• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.24 no.1 s.79
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• pp.193-207
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyze middle-aged salaried workers' retirement plans and the factors that affect the plans. The main point of this study was to compare male workers with female workers on their economic preparation and health care plans. The major findings were as follows; First, middle-aged salaried workers perceived their level of economic retirement plan to be relatively low. Second, the factors the affected the level of economic preparation for post-retirement were their current subjective economic level, age, household assets and debts, economic and health problems expected in their future elderly life, and savings and assets reserved for their elderly life. Third, the factors that affected whether to put aside savings for elderly life or not were age, current subjective economic level, capital assets, and savings and assets reserved for their elderly life. Fourth, the level of preparation for post-retirement health care depended on health problems expected in their elderly life, current subjective economic level, locus of control, job, and expected retirement age. Overall, the factors that affect male salaried workers' economic and health care plans were different from those of female salaried workers. From the findings, it can be concluded that the middle-aged salaried workers' level of economic retirement plans was different from that of their health care plans. Also, male salaried workers' level of retirement plan were different from that of female workers.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.129-142
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• 2008

This study examines how economic and psychological characteristics affect the quality of life (QoL) of elderly individuals age 60 and older, who live in the Seoul-metropolitan area. Relationships among socio-demographic status, economic conditions, psychological characteristics, family life, health status, and QoL are examined by t-test and ANOVA(Duncan's test as post hoc multiple comparisons), and the multiple regression analysis is used to estimate QoL determinants in the elderly. The major findings of the study are as follows. First, younger age, higher education levels, better health status, harmonious family relations, higher levels of household income, lower levels of loneliness, and higher self-esteems are related to higher QoL levels. Second, the impacts of factors on QoL are differentiated according to tercile groups that divide monthly allowance of respondents into three categories: below normal (threshold amount below 21MW), near normal (threshold amount between 21MW and 35MW), and above normal (threshold amount above 35MW). For each tercile group, poor health status or higher loneliness have negative effects on QoL, while harmonious family relationship has a positive effect. For the below-normal group, years of education or self-esteem have positive effects, while age or retirement status have negative effects when controlling for other factors. For the near-normal group, being married, or perceived financial insecurity create lower QoL levels, while higher self-esteem increases QoL levels. For the above-normal group, being widowed, employed, or retired have positive effects on QoL, when controlling for other variables. Third, even among elderly with high allowances, the effects of health status and family relationship are significant determinants that explain QoL levels. This result suggests that, for te elderly, poor health status and poor family relationships severely decrease QoL in later life, regardless of economic condition.

• Architectural research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2011

Profit-keeping behaviors naturally occur in the market to satisfy consumers, and the logic behind it lies in the economies of scale. On the flip side, some commodities transacted in the market are not available or can not be easily acquired unless the demand is high enough. Under this proposition, some consumers rise and find their own solution to meet the services at a reasonable cost or at an adequate level. The commonly adopted way is to establish a cooperative, and it stirs purchasing power by pooling resources and further bargains price and service quality. As a consumer cooperative, housing cooperatives notably found in rural towns enable the elderly to continue independent living. This study is to take a closer look at residential life of the rural elderly in housing cooperatives. Utilizing in-depth focus group interviews with 40 residents in four housing cooperatives, this qualitative research draws main factors affecting the decision to move in, residential assessment, and strengths and weakness of living in a housing cooperative. The primary factor influencing the moving decision is to continue to independent living in a familiar community, and the bottom line is planning ahead. Frailty and bereavement are found to be the leading occasions for them to move. The participants are satisfied with the independent living arrangement, and particularly, cited such features as safety and security, elderly-friendly design, common spaces, freedom, social activities and efficient living. Also, it is stated that some cooperative natures such as control over the property and giving a voice on management render positive impacts on the satisfaction with communal living. In spite of all the benefits and strengths, participants face with a public notion that an independent living arrangement like a housing cooperative has never done before in rural towns, so that most people recognize it as part of dependent living arrangements like nursing home.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1781-1793
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• 2009

This study classifies the lifestyle of elderly female consumers in their 60's and 70's and examines the influence of lifestyles on personal clothing purchase behavior. This paper classified the types of lifestyle and examined the influence of lifestyle types on the perceived importance of salesperson's characteristics and store evaluation criteria. A survey was conducted on 194 elderly females in their 60's and 70's living in Seoul. The SPSS 14.0 program was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, K-means cluster analysis, and one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan post hoc comparisons were conducted. The research results are as follow. First, in order to identify the lifestyle factors of elderly female consumers a factor analysis was conducted that indicated 9 factors. Second, as a result of the cluster analysis of lifestyle types, the respondents were classified into 'proactives', 'passive stagnants', 'independent misers', and 'conservative consumers'. Third, according to lifestyle, weight on 'appearance and image', 'professionalism', 'ethics', 'similarity', and 'customer orientation' abilities of the salesperson were significantly different. Fourth, in relation to the store evaluation criteria by lifestyle, a significant difference was found in the attention to 'physical service' by a salesperson.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.99-111
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• 2000

The purposes of this study were to segment the elderly women's apparel market according to their benefits sought and to develop the profiles of each segment. Questionnaire survey was done to 500 elderly women aged over 55 in Chonbuk province from Mar. 1. to Mar. 15, 2000, and 360 questionnaires were used. Frequencies, percentages, means, factor analysis, cluster analysis, $\chi$$^2$-test, and ANOVA were done with SPSS Win+. Duncan's Multiple Range test was followed. The factors of clothing benefits ere consisted of fashion, brand loyalty, economy, practicality, activity, and utility. The elderly women segmented into 4 groups of the reasonability pursuit, th economy & practicality, the benefit unconscious, and the fashion & brand pursuit. The fashion information sources were divided into mass communication-dominated source and point-of-purchase & consumer-dominated source. The factors of store patronage criteria were divided into product assortment, convenience, and additive service. The economy and practicality pursuit selected their clothing with the help of others, used any kind of information sources less, considered convience of the store more, shopped at traditional market, group size was the biggest, was the oldest, and educated less. The reasonability pursuit selected their clothing by themselves, used all kind of information sources, considered many facets of stores, shopped at department store, was younger, healthier, educated more, and lived with husband more. The benefit unconscious spent less money to their clothing, lower usage of information sources, selected their clothing with the help of others, considered all facets of stores less, shopped at moderate or volume zone apparel market or traditional market, was older, healthy, and involved the widowed more. The fashion and brand pursuit spent more money to clothing, considered the product assortment or additive service of store more, shopped at department store, and selected their clothing by themselves, group size was the smallest, was younger educated more, healthy, and showed a tendency of living with husband.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.638-643
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• 2005

As Korea has approached the aging society, older Koreans have become an important force in restaurant sales today. To succeed with this silver market, it is important for restaurant managers to know who they are and what factors influence older Koreans' eating-out decision making process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the silver consumers' education level on eating-out decision making process. Data were collected from 178 older consumers above 55 years old and analyzed using the descriptive statistic analysis, MANOVA, and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that the elderly consumers' education level significantly influenced the decision making process in determining where to eat out. Significant differences were found in the Problem Recognition Step(Wilks' Lambda=0.817, F=2.991), Information Search Step(Wilks' Lambda=0828, F=2.218), Alternative Evaluation Step II(Wilks' Lambda=0.741, F=3.596), Purchase Decision Step(Wilks' Lambda=0.859, F=2.223), and the Post-Purchase Behavior(Wilks' Lambda=0.885, F=1.780). The higher education level was, the more directly involved in the eating out decision process. The elderly consumers with university education were likely to 'propose to eat out by themselves'(F=9.346), to obtain restaurant information from the 'printed materials'(F=7.452), to go to 'family restaurant'(F=9.057), 'Japanese restaurant'(F=8.7891) and 'fine dining restaurants'(F=3.936), and to directly express their emotion when they had complaints about restaurant service(F=3.206). In conclusion, older Koreans will become more healthy and wealthy which means the dining out activity will be an important part of their life to socialize with people. Therefore, food service operations should consider the elderly consumers' needs and expectation of restaurant services and actively position themselves for this new market segment.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.133-138
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• 2020

The ability to use ICT is now a prerequisite for living in the information age, and digital literacy, which can access and utilize various digital information such as online banking, shopping, news, and health care, is more important. It is increasing. Accordingly, the social inequality, or digital divide, related to accessing and accepting digital information and knowledge is also an important social issue. In particular, the digital divide by age is becoming a major issue, not only in terms of resolving social imbalances but also in resolving the structural problems of the economy in addition to the survival of the elderly. This study aims to find ways to resolve the digital gap of the elderly in terms of socioemotional selectivity theory and suggests the reasons for the elderly's less access to digital information acquisition and the implications for the solution.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.41-54
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to research on status of physical discomfort and clothing life including clothing inconvenience for enhancing self-reliance of elderly women, newly emerging consumer. The subject of research were 346 elderly women who aged 60 or older in Seoul and Seoul Suburbs. Survey consisted of questions about body discomfort, satisfaction and purchasing criteria of ready-to-wear, the inconvenience of clothing. The results of this study are as follows: Physical discomforts were generally associated with the ability to regulate body temperature. The biggest complaint of ready-to-wear was the price, and the next were the size and activity. In purchasing criteria, 'clothes to fit my body shape', 'clothes easy to put on and take off', 'comfortable clothes to work' showed high score. In clothing inconvenience, 'feel inconvenience due to several layers of clothing to avoid chilliness', 'feel heaviness in the waist due to tightness', 'feel chilliness even when wearing several layers of clothing in the winter' were the most uncomfortable parts. Subjects over the age of 80 years and needed the help of others in activities experienced more inconvenience in clothing life. It seems that body discomfort such as dulness of movement and loss of body temperature regulation capability due to aging had a influence on their clothing life. This problem could be improved by the adjustment of pattern allowance, the selection of the fastener, and the proper use of functional fabric. The results of this study will be used as a basis for development of the elderly women's clothing to increase convenience and mobility in everyday life.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.275-284
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to provide useful insights into community-level support services for family caregivers in Korea by comparing them with the services in the United States. Similar to most developed countries, life expectancy has led to rapid population aging in Korea over the last several decades. However, despite increased social needs of long-term care for the elderly, many elderly Koreans are still dependent on their family for the long-term care. Yet, existing support programs for family caregivers are very limited. As a result, family caregivers often suffer from a lack of financial resources and emotional support. In this study, we comprehensively review the extensive literature, including relevant studies and documents of community-level support services for family caregivers of the elderly at home in Korea and the United States. One of the most important differences is that compared to Korea, diverse services based on the law of NFCSP to support the family caregivers, such as counseling, organization of support group, and educating have been available in the United States since 2000. Additionally, the legal definition of family caregivers in the United State is broader than that in Korea, where family caregivers are limited to those who are related by blood or marriage. Therefore, more caregivers are eligible for support programs and benefit from the programs in the United States. The findings of the study suggest that policy makers in Korea should legislate for diverse and comprehensive services for family caregivers. Further, it is necessary to define legal terms for family caregivers more broadly to extend beneficiaries of the programs.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.339-348
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to predict the economic size of foods-for-elderly market, which will be valuable information for establishing related policy and backup system. After setting the scope of related industry, detailed information for current market situation was investigated and a systematic forecast for market changes in the future was performed. Economic growth, changes in consumer expenditure and economic status of the elderly, current subscription of medical insurance and saving for pension were reflected. In addition, a survey toward related firms was completed and changes in aged population and incidence of chronic disease in the elderly were taken into account. Results show that the annual growth rate of the market was predicted to be the minimum 4.54% through the maximum 8.32% from 2010 to 2025 and its market size was forecasted to be the minimum 7,073 ten million won through the maximum 10,976 ten million won. It is expected that the market of foods-for-elderly will grow rapidly with development of foods technology and fast increase of aged population. Especially, growth of health functional foods and foods for special dietary uses for elderly will be distinguished. However, it seems that related firms are on the hedge, watching current trend of the related industry. This may results in insufficient supply against the demand. Therefore, policy for foods-for-elderly should be introduced and systematically administered, including R&D support, standardization and authentication for foods-for-elderly, construction of related database system.