• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.795-809
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• 2015

The suicide rate in South Korea has been the highest among the OECD countries for more than 10 years. In addition, the suicide rate among the rural elderly is much higher than that of the elderly in urban areas and that of younger generations. The purpose of this study was to examine the general tendencies of family ties, community consciousness and suicide ideation of the rural elderly in Korea. Also, this study aimed to verify the mediating effect of community consciousness between family ties and suicidal ideation. The data for this study came from 283 elderly people (over 65 years old) living in 11 villages in South Korea. The data was gathered from July to August 2013. Baron and Kenny's (1986) step based regression from the SPSS Win 18.0 program was used to analyze this data. This study also utilized the Sobel-test. The results of this study are as follows. First, the suicidal ideation of the respondents had a lower score than the median score. However, the magnitude of suicidal ideation was still significant. Second, this study found that family ties and community consciousness have both direct and indirect effects on the reduction of suicidal ideation. Lastly, this study examined the mediating effects of community consciousness. The findings of this study are of great significance because they reconfirmed the importance of establishing a social safety net in local communities to replace adult children who have relocated to urban areas.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.129-139
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• 2003

Living arrangement is considered an important variable in discussing loneliness and the psychological state of the elderly. From this point of view, this study aimed at Identifying the effects of living arrangements, sociodemographic variables, social activities, and social psychological variables on the psychological loneliness of the rural elderly. Though hierarchical regression analyses. the predictors of loneliness among the rural elderly were identified as single/co-residence living arrangement(r=.49), sense of well-being based on respects for others' perspectives (r: -.22), needs for remarriage (r=.22), and work hours during off- farming season (r: -.19). The effects of living arrangement remained strong and were not influenced by the addition of sociodemographic variables, social activity variable, and social psychological variables. The feeling of loneliness of the elderly who were living alone was higher than among the elderly who were living with someone else. This finding suggests that the loneliness of the rural elderly derives primarily from the lack of family Interaction. Therefore, it is recommended that social welfare policies for the rural elderly be designed to improve their family and social interactions.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.17-32
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• 2004

The proportion of the elderly in rural area(21.7％) is four times more than that of the urban area (5.4％) in Korea. With this rapid aging of the population in rural Korea there has been growing concern about the quality of life of rural elderly. Compare to urban elderly, rural elderly experience many disadvantages, especially in terms of limited offering of social/educational programs. Their social/educational needs are rarely assessed and there are few programs geared to the needs of rural elderly. In this regard, this study aims (1) to identify education and activity program needs of the rural elderly related to three dimensions: Family life, Farming life, and Community activities and (2) to develop education and activity programs for the rural elderly based on the needs assessment. For this purpose, data are gathered from 413 rural elderly and 110 community welfare specialists, using a structured questionaire. The statistical methods used for data analysis are descriptive statistics, cross tables with SPSS wins 10.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: Majority(94.1％) of the rural elderly wants to participate in diverse social/educational programs. They want to have programs dealing with 'relationship enhancement with children', 'nutrition', 'health and care', 'farming skill', 'gardening', 'volunteering', etc. Based on these results, we develop eight types of education program and four types of activity program, according to the priority of their needs in each dimension. There are four sessions of Family life program, and four sessions of Community activities program. The effect of these programs will be evaluated by taking pretest and protest in local basis.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2021

This study aims to investigate and analyze the utilization perception of members of head families based on a survey on the history, folklore, architectural resources of head families. In order to identify the direction of utilization of Jeonnam head family resources, tangible and intangible resources, and spaces and places to contain programs were researched. The results of the study were summarized as follows. 1) Head family houses in Jeonnam could be categorized into head families that preserved the original form of head family houses, head families that preserved a part of head family houses, head families that newly built head family houses while the original forms thereof have disappeared, and relocated head families of which eldest grandsons no longer reside, where only the sites of the head family houses remain or relocated to a different place. 2) In the case of perception of members of head families on the utilization of head family resources, 27 head families consented to the utilization, 35 head families opposed to the utilization, and 6 head families were undecided on the utilization out of a total of 68 head families. 3) The results of investigating and analyzing the desired type of programs of each head family by categorizing the programs into lodging, food, meditation, education, and tourism, as many as four programs were desired, while some families desired 2 or 3 programs at the lowest, showing an overlapping characteristic.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.115-129
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• 1999

To find the influence of family support degree on the depression of the elderly in a rural area, a questionnaire survey was made toward 163 persons who were more than 65 years old and living in a township at Chollanamdo province from January 1st to February 20th, 1998. The major findings are as follows : 1. By simple analysis significantly associated variables with depression score were residence, adequacy of pocket money, health consciousness, drinking alcohol, smoking, score of activity of daily living(ADL), score of instrumental activities of daily living(IADL), and degree of family support among female respondents(p<0.05). 2. To find the influence of family support on the depression score excluding other associated variables, multiple regression analysis was made and it was found that family support was associated significantly with affective, somatic, psychomotor and psychological domain of depression score among male, and somatic, psychomotor and psychological domain among female(p<0.05). The above finding suggest that family support degree is an important factor to be associated with the depression of the elderly in the rural area. So to deal with the depression of rural elderly, how to make close relation among family members must be considered.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 1983

The purpose of this study is to investigate the family values and the factors of satisfying family life. Throughout the study the changes of family values and marital satisfaction were examined. The results of the study are as follows; 1) Whereas the family values of people living in urban community were modernized to a great extent- in position of wife, role of husband and wife, preference between son and daughter, view on filial piety- the family values of people living in rural community were remained its traditional form. Form both areas modernization of family values was found in support of old parent. 2) Both Seoul and Andong showed the significant difference on family values according to subjects' education and age. In Seoul, the socio-economic level was influential factor in determining subjects' family values. 3) Marital satisfaction was found higher among people living in rural community than in people living in urban community. Since its very important not only to the individual but also to the society for a human being to be content in his surrounding , the reestablishment of the housewives family values should be followed so that other family members may approach the modernized family values.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.400-414
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• 1999

Objectives: This is a descriptive study which was carried out to identify characteristics of the chronic mentally ill and their families in a rural area and the influencing factors on family burden. Methods : Data was collected for seven months beginning April 1, 1998 by questionnaire from chronic mentally ill patients and their families in two towns and seven townships of the rural areas of Kyonggi Province. In additional to the mental diagnosis of the mentally ill patients, family burden was measured by interviewing the other family members using the questionnaire developed by Pai & Kapur (1981). Of those interviewed, 103 patients were selected for final analysis. Results : Of 103 mentally ill patients, 36.1% of the subjects were not under treatment. In particular, of 29 patients with schizophrenia, 48.3% of the subjects had stopped taking medication and 6.9% of the subjects had never been treated. According to the results of a specialized examination by a psychologist, 81% of patients were in need of Hospitalization. Most primary caregivers were parents. Of the 101 primary caregivers in the study, 39.6% were over 65 years old. In case of death of the primary caregiver, 50.5% of these 101 mentally ill patients would not have anyone to care for them. Of the various kinds of family burden, primary caregivers most often reported psychological stress. Overall, the families of dementia and schizophrenia patients complained of the most family burden. Through univariative analysis, the variables of sex, education and current treatment type of the patients, the relationship with the patient and marital status of the primary caregiver and the number of people living together in the household showed significant correlation with the family burden of schizophrenia patients. Univariative analysis also showed that there were a number of variables which were correlated to the family burden in mentally retarded patients. Concerning the need for mental health services, the most common requests were for entitlement to disability benefits and housing programs. Conclusions: Community mental health services in rural areas must be developed, planned and executed in consideration of the local situation. In particular, the development of various family support programs is needed in order to mitigate emotional, mental and economic burdens and carry out a positive role to care for and rehabilitate patients.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.43-57
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• 1995

The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of interaction between the social support network and the korean eldery and to provide information on the structure and function of the social network which influences the life satisfaction in the aged. The sample of this study was selected from the elderly living in korean urban and rural areas. 213 out of urban respondent and 350 out of rural respondent were selected as data sources. The methodological instrument was the questionnaire. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows : 1. most of the elderly had the relationship with all kinds of social support network-family, kin, neighbors and friends. 2. the elderly having contact with all kinds of the social support network showed the highest life satisfaction. 3. the size, the frequency and the distance weren't important factors in influencing the family, the kin and the neighbors support network in the urban elderly. In the rural elderly the size was an important factor in all the support network. Also the frequency had effect upon all networks except the neighbors and the distance had significant effect upon the family support network. 4. In the urban elderly the friends support network had the positive correlation with life satisfaction. the rural elderly having contact with all kinds of the social support network showed high life satisfaction.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.321-338
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• 2014

This study was examined the level of satisfaction in rural settlement and analyzed its differences according to various demographic variables and characteristics of urban-rural migration. The analysis was conducted by considering returning farmers residing in rural areas. A statistical analysis was conducted using t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Duncan's multiple-range test with a total of 210 responses. First, satisfaction with the convenience of living facilities varied significantly according to the occupation before urban-rural migration, responses of family members and friends to urban-rural migration, and the initial capital for urban-rural migration. Second, satisfaction with the natural environment varied significantly according to age and reasons for urban-rural migration. Third, satisfaction with the transportation environment varied significantly according to gender, the period of residence after urban-rural migration, and the employment type of the returning farmer. Fourth, satisfaction with neighborliness varied significantly according to parents' occupation, agricultural experience before urban-rural migration, experience in agriculture-related social life before urban-rural migration, reasons for urban-rural migration, the type of urban-rural migration, and the employment type of the returning farmer. Fifth, satisfaction with the agricultural environment varied significantly according to responses of family members and friends to urban-rural migration, the period of residence after urban-rural migration, and reasons for urban-rural migration. Sixth, satisfaction with the housing environment varied significantly according to the residential area, the agricultural experience before urban-rural migration, and the period of residence after urban-rural migration.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.39-51
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• 2012

This study aims to find the association between community scales and perceived community family-friendliness among parents with young children. Communities were identified into three groups: metropolitan, small and medium-sized cities and rural, according to the degree of urbanization. The data were drawn from a sample of 1,038 parents who had at least one pre-school child. The data were analyzed by frequencies, means, GIS, ANOVA, and multiple regressions. This study compared the level of community family-friendliness both at the 'dong' and 'si' levels after controlling for the individual and household characteristics of the respondents. The findings of this study are as follows. First, after controlling for individual and household factors, the level of perceived community family-friendliness differed by the community scales. The parents in the small and medium-sized cities had higher scores on community family-friendliness than their counterparts in metropolitan communities. And parents in rural communities received had lower scores in community family-friendliness than those in metropolitan communities. The results also showed similar patterns for the 'dong' and 'si' models. While job and housing type were associated with the perceived family-friendliness of the community, other characteristics such as sex, age, educational level, monthly household income and home ownership were not.