• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.189-203
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• 2001

The purposes of this study were to examine the social support network of married middle-aged women and its effects on the life satisfaction. The data were obtained through 395 middle-aged women living in Kwangju and Chonnam. The major findings were as follows. 1. Married middle-aged women mostly received companionable support and they were intimate with friends and family members of orientation obviously. 2. The life satisfaction of married middle-aged women was significantly influenced by emotional support from wife's family members of orientation, contact frequency with husband's family members of orientation, emotional support from their friends and intimacy with wife's family members of orientation.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.23-41
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to explore social supports for elderly housing and their residential lives in small cities along rural counties of the United States and Canada, and suggest future implications for age-concentrated rural villages in Korea. In this study, five small and medium cities in non-metropolitan counties of California and Ontario province were visited and elderly residents and service experts were interviewed about their perceptions of community integrated social support networks for senior residences. The senior housing complexes were built due to influx of both metropolitan and rural residents seeking warm localities, traffic connections, business purposes in active production areas. and leisure attractions. There are five main social support networks for senior housing issues in these areas. First, the areas are claimed for senior zones and accordingly health industries are encouraged by local authorities. Second, the community is homogeneously constructed as a senior friendly environment and include features such as an RV park and mobile cottages. Third, senior-helping seniors are offered active work through golf-cluster active retirement communities. Fourth, traditional theme production camps are mobilized by the elderly workers. Lastly, an information system is maintained for screening volunteers and for senior abuse prevention. On the other hand, residential lives are occasionally negatively influenced by unbalanced concentrations of elderly facilities such as nursing stations and funeral homes. For the future of Korean rural elderly policies, suggestions are made as follows: first, an integrated urban and rural township that contains attractive places for early retiring people who seek a warm atmosphere in later life needs to be constructed. Second, an integrated model retirement village of urban and rural retirement life needs to be initiated as a measure of evaluating the adaptation process of movers in senior concentrated zones. Third, a cooperation system among governmental ministries needs to be formed with the long- term goal of establishing a traditional rural town of independent housing districts and medical facilities in rural areas. Fourth, productive and active lifestyles need to be maintained as the local community and government develop successful retirement rural villages, by limiting the expansion of nursing related facilities. Finally, generation integrated visiting welfare programs and services need to be further developed for the housing areas especially in the winter, when social integration and activity are relatively low.