• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.5-27
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• 2016

In this study, we examine differences in the children's medical utilization by family structure with a focus on single-mother and single-father families using data from the Korean Health Panel Survey, years 2008~2012. We also investigate whether the cause of transition into a single-parent household, whether coresidence with children's grandparents, and number of siblings are associated with children's use of ambulatory visits. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, children who grew up in single-father households had fewer ambulatory visits compared to those living with both parents after controlling for children's demographic characteristics and family backgrounds. Second, coresidence with grandparents was not associated with children's medical utilization. However, number of siblings was significantly and negatively correlated with the use of ambulatory visits. Third, children living with a divorced father had fewer medical utilization compared to those living with a widowed father, and coresidence with grandparents was positively associated with children's use of ambulatory visits. Our findings suggest that tailored policy supports would be more fruitful based on characteristics of single-parent households such as gender of parents, and the supports should also pay more attention to health care needs and medical utilization of children.