• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.25 no.1 s.85
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• pp.59-75
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• 2007

This review synthesizes research during the past 15 years on the family relations of older persons. After discussing two background issues-sociodemographic changes of later life families and the status of the elderly-the following topics are addressed; relationships between aged parents and adult children, couple relationships, grandparents' relationship with their grandchildren and sibling relationships. Family relationships are vital support systems providing emotional and instrumental support in the lives of older persons. Mutual assistance and affection among family members were found to be common characteristics. Although research on family gerontology has increased in quantify, there are feater needs to develop qualitative, longitudinal and theory grounded studies to capture the rich complexity of family life. Other challenges and suggestions for future research on older persons' family relationship are presented.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.411-425
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the middle aged social preparation for later life and to explore the effect of social activities and social relationships on social preparation for later life. This research is also focused on gender differences in social activities, social relationships and social preparation for later life. The survey data was gathered from 424 middle aged citizens who live in the Gwangju & Jeonnam area, using a structured questionnaire. The statistical methods used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, cross tables, t-test, correlations, and hierarchical regression with SPSS win 18.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: Most of the respondents perceive an importance of social activities and social relationships. Middle aged women enjoy leisure activities such as learning and religious activity more than men. Middle aged men engage in hobby activities more than women. And most of respondents perceive they are making an effort to keep a relationship with spouses, family & friends. The results show that there are no differences in social preparation for later life between gender groups, but the variables which have an effect in social preparation for later life are different between gender groups. Social activities and Social relationships play an important role in social preparation for later life of Middle aged men and women. At the same time, Social activities and Social relationships have more positive effect on the social preparation of women. Implications of the results are discussed.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.59-76
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• 2012

This study examines the relationship between intergenerational financial resource transfers and preparation for later life among the middle-aged. The study sample consists of 1536 middle-aged individuals with at least one living parent and one married child. The level of preparation for later life is dependent upon the level of household economic status. The statistically significant variables predicting the level of preparation for later life include age, education, subjective health status, household income and household assets. Moreover, intergenerational resource transfers are statistically significant factors that explain the level of preparation for later life. The effect of financial transfers from middle-aged parents to their adult children on the level of preparation for later life is the most significant financial transfer variable.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.35-50
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• 1996

This paper is a review and assessment of 1122 articles on families in later life from 5 journals published during 1980 and 1995. theoretical and methodological issues family relationships in later life social support network caregiving attitudes and stress life satisfaction and stress of the aged and welfare system for the aged are the major areas examined. The review indicates that this area of research in quantity has increased rapidly since 195. Relationships between aged parents and their adult children focusing on caregiving attitudes behavior and stresses for supporting their parents among the children and adjustment/life satisfaction of the aged are dominantly investigated. However most of the research are non-theoretical and descriptive in nature and the influences of socio-economic variables such as sex health economic status and educational level on dependent variables are widely investigated. Future research questions and issues under the sub-ares of families in lat r life is provided. Further directions and suggestions for future research works on families in later life in general are provided with particular emphasis on conceptual and methodological issues.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.61-78
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• 1994

This study was to provide the basis for the development of family life education programs for caregiving families. The data were collected from 374 adult children who were giving care to their older parents in Seoul. Adult children reported experiencing more caregiving problems in the areas of personlities of older parents psychological burden and parents' health than in the areas of caregiver's health and financial burden Women were more likely to experience caregiving problems than men. Adult children indicated higher levels of perceived knowledge on planning for later life psychological characteristics of older parents and keeping good relationships with older parents. They reported more need for knowledge on physical change of older parents and planning for later life while there were less need for knowledge on sharing caregiving roles with others and social service programs. The needs for caregiving education were also identified in the aspects as to participation purposes methods times and agencies. Given these findings this study suggests some practical implications for the development of family life education programs for caregiving families. Further studies should help to advance the development and practice of family life education programs for caregiving families.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.77-96
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• 2016

Objectives: The aims of this study are to examine the associations between marital satisfaction and life satisfaction among Korean retirees in later life and to test whether the degrees of associations increased over time. Method: Nationally representative Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing data from wave 1 (in 2006) to wave 4 (in 2012) was utilized and retirees in later life (65-89 years old, N=402) were analyzed. Latent growth modeling (LGM) and model constraint were applied using Mplus 7.3. Age, sex, household income, subjective health, depressive symptoms and elapsed time after retirement were included as control variables. Results: Linear unconditional LGM fitted the data well and showed gradual decrease in life satisfaction. Conditional LGM revealed significant associations between marital satisfaction and life satisfaction from time 1 to time 4. According to model constraint test, the size of associations between marital satisfaction and life satisfaction did not change with time. Conclusions: To sum up these results, the associations between marital satisfaction and life satisfaction were significant and relatively stable over time among retirees in later life. This study suggests one's spouse is a fundamental component of social convoy among Korean retirees in later life. Therefore, intervention programs targeted toward enhancing marital relationships among retirees' couples will help them to live a better life.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.79-99
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• 2008

Nowadays, social circumstances have changed rapidly due to the decreasing birthrate and increasing number of senior citizens. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate past research for presenting the direction of future research and for improvement of welfare for the elderly. For this study a total of 231 articles within four kinds of major home economics journals are used. The articles were published from 2000 to 2007. Specific research topics (subjects) are investigated for this study. Results from this study are as follows. Research topics are divided into the following fields: facilities for the elderly, family relationships in later life, quality of life, economical aspects of the elderly, physical and metal health, leisure, awareness and the attitudes about elderly people, clothing, death and welfare services for elders. According to this study, 'facilities for the elderly' and 'relationships in later life' are the most frequent topics of interest. Based on the results of this research and the governmental aging society plan, SEROMAZI PLAN 2010, the directions of future research about senior citizens and later life in our home economics major science field are presented.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.189-213
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• 2013

The purpose of this work is to explore different types of intergenerational relationships in the later lives of old retirees. This will be done according to the eligibility of public pension and the old age social security system so that the factors affecting intergenerational relationships can be analyzed, and to propose a plan to improve social adaptation in later life. The data used in this work are the Fourth basic survey data of the 2011 Korea Retirement and Income Study. The study subjects of this work were 2,435 retirees over age 65 who had children. In this study, latent class analysis and logistic regression analysis were conducted to classify types of intergenerational relationships and to analyze the influence of relevant factors. As a result of the analysis, some of those in the group were eligible for public pension, and the ones who were not were classified into three types: the closely-living-together type, the separate-living-contact type, and the estrangement type. In the group not eligible for public pension, it was found that age, spouse, number of children, economic factors, and level of health satisfaction gave significant power to intergenerational relationships. In the group eligible for public pension, it was found that age, income and net assets, ADL(Activities of Daily Living), whether there was an IADL(Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) spouse, and number of children affected types of intergenerational relationships; Socio-demographic factors, economic factors, and healthy factors became significant variables according to the classified types of intergenerational relationship. Based on the study results, this work suggested such necessities to lay the foundation for an elderly welfare system for social adaptation in later life, This includes the offering of programs for retirement preparation, the use of family and local society resources, and expansion of the opportunity to participate in social activities.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.471-481
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• 2022

This study aimed at examining the mediation effects of depressive symptoms on the association between social activity participation and marital satisfaction among couples in later life. The study included 1,196 married couples aged 65 or above who participated in the 7th Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging in 2018. The study variables were husbands' and wives' social activity participation, marital satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Covariates were individual age, education level, subjective health, couples' household income, and number of children. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) and bootstrapping techniques were used to test the significance of the mediating impacts of depressive symptoms based on the dyadic data structure. The results showed that for both husbands and wives, active participation in social activities had significant effects on increasing marital satisfaction through lowering depressive symptoms. However, only the participation of husbands in social activities was positively associated with their own marital satisfaction by reducing their own and their partner's depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that the active social participation of individuals salient for promoting the quality of marital relationships in later life, particularly for preventing their own and their spouse's depressive symptoms.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-17
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of family characteristics of the baby boomer generation on the level of their later life preparation. This study randomly sampled a birth cohort between 1955 and 1963 consisting of participants living in Seoul, South Korea with a spouse and a child/children. This study investigated a total of 455 subjects from March 2 to March 20, 2016. The study findings are summarized as follows. This study analyzed the characteristics of baby boomers' family relationships and their effects on their later life preparation. It was found that 55.4% of the subjects had at least 2 children, and 44.6% had 1 child. Concerning their children's marital status, 33.8% had married children and 66.2% had unmarried children. The level of their children's support was found at 2.82 points (standard deviation [SD] = .64), which is slightly higher than the mean value of 2.5. The spouse satisfaction among the subjects was found to be 3.59 (.79) which is higher than the mean value of 3. The general status of later life preparation was 2.70 (SD = .44), which is lower than the mean value of 3. In the sub-dimension, the level of social preparation was 2.98 points (SD = .61); the level of economic preparation was 2.60 (SD = .64); and the level of physical preparation was 2.53 (SD = .45). All the values were lower than the mean value of 3. The overall status of later life preparation of the subjects in this study was low. The physical preparation level was particularly low. To analyze the factors that affect baby boomers' later life preparation, a hierarchical regression analysis was implemented. As a result, a significant effect was found in specific factors, such as spouse satisfaction (${\beta}$ = .32, p < .001), age (${\beta}$ = .26, p < .001), number of children (${\beta}$ = -.18, p <.001), health status (${\beta}$ = .18, p < .001), gender (${\beta}$ = -.11, p < .05), household income (${\beta}$ = .10, p < .05), and children's marital status (${\beta}$ = .10, p < .05). That is, the higher the spousal satisfaction, the older the age, and the lower the number of children, the higher the levels of later life preparation. Further, a higher level of later life preparation was observed in women, those with higher household incomes, and those with married children.