• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.249-256
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• 2020

This study was to identify differences in mortality risk by living arrangements among older adults. We analyzed data from 3,827 older adults who took part in the 2014 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Cox proportional hazards regression was used for data analysis. The significant factors associated with mortality risk in living with others were male, education level, self-rated health, limitation of instrumental activities of daily living, cognitive dysfunction, and depression. The significant factors associated with mortality risk in living alone were regular exercise, limitation of instrumental activities of daily living, and cognitive dysfunction. This study is significant in that it examined whether there are differences between mortality risk by living arrangements. According to the results of this study, nursing intervention should be developed to decrease mortality by living arrangements.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.635-652
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• 2019

A few studies have examined the relationship between living arrangements and mental health status among older Korean immigrants in the United States and older Koreans in South Korea. This study attempts to fill this gap by conducting a comparative study to understand the relationship between living arrangements and psychological distress. Survey data from older Koreans between the ages of 60 and 79 from the two countries (N= 480) was analyzed descriptively and in hierarchical multiple regressions. This study found that among older Korean immigrants in the United States 26.4 % of those living alone and 7.3 % of those living with a spouse only reported 'severe' psychological distress while their counterparts in South Korea 20.0 % of those living alone and 20.6 % of those living with a spouse only reported 'severe' psychological distress. The hierarchical multivariate analysis reveled that older Koreans living alone are not significant predictor of psychological distress in both countries. Interestingly, older Korean immigrants living with a spouse only and living with others are significant predictors of psychological distress. This study also contributes to the existing literature by searching for diverse conditions that lead to mental health problems among older Koreans in both countries.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.15-22
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• 2002

This paper aims to analyze the changes in the living arrangements of the elderly in Chejoo-do for the elderly housing supply by using census data. The conclusions are as follows; The rate of living alone and living with spouse only of the elderly have been increasing. The trend in county was higher than that in city. Living alone rate of the elderly of Chejoo-do was higher than that of Korean average. Even in the oldest old, living alone rate has been increasing in Chejoo-do. It is a unique phenomenon in Korea and similar with U.S. In Chejoo-do, it is strongly required to evolve elderly housing by universal design for living alone elderly in county as well as for living alone elderly in city.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.119-127
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• 2001

This paper aims to analyse the changes In the living arrangements of the elderly in Chejoo-do for the elderly housing supply by using census data. The conclusions are as follows; The rate of living alone and living with spouse only of the elderly have been increasing. The trend in county was higher than that in city. Living alone rate of the elderly of Chejoo-do was higher than that of Korean average. Even in the oldest old, living alone rate has been increasing in Chejoo-do. It is a unique phenomenon in Korea and similar with U.S. In Chejoo-do, it is strongly required to evolve elderly housing by universal design for living alone elderly in county as well as for living alone elderly in city.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.659-668
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• 2016

Purpose: This study utilized secondary data and investigated the factors associated with life satisfaction by living arrangements among community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older in Korea. Methods: A total of 2,134 participants were selected from the 2014 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). Univariable and multivariable logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: The significant factors associated with life satisfaction in older adults living with others were education level (odds ratio [OR] 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.41~2.11), place of residence in medium-size city (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.25~1.97), place of residence in rural town(OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.19~1.95), depression (OR 2.99, 95% CI 2.43~3.68), frequency of contact with neighbors (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.10~1.76), and social participation (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.14~1.93). In contrast, factors associated with life satisfaction among older adults living alone were education level (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.15~3.24) and depression (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.48~4.19). Conclusion: These findings indicated that nursing interventions for improving life satisfaction among older adults should take into account their specific living arrangements.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.727-736
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of attitude toward elders, cognitive level, and mood state by living arrangements of the elderly. Method: The subjects consisted of 238 elderly who divided by living arrangements(living alone, living with spouse, living with children). The data were collected by structured questionnaire that included general characteristics, attitude toward elders, MMSE-K and mood state scale, from March to December, 2005. The collected data were analyzed by Windows SPSS program including descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2-test$, Fisher's exact test, ANCOVA, $Scheff{\grave{e}}$ test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results: In MMSE-K and mood state, there were statistically significant differences among the three groups. In depression and anxiety factor of mood state, the living alone group showed higher scores than the other two groups. There was a positive correlation between attitude toward elders and MMSE-K in the elderly living with a spouse group and a negative correlation between MMSE-K and mood state in all three groups. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop a supportive program for decreasing the risk of health in the elderly and perform a differential approach according to their living arrangementa. Especially, more concern and intervention are needed to be performed for the elderly living in solitude.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between self-rated health and Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and self-care behavior of rural elderly in Korea, focused on the difference among three distinctive living arrangements; living alone, living only with his/her spouse, and living with their married children. For this purpose, data were gathered from a nationwide survey, a total of 586 elderly aged 65 or older and living in rural area, using the structured questionnaire. Also, self-care behavior were categorized into 4 groups; life-style practice, medical self-care, adaption to functional limitation, and emotional management. The major findings are as follows; 1) Rural elderly perceived their health little and more 'bad' but their ADL capacity were 'not difficult', especially among elderly living with spouse. 2) The level of 20 items in self-care behavior ($1{\sim}5$score) was ranged from 2.51 to 3.81 score. The behavior level of regular exercise, setting up additional phone, taking a nutrient, and testing BP or pulse regularly were low but that of taking a medicine according to prescription, close contact with other people, and regular eating were proportionally high. 3) The majority of self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health positively but medical self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health or ADL negatively. Based on these results, policy implications are discussed.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.99-134
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to examine major factors that affect patterns of living arrangements of older Korean noncitizens in the United States using the 1990 8% Public Use Microdata Sample(PUMS). In order to do so, I analyzed the effects of four factors including acculturation(English proficiency and Age at migration), economic circumstances(Personal Income and Supplemental Security Income: SSI receipt), health status(Mobility and Personal care limitation), and the ethnic community. The results show that acculturation and economic circumstances play an important role in determining the patterns of living arrangements among older Korean aliens, whereas the health status and the ethnic community do not show consistent effects. Regardless of marital status, the impact of age at migration is positively associated with solitary living of older Korean noncitizens, though, the effect of English proficiency show the opposite direction in accordance with marital status. That is, among nonmarried elders, those who cannot speak English are more likely to live alone. The case is reverse for married elders. The impact of economic feasibility is also positively associated with independent living arrangements. Those who receive SSI are much more likely to live apart from family, and elders whose annual personal income between $5, 001 and $10, 000 have the greatest propensity of solitary living-a large proportion of their income source is SSI. Individuals who receive SSI are also qualified to collect Medicaid, food stamps, rent subsidies, and other welfare benefits. In a sense, the economic feasibility provided by welfare benefits is the key determinant of independent living of older Korean noncitizens. Therefore, the recent welfare reform which denies legal aliens welfare benefits such as SSI and food stamps will severly affect the present living arrangements of older Korean aliens, and give economic burden to their family member The findings also show that there are significant differences within the elderly Korean Americans in terms of demographics, income, fertility, health status, and patterns of living arrangements by U.S. citizenship status. In particular, after controlling for age at migration as a proxy for acculturation, there is a statistically significant variation in living arrangements between elderly Korean noncitizens and naturalized citizens. For both theoretical and methodological reasons, future research on minority aging needs to investigate the concept of U.S. citizenship status for its impact on patterns of living arrangements among the minority elderly.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2001

With a continuous and steep increase in life expectancies, Korean society is expected to enter the aged society by year 2020. And as the number of elderly increases, the burden of medical and health care expenses for them becomes greater in every developed society. Hence, the preventive approach for chronic degenerative diseases remains to be the best solution for the above-mentioned problem and warranting optimal nutrition would be one of the most important approaches. We performed a nutrition survey on 585 older adults of 50 years of age and older, residing in 3 metropolitan areas including Daejun, Daeku and Kwangju. Anthropometry, including body composition analysis based on the bioelectrical impedance analysis using InBody 3.0 and dietary intake survey by semi-quantitative flood frequency questionnaires, were used in collecting data. As one of the most important factors affecting the health and nutritional status of the elderly, we focused on living arrangements. Analyses were performed on the data from 550 subjects only, after excluding statistical outliers. Three hundred and sixty-eight of them(66.9%) were female and the number of elderly(65 years of age and older) was 485. According to the statistical analyses, the female elderly were more vulnerable to malnutrition than the male elderly. And the older they befame, the less adequate they were in nutrient intake. In addition to this, the elderly living alone showed the poorest patterns of nutrient intake and anthropometry. Although the exact effect of living alone could differ among different sex-age groups, the fact that the elderly living alone is vulnerable to malnutrition would remain concrete. This raises the utmost necessity of nutrition intervention to be devised and directed to the targeted population, namely the living-alone elderly from the government level. The intervention may include nutrition education, nutrition counseling and support In forms of meal service by networking the efforts of central as well as local governments to ensure the good health of the Korean elderly.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.395-403
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• 2021

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that participation in social activities (SA) can prevent cognitive decline (CD) and that living arrangements (LA) can affect cognitive function. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of SA and LA on CD, as well as their interactions, using longitudinal data. Methods: Data were used from the 2006-2018 Korean Longitudinal Study for Aging, which followed 10 254 adults older than 45 years over a 12-year period. CD was defined as a ≥4-point score decrease in the Mini-Mental Status Exam over 2 years. We developed an extended Cox proportional hazards model for time-dependent covariates to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of CD in 4 groups: (1) socially active and living with others, (2) socially active and living alone, (3) socially inactive and living with others (SILO), and (4) socially inactive and living alone (SILA). The model was stratified by gender and adjusted for important confounders. Results: The HR of CD was significantly higher in the SILO group in men (HR,1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08 to 1.78) and in the SILA group in women (HR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.08 to 2.75). However, the interaction term for gender was not significant. Conclusions: Among socially inactive elderly adults, the HR of CD was elevated in men who lived with others and in women who lived alone, although the interaction term for gender was not significant. Socially inactive men who live with others and socially inactive women who live alone are particularly encouraged to participate in SA to prevent CD.