• 한국노년학
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.587-609
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate parenting experiences among grandmothers raising their grandchildren from grandmothers' perspective, and a variety of their physical health, psychological and social challenges they were facing in everyday life. In addition, this study explored new issues, changes, and difficulties grandparents and their grandchildren were going through during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven grandmothers raising their grandchildren without their cohabiting parents participated in an in-depth interview, and the qualitative date were obtained using semi-structured questionnaires. Analyses identified 5 main categories: 1) my emotion, worries, and coping with parenting grandchildren, 2) difficulties and obstacles facing in real life of the parenting, 3) conflicts and coping with growing grandchildren who showed new characters, 4) relationships and emotions among grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, and 5) needs and desires toward social services and support. Sixteen themes and 60 sub-themes were also derived. The majority of grandmothers expressed diverse difficulties in their dail y lives including ambivalent emotions regarding grandchild-rearing(rewards and burden), economic hardships, physical health limitations, and a lack of communications with their grandchildren. Further, findings indicated profound generation conflicts which had been even deepened during school close period in COVID-19 pandemic and had been associated with increased hours of using internet and playing computer games. The top priority of the social service needs among interviewed grandmothers was learning support for their grandchildren. Emotional support and social support to cover their lack of family interactions, and financial support were the next of their desired social services. Implications to improve social services for grandparent-headed families are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.62
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• pp.71-102
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to enrich our understanding of the family utilizing childcare by grandmothers and the elderly women by examining the experience of grandmothers who refused to support raising their grandchildren. The researcher focused on grandmothers who have been in charge of caring the family in the main and tried to explore the reasons for their decision not to take care of their grandchildren. For the purpose, Research participants were seven elderly women who have refused raising of their grand-children. Data were collected by in-depth interview and analyzed based on the phenomenological method. As results, it turned out that the elderly women refused caring of their grandchildren due to the burden of parenting and the rejection of an extended mother role, and the fear of family conflicts, but they felt sorry about their refusal of a request for caring support from their adult children. Second. these decisions caused various dynamics of the family members, and they were experiencing psychological difficulties. Third, elderly women perceived raising of grandchildren as a task of adult children or a problem for which the society should be accountable, and felt that the family and the society have shifted the responsibility to them. This research result confirms that a new generation of the elderly women have emerged who have different viewpoints on caregiving. It also presents a necessity to reflect the viewpoints of elderly who are mainly concerned when establishing a policy of caregiving. Based on this finding, this study also presents implications regarding support for family utilizing childcare by grandmothers and support for the elderly women.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1147-1164
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• 2008

There has been a sharp increase in the number of grandmothers raising grandchildren in contemporary Korean society. However, little is known about the complexity of the experiences of the custodial grandparenting. Most of the studies mainly examined burden/cost and have paid little attention to the positive aspects of custodial grandparenting. In order to overcome this limitation of previous research, this study aims 1) to examine not only the costs but also the rewards of custodial grandparenting and to explore related factors, 2) to develop the typology based on relative rewards-burden perception of grandmothers about custodial grandparenting and explore the group differences. The data were gathered from 449 grandmothers raising their grandchildren as a primary caregiver, using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, hierarchical multiple regression and ANOVA, with SPSS WIN 12.0 program. Main findings are as follows: First, custodial grandmothers report not only care-giving burden such as physical burnout and economic burden but also various rewards such as joy of watching their grandchildren grow and feeling good about themselves to be a help with their adult children, i.e. grandchildren's father or mother. Second, factors related to the level of perceived cost of grandparenting are different from the factors affecting the positive aspects of grandparenting. Third, results of the two by two cross-tab analysis based on the level of rewards and burden show that about 32 percent of the grandparents belong to Type II group(high rewards-low cost). This result is quite contrary to the assumption of previous research focusing mostly on cost and burden of custodial grandparenting. Fourth, four groups were different in terms of grandmother & grandchildren's characteristics. Implications of these results are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.239-269
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to understand the different views of grandparent's that are rearing children from the grandmother and working mom as co-caregivers by studying conflicts and the experience made by grandmothers by rearing children through a phenomenological approach, and to help to build healthy relationships and furthermore to promote a healthy educational environment. Data were collected from six working mothers from a child care center in Gyeonggi, and their six grandmothers who were rearing grandchildren through in-depth interviews, emails and observation based on the instruction of semi-structured interviews. For analysis, a phenomenological analysis method is used. As a result, 78 meaning units, 15 sub-elements and 6 theme categories were drawn. Theme categories were (1) grandmothers' rearing experience; perform a double-role through grandchildren-rearing (2) working moms' rearing experience; conflicts over ideologue of motherhood (3) grandmothers' rearing positive effect: increasing grandmothers' efficacy and intimate relationships with grandchildren (4) working moms' rearing positive effect: reducing working moms' children-rearing stress (5) negative effect: increasing grandmothers' children-rearing stress and working moms' low children-rearing efficacy (6) rearing conflicts: the two mothers' conflicts over children-rearing values. Through the study, it implies that social intervention is needed to solve the conflicts between two mothers over the rearing attitudes and methods as understanding and intervention is needed.

• Proceedings of the KHMA Conference
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• 2012.11a
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• pp.187-213
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• 2012

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.93-109
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• 2015

This study explores interpretations of grandmothers' experiences rearing their grandchildren. For this study, 13 participants provided in-depth interview data, which was analyzed according to Spradely's ethnographic method. Based on the pattern of interpretations, nine concepts were classified into three categories: (i) repentance (compulsive decisions, passivity of the childrearing activity, non-compensation); (ii) sorrow (restrictions on everyday life, renunciation of occupational careers, worsened health); and (iii) satisfaction (decreased isolation in old age, proof of existence for their children, intimacy development with their grandchild). The results of this study show that grandmothers have a higher appreciation for the benefits of relational compensation than for personal cost. Some practical implications are suggested to improve family welfare.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-20
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• 2014

This study explores the grandchild-rearing experience of grandmothers whose children are part of dual-earner couples. Twelve participants provided in-depth interview data that were analysed according to Spradely's ethnographic method. We present three main themes in our research, as well as ten smaller themes: (i) the grandchild-rearing motive (from the perspective of the adult, the child, the grandchild, and the grandmother); (ii) the mode of grandchild-rearing support (residential, total weight of childrearing support, availability of a daycare center); (iii) the change in the grandmother's way of life (positive changes and negative changes). Finally, this study examines the integrity of the grandmother's identity as their productivity increases through providing grandchild-rearing support. It also looks at the importance of governmental policies that support their burdens according to the level support they provide.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.655-662
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• 2019

Based on phenomenological view a research utilizing qualitative methodology to understand about parenting difficulty and stress through an in-depth interview with grandmother in low-income grandparent-headed family was administrated. The results indicated that experience with parenting stress of grandmother in low-income grandparent-headed family lead to economic hardship, grandchildren who are a barrier of old-age, and desolate parenting. This article implicates that a basis to guide a direction and role of social welfare intervention to alleviate parenting stress of grandmother in grandparent-headed family and to improve a life quality emergent on the results could be provided. Several considerations on this finding shows as follows. First, with currently active support project re-monitored and re-checked, support program could be needed to enlarge. Second, support program development and social support to decrease parenting stress and depression of grandmother in grandparent-headed family could be necessary. With educational and cultural as well as mentoring program helpful for grandmother parenting designed, a support system to complement non-sufficient support network will be established together.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.779-791
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• 2010

This study was to examine the differential impacts of social experiences and conditions on health among men and women aged 65 years or older, using data of the "2004 Survey on living Status of the Korean Elderly". The outcome variables were any disability, self-rated health, multiple morbidity, and self-rated quality of life. Multiple Classification Analysis was used to test the differential exposure to social factors contributes to gender difference in health. Gender differences in vulnerability of each individual socioeconomic, psycho-social, and behavioral factors for health were assessed by comparing logit coefficients in men and women. I found that gender difference in exposure to social factors contribute to inequalities in health between older men and women, however, gender inequalities remained after controlling for differential exposure except in case of quality of life. In addition, gender differences in health were further explained by differential vulnerabilities to social factors between men and women. Findings of this study may affirm the importance of further and deeper investigation of gender differences in health in later life. Gender sensitive approach in health planning and polices for the elderly is also suggested.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.111-138
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of grandmothers and family in transition. Grandmothers in transition means grandmothers who had married children at least one even if there are no grandchildren yet. The data for this study came from 20 grandmothers in transition of 5 focus group(each 4 persons) interview. 9 of them was pre-grandmother without grandchildren yet, 11 was grandmother who had grandchildren. The result of this study revealed that the meaning of grandmotherhood. Dynamics of family in transition around supporting child care represent change of family relations. It didn't means 'empty-nest' model of foreign theory. The Absolute quantity of intergeneral exchange and conflict extended as three generational families.