• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.109-134
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• 2009

Due to the change of socio-cultural conditions, family dissolving is increasing. As an alternative, grandparents who parent their grandchildren are also increasing rapidly and many show deep concern at this phenomenon. The grandparents-grandchildren families were approached through policy-makers' and professionals' perspective, not through insiders' view. The purpose of this ethnographic study were to explore the experiences and meaning-makings of grandmothers who are raising grandchildren. 22 narrative interviews with 10 grandmothers were conducted. The results of data analysis are as follows. The cultural theme in rasing experiences of grandmothers is 'Constituting a family beyond the multiple boundaries'. This theme include four cultural meanings: 'Recunstuction of everyday life beyound boundaries', 'Boundary of relative poverty more rigid than boundary of absolute poverty', 'Compromising constantly with normal culture having both inclusion and exclusion' boundaries', 'Having aspiration toward crossing the boundaries'. The policiy-makers and practitioners for the grandparents-grandchildren families should recognize the experiences and meaning-making of these families and should perform culturally perceptible and family-centered policies and practices.

• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2014

This study was focused on investigating the factors of the psychological adaptation of grandmothers raising their grandchildren. The Double ABCX family stress model provided the theoretical basis for this study, and the major factors examined in the study included a pile-up of stressors, family resources and social support, appraisal of situation(redefinition of nurturing), and adaptation(depressive mood and happiness). Data were collected by personal interview with 213 grandmothers raising their grandchildren utilizing the questionnaire survey method. Structural equation modeling analyses were performed and the results showed that a pile-up of stressors, the family resources(i.e., contact and emotional solidarity with grandchildren's parents), and the redefinition of nurturing had significant influences on the psychological adaptation of grandmothers raising their grandchildren. It was also found that social support had indirect influence on grandmothers' psychological adaptation. The redefinition of nurturing had the greatest effect on the participants' psychological adaptation, followed by a pile-up stressor, and then the family resources.

• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.233-246
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• 2015

Objectives : This study investigated the general characteristics, child rearing characteristics, and the level of self-differentiation of 120 custodial grandmothers. Methods : Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire from 120 custodial grandmothers who registered Kinship Network in Busan City. Results : For the self-differentiation measure, the mean score of the sample was $2.52{\pm}0.51$. However, the level of the fusion with emotion $1.89{\pm}0.80$ was extremely low partly due to the influence of collectivist culture of Korean society. The levels of emotional reactivity and fusion with emotion were significantly low which were dependent on depression (F=4.387, p=0.015). Conclusions : The findings of this study show the need to improve the level of self-differentiation by increasing the score of emotional reactivity and fusion with the emotion among the kinship network grandmothers. Therefore, supportive programs for kinship network grandmothers need to develop self-differentiation.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.419-439
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• 2012

Family dissolution and economic difficulties of the grandchild's parents are the most prevailing reason for an increase of grandparent-headed families in rural Korea. However, there is a lack of empirical research looking at the experiences of custodial grandmothers, social support, and their psychological well-being. In this regard, this study examined the effect of social support (formal & informal) on the psychological well-being of custodial grandmothers in rural Korea. For this purpose, quantitative and qualitative research methods were conducted. Quantitative data were gathered, using structured questionnaire, from 311 grandmothers who were raising their grandchildren in rural Korea as primary care-givers. Statistical methods used for data analysis were descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analysis with SPSS WIN 19.0 programs. Qualitative data were collected by in-depth interviews to 10 custodial grandmothers in rural area. The results of this study are as follows. First, almost half of the parents of the grandchild didn't visit and didn't call anymore. Some relatives -aunt, uncle, etc.- support the grandparent-headed family economically and emotionally. 3/4 of the grandparent-headed families were supported by the government and community. This was not small numbers, but the amount of economic support was low. Second, grandmothers in the study showed quite a high level of depression while their happiness level was relatively low. There were differences in the factors influencing the level of happiness/depression of these rural grandmothers. Overall, the study's results showed the importance of formal & informal support for psychological well-being of the custodial grandmothers in rural Korea. Policy and theoretical implications are discussed.