other soioeconomic status marker, behavioral and hepatitis-related factors. Results: Of the 2,617 study subjects, 104 subjects infected with hepatitis C virus and prevalence was 4%. When compared to subjects with a lowest education, ORs was 0.16 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.04-0.69) for highest education group. After adjusting behavioral and hepatitis-related factors, ORs was 0.20 (0.05-0.87) for highest education compared with lowest group. Conclusion: Low educational level was associated with an increased risk of hepatitis C virus infection.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.93-105
• /
• 2016

Objectives: This study was to examine the independent and mediating effect of socioeconomic position and social relationship on depression. Methods: The study analyzed the data from the 2014 Korea Welfare Panel Study(n=9,172) using descriptive statistics, Kendall's rank correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and the Sobel test. Results: Much of the connection between parental socioeconomic position and respondent depression was explained by respondent educational attainment in men but was not in women. A large portion of the association between educational attainment and depression was explained by type of household and satisfaction with social relationship among men. The effect of educational attainment on depression was fully mediated by type of household among women. The effect of type of household on depression was partly mediated by satisfaction with social relationship in men and women. Lastly, educational attainment, type of household and satisfaction with social relationship had an independent association with depression among men, but educational attainment was not statistically significant among women. Conclusions: Our study illuminated the importance of the independent and mediating effect of parental and respondent socioeconomic position and social relationship in the production of depression for South Korean adults.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.7
• /
• pp.543-553
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of subjective class consciousness on life satisfaction. This research aimed to not only analyze the relative explanatory power, but also the influence of satisfaction of life within the socioeconomic status where the elderly consider themselves to be an integral part. The elderly's satisfaction in life was analyzed in comparison with demographic characteristics such as gender and age. The correlations of objective socioeconomic characteristics such as income level and education level were also observed. For this purpose, the Korea Labor Panel 17th data (2014) was used to conduct a one-way batch distribution analysis and a hierarchical regression analysis. It was seen that there was a correlation in the Korean elderly in terms of class consciousness and life satisfaction. The elderly with a lower subjective class consciousness showed lower life satisfaction. The relative influences were stronger than the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the elderly, and the explanatory power was much higher than the objective income levels. These results show that the subjective perception of their socioeconomic status has a significant influence on the level of life satisfaction of the Korean elderly, independent of the objective income level.