• 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 Relations
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.25-51
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• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify patterns of gender role attitude among older men and women and to investigate the effects of the identified patterns on marital quality for each gender. Method: The Third National Survey of Korean Families was utilized and 981 men and 752 women aged 60 and above, who have been married for over 20 years and have at least one child, were analyzed. Using Mplus 7.3, a latent profile analysis (LPA) identified latent profiles of gender role attitude for each gender. Then, using SPSS 23.0, multiple regression analysis analyzed the effects of the identified patterns on both marital satisfaction and marital conflict. Results: The latent profile analysis identified two patterns of traditional and partially egalitarian gender role attitudes each for the older men and women. Also, means on items relevant to the male breadwinner model and the male-oriented family culture were relatively low for both men and women regardless of the patterns. For the older men, the effects of the gender role attitude patterns on marital satisfaction and marital conflict were both significant; those individuals with the partially egalitarian gender role attitude pattern reported higher levels of marital satisfaction and lower levels of marital conflict than those individuals with the traditional gender role attitude pattern. However, the effects of the gender role attitude patterns on marital satisfaction and marital conflict were both not significant for the older women. Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that political interventions are required to promote an egalitarian family culture for older adults. Moreover, its findings may be useful in the field of marriage and family therapy to develop educational programs that seek to improve marital quality in later life.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.83-106
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• 2004

As the lifespan has been expanded, the marital relationship later in life is getting more important. This study is to find out what the demand for the education of marital couples to improve this relationship. The results can be used as basic data to develop educational programs for elder couples. The results of this study are as follows. 1. Couple role according to socio-demographic variables can be divided into traditional and modern roles. And these variables are shown to be significant in couple role. 2. Need for the education of married couples according to socio-demographic variables. In case of spouses having shorter marriage period, religion, and a nuclear family, and doing social activities, the necessity of education is recognized highly. Those who have a spouse with good health and social activities have experienced a chance to attend the educational program. It is thought that health and social activities have much to do with active living attitude. In case of old age, it can be thought that they don't feel the necessity because they have lived a decent life for a long time. It is just that it comes from the fixed ideas of elder couples who had to spend only a short time with their spouses. That is what elder couples have to overcome. They tend to think that the relationship between the family is more important than that of spouses, and they put family relationship before the quality of their own lives. 3. Influence of the need for the education of married couples according to their role. As their role are becoming modern and their mutual trust, affinity, and cohesion are getting more important, the education of married couples and the experiences of communication and participation in the educational program are thought to be more necessary.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.413-424
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of anticipated variables on hemodialysis that was impact patients' quality of life. The subjects of the study were 104 patients who were over 18 years old. They were enrolled at Kidney dialysis unit in General Hospital located in T and M city, Republic Korea. And the duration of treatment was more than 6 months. They all met the research criteria and agreed to participate in the research. The research instrument have 25 questionnaire which were originally Ferrans' (1985) instrument to measure the quality of life for hemodialysis patients and later changed by Lee, Suk-Ja into the 35 items after eliminating repeated contents, the Cronbach's $\alpha$in this study was .87. The stress instrument was measured by 36 items which were modified and supplemented the instrument developed by Kim, Yong-Kyong(15) for hemodialysis patients, and the Cronbach's $\alpha$was .9333. Depression instrument was 20 questions modified BDI(Beck Depression Inventory) to meet hemodialysis patients' conditions, and Cronbach's $\alpha$ was .92. June 25, 1999 and the data was analyzed by SPSS/PC, and the statistical techniques were ANOVA(variables analysis), Scheffe test, Multiple Regression. The findings of this study were as follows: 1. The effect of general characteristics on hemodialysis patients' quality of life, the characteristics showing a statistically, significant difference were the existence of an occupation(t=6.7353, P= .0109), marital status (F=4.3550, P= .0290), economic status (F=4.6475, P= .0118) and presence of care support (F=2..4738, P= .0494). 2. The effect of general characteristics on the patient's stress, the characteristics showing a significant difference were gender (t= 4.1143, p= .0451), education level (F= 4.3550, p= .008), the existence of an occupation (t=8.7498, p= .0038), and presence of care support(F=3.1715, p= .0169). 3. The effects of general characteristics on depression, the characteristics were education level (F=3.7517, P= .0069), the existence of religion(t=9.4843, p= .0027), an occupation (t=15.3745, p= .0002), marital status (F=3.3400, P= .0223) and presence of care support (F=3.7605, p= .0069). 4. The Multiple Regression is used to identify the effect of anticipated variables on the patient's quality of life. The variables were depression (T=-9.656, P=.000), marital status (T=-2.287, P=.0243) and the regression expression was Y=117.62053 - 1.13618Χ$_1$ + 2.66213Χ$_2$(Χ$_1$: Depression, Χ$_2$ : Marriage), The explanation of the total regression expression appeared to be 52.578%.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.59-73
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• 1999

It is known that the role of informal support for elderly women is critical to their physical and mental health, adjustment in old age, and their overall life satisfaction. Elderly women's situation such as social losses, widowhood, living alone, and geographic relocation etc. may result in a need for more informal supports for elderly women's health than ever before. Particularly, women's same-sex friendships were rated higher for overall quality, intimacy, enjoyment, and nurturance. Unlike a generally accepted notion that later life for women is a time of isolation and loneliness, elderly women tend to maintain and reestablish their friendship regardless their marital status and living situation. Although studies on informal support for elderly women were inconclusive in many ways, elderly women's friendship tends to be stable despite of changing health status and life events. The relative importance between daughters and friends was also controversial. This study suggests that more research with reliable measurements is necessary for the practical prevention and intervention program of elderly women's health on this issue.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.139-147
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors which affect older people's innovativeness toward technologies and factors which affect their demand of home automation system. The study collected data from 289 persons who are 50 years and older with experience living in an apartment currently or past. Innovativeness toward technologies of respondents were low level and the significant factors which affected their innovativeness were age, education, employment, marital status, current housing types, health status of self and spouse, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house. Education, employment types, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house, and plan for moving were the major factors which affect demand of home automation system. Also, older people's innovativeness toward technologies was the most important factor which affected demand of home automation system. Th results of this study explained that high technologies which are adopted in residential environment should be considered target consumers' abilities and attitudes for acceptance toward new ideas. Especially, for older consumers, various ideas to expand their understanding of new technologies should be developed and the positive effect of technologies to increase the quality of their later life should be educated.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.12 no.5_spc
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• pp.45-79
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper was to review the results of the subjective well-being(swb) studies performed by Hahn and coworkers in Korean culture. As the correlates of swb, we dealt with demographic/individual difference variables, intrapersonal variables, interpersonal process variables, and Korean cultural variables. We proposed that the components of swb were consisted of quality of life(cognitive swb) and overall happy feelings about one's own life(emotional swb). It was also assumed that a measure of total swb could be calculated by summated mean of cognitive swb and emotional swb measures. The data of the swb studies were analyzed and interpreted according to the above three measures of swb. The results of a nationwide survey(Hahn, 2004) from age of 19 to 75 years ald(n=2,230) showed significant simple correlation coefficients between the following demographic/individual difference variables and swb: Gender difference in swb was found(total swb r=.08, p<.001; life satisfaction r=.10, p<.001; overall emotional swb r=.05, p<.05). Men were happier than women in terms of all three measures of swb. It was also found that women appeared to experience greater positive and negative emotions. Correlation between age and emotional swb(r=.09, p<.001) was significant, but life satisfaction was not significant(r=.04, n.s). Correlations between economic status and swb were also significant(total swb r =.23, p<.001; life satisfaction r=.15 p<.001; overall emotional swb r=.15, p<.001l). Although existence of father was negatively related to emotional swb(r=-.05, p<.05), the existence of mother was not related to any of swb measures. Similarly existence of brothers was related positively to overall emotional swb, but existence of sisters was not. Though existence of son was not related to swb, daughter contributed negatively to swb(total swb -.12, p<.01; life satisfaction -.09, p<.05; emotional swb r=-.12, p<.01). We assumed that family member-in-Iaw also contributed to swb because the extended dose social networks were important in Korean culture. The results showed that the following family member-in-law variables were related to swb: Parents-in-law(total swb r=.11, p<.01; life satisfaction r=.10, p<.01; emotional swb r=.10, p<.01), father-in-law(total swb r=.11, p<.01; life satisfaction r=.11, p<.01; emotional swb r=.06, n.s). The result suggested that especially father-in-law contributed to swb through financial and social support. Correlations between emotional experiences in everyday life and swb were also presented. The range of correlation coefficients between the positive emotion measures and swb were r=.30~.48(p<.001) when the above two measures obtained at same time. But the range decreased to r=.19~32(p<.001) when the swb measure was obtained 9 month later longitudinally. Intercorrelations between positive emotional experience; and life satisfaction were r=.37~58(p<.001) when two measures were obtained at same time. We also examined the effects of the intrapersonal cognitive responses to the most stressful life event upon swb. The results of nationwide survey(n=1,021) showed that self-disclosure(total swb r=.09, p<.010; life satisfaction r=.10, p<.01; emotional swb r=.07, p<.01), rumination(total swb r=-.17, p<.001), thought avoidance(total swb r=.12, p<.001; life satisfaction r=-.08; emotional swb r=-.12, p<.001) and suppression(total swb r=-.13, p<.001; life satisfaction r=-.08, p<.05: emotional swb r=-.13, p<.001) contributed to swb. It was also suggested that mismatch between self-guide and regulatory focus contributed negatively to emotional swb. It was also found that social comparison motives and fulfillment of the motives contributed to swb. The results of a survey research(n=363 college students) revealed that the higher the general social comparison motive, the lower the swb(total swb r=-.15, P<.01: life satisfaction r=-.17. p<.01; emotional swb r=-.10, p<.05). It was also found that satisfaction level of self-evalution motive contributed positively to swb(total swb r=-.14. p<.01: life satisfaction r=-.12, p<.05; emotional swb r=.15, p<.001). Both of self-improvement motive(r=.13, p<.05) and satisfaction level of self-improvement motive(r=.12, p<.05) contributed positively to emotional swb, respectively. The above results suggested that swb was depended upon the interaction effect of social comparison motive; and level of fulfillment of the motives. We also reported the significant multiple predictors of swb in a sample of age from 60years to 89years olds. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the significant multiple predictors of swb were past illness(β=.174, p<.001), economic status(β=.418, p<.001), marital satisfaction(β=.0841, p<.001), satisfaction of offsprins(β=.065, p<.01), expectation level of social support from offsprings(β=-.049, p<.001), and negative emotions(β=-.454. p<.001) among 16 social psychological factors. It was also found that swb was an important multiple predictors of physical health. This finding was replicated in a longitudinal study. Both of positive and negative emotional experiences were significant multiple predictors of physical health one year later. The results of the discriminant analysis showed both of total swb and positive emotional experiences contributed to discriminate the happy and healthy olds from unhappy and unhealthy olds. We paper also examined the effects of the nonnative social behaviors upon swb in Korean culture. The main hypotheses of the study(Hahn, 2006, in press) was that the important nonnative behaviors would influence on swb through both of the mediation processes of adjustment to social relationships and psychological stress. The survey data were collected from 2,129 adults age of 19 to 75, from 7 regional areas in Korea. The results of the study revealed that almost all of correlation coefficients between 15 normative social behaviors and the above three criteria w-ere significant. The fitness test results of the covariance structural equation model showed that all of the fitness indices were satisfactory (GFI=.974, AGFI=.909, NNFI=.922, NFI=.973, CFI=.974. RMR=.049, RMSEA=.073). The results of the analysis revealed that the following five path coeffi6ents from behaviors to social adjustment were significant; behavior tor family and family members(t=5.87, p<.001), courteous behavior(t=4.39, p<.001), faithful behavior (t=2.15. p<.05). collectivistic behavior(t=8.31, p<.001). Seven path coefficients from the normative behaviors to psychological stress were significant; behavior for family and family members (t=-4.63, p<.001), faithful behavior(t=-3.86, p<.001). suppression of emotional expression(t=3.99, p<.001), trustworthy and dependable behavior(t=-2.21, p<.05), collectivistic behavior(t=3.72, p<.001), effortful and diligent behavior(t=2.94, p<.001), husbandry and saving behavior(t=3.40, p<.001). The above results suggested that four normative behaviors among seven behaviors contributed negatively to psychological stress in current Korean society. The results abo confirmed the hypothesized paths from social adjustment (t=10.40, p<.001) to swb and from psychological stress(t=-19.74, p<.001) to swb. The important results of the study were discussed in terms of the Confucian traditions and recent social changes in Korean culture. Finally limitations of this review paper were discussed and the suggestions for the future study were also proposed.