A Study on Receptivity to Sharing Living Space in Communal Shared Housing of the Elderly Living in Rural Areas depending on Personal Traits

Purpose: The objective of this study is to divide personal traits of the elderly living in a rural area into extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and loneliness and to identify the relationship between personal traits and receptivitiy to sharing living space in communal shared housing. Method: Subjects of this study are the elderly of ages greater than 55 living in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon-do. Depending on how often elderly welfare facility was used, places where the elderly gathered were divided into a senior citizen center, senior welfare center, and other places where they often gathered. The researchers visited each of the places directly and conducted a survey with face-to-face interviews. Result: The collected data consisting of 124 respondents were analyzed through SPSS statistical program. It showed that 5 personal traits, except for agreeableness, had statistically significant difference. Extrovert and low lonely elderly people had high receptivity. The relationship between personal traits and acceptable shared space revealed differently depending on the function of space. Especially, shared resting space was related to low emotion-oriented trait, such as neuroticism and loneliness, while shared hobby and sanitary space were related to strong management-oriented trait of conscientiousness. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding personal traits in predicting receptivitiy to sharing living space. Also, it is necessary to compare the degree of receptivity to sharing living space based on personal traits and to plan shared space in several levels, such as full sharing, partial sharing, and individual use, to develop and supply communal shared housing successfully.