• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2016

Middle-aged women, who are rising as the main consumers of modern society spare no cost in health care and enjoying cultural activities along with various changes in life styles. They are active in self-realization and taking care of their appearances, and the lifestyle changes of middle-aged women who prefer fashion of young and trendy sensibilities are becoming a important theme in the media such as dramas. The middle-aged women in dramas have social positions and economic power who contribute to the completion of the drama as a main character, and so their fashion styles are receiving attention. Also, they play the role of providing trend information and various fashion information, which even leads to sales of these fashion products. Hence, this study aims to derive design formative characteristics and fashion styles that current middle-aged consumers prefer and provide basic data for promoting the growth of the Korean fashion industry by analyzing the fashion styles in accordance with the life styles of middle-aged women in dramas who are becoming admired by middle-aged women. The analysis of the fashion of middle-aged female characters in dramas allows to examine the fashion styles per various situations in accordance with the life styles of middle-aged women, and furthermore in the domestic and foreign fashion industry, arranges an opportunity to form a new market for potential fashion exports aimed at foreign consumers who view Korean dramas.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.49-62
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• 2015

The purpose of the study was to investigate jean consumption among middle-aged Korean women and the characteristics of consumers as potential jean consumers. The data were collected from the survey of 238 Korean women aged 45 to 64 years old. The respondents prefer outlet store to other retail outlets and wear jeans mainly for travel, grocery shopping, and outing. The main reason for not wearing jeans is body change, which leads to poor fit in abdomen and waist area. The sample was clustered into two groups based on interest in jeans: high-interest and low-interest group. From the examination of group differences, the high-interest group rated conformity/brand reputation, scarcity, and attractiveness of appearance significantly higher compared to the low-interest group among the five clothing benefits pursued. No difference was found in obesity and body satisfaction. Group differences were found in recent purchase, price, number of jeans owned, and frequency of wearing jeans. The results suggest the characteristics of the potential jean market among middle-aged women in Korea. Implications are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.127-144
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• 2016

The purpose of the study was to investigate the self-esteem, appearance satisfaction, and clothing benefit pursuit the gap between subjective age and real age according to gender and age of middle-aged consumers. For the study, the questionnaire was developed by the authors and distributed to male and female consumers in their forties or fifties on september 1~10, 2014. A total of 470 questionnaires was collected and used for the final analysis. Data were analyzed by frequency analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, ANOVA and Tukey's test, using the SPSS 18.0 Package Program. The findings were summarized as follows. There were significant differences in the subjective age of middle-aged consumers according to gender and age. Female consumers in their fifties perceived their subjective age to be younger than male consumers in forties and fifties. There were no significant differences in self-esteem among the groups according to gender and age. Significant differences were found in appearance satisfaction of male consumers in their fifties having higher appearance satisfaction than female consumers in their forties. There were significant differences in some factors of clothing pursuit benefits including pursuit of fashion, pursuit of youth, pursuit of rationale, pursuit of leisure, and pursuit of loyalty, among the groups according to gender and age with female consumers placing more importance on clothing-related benefits than their male counterparts. Local fashion businesses to consumers who target middle-aged consumers, this study can provide a basic data.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.765-779
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• 2013

This paper studied why middle-aged group is using active wear as casual wear. First, we can think of 'comfort', 'ideal body shape', 'trend', 'functionality', 'economy' for the reasons. We categorized the incentives as 'comfort/functionality pursuits', 'trend/economy pursuits', and 'ideal body shape pursuits'. Studies showed that statistically significant number of men pursue comfort and functionality, and statically significant number of women pursue trend and economy. Second, this study shows that the number of consumers who use the active wear in daily lives is greater than that of those who use it only for outdoor activities. The difference was statistically significant in T-shirts and pants. The most frequent usage was in social activities, and the next frequent usage was in cultural activities. The reason is that currently, middle-aged consumers are actively participating in social gatherings than any other activities. Especially, considering that the men wear active wear more than the women do, development of the product as men's casual wear that is compatible with other apparels will be necessary. We expect this study will be used as the preliminary data for a marketing strategy targeting the middle-ages.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.183-197
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• 2018

This study examined outdoor sports wear purchase behaviors among middle-aged male consumers based on outdoor sports wear shopping orientation. Data research was conducted on 300 internet users in their 40s and 50s located all parts of the country. The SPSS 24.0 software program was used to conduct data analyses such as descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, $x^2-test$, t-test, ANOVA, and Duncan test as a post-hoc analysis. The results of this study were as follows: Firstly, outdoor sports wear shopping orientation was identified with fivefactors : the tendencies of wanting to show off a brand name, conservative purchasing, economical purchasing setting a high value on a salesperson, and impulse purchasing. Secondly, the middle-aged male consumers were classified in to three groups by the cluster analysis: a rational group, an indifferent shopping group, and pursuit brand shopping group. Thirdly, the evaluation criteria of products were significantly different depending on outdoor sports wear shopping orientation subdivision in all factors. Fourthly, in the case of fashion information sources regarding outdoor sportswear, significant differences were found according to shopping orientation subdivision in mass media/store source, personal source/ prior shopping experience. Fifthly, all types of stores were significantly different depending on shopping orientation subdivision except for large discount stores.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.59-76
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• 2012

This study examines the relationship between intergenerational financial resource transfers and preparation for later life among the middle-aged. The study sample consists of 1536 middle-aged individuals with at least one living parent and one married child. The level of preparation for later life is dependent upon the level of household economic status. The statistically significant variables predicting the level of preparation for later life include age, education, subjective health status, household income and household assets. Moreover, intergenerational resource transfers are statistically significant factors that explain the level of preparation for later life. The effect of financial transfers from middle-aged parents to their adult children on the level of preparation for later life is the most significant financial transfer variable.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.131-152
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• 2012

The aims of this study were to analyze middle-aged households' financial preparation for retirement. Specifically, this study surveyed the relation between human capital investment for children and the middle-aged households' financial preparation for retirement and investigated factors influencing financial preparation for retirement. Data were obtained from the 3rd Korean Retirement and Income Study (KReIS) in 2009, and a sample of 757 households was selected. The statistical methods were frequency, percentile, mean, standard deviation, ${\chi}^2$, t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and logistic regression analysis. The findings of this study are as follows. First, the percentile of preparation for living costs for old age was 49.9% for the middle-aged households. In terms of the types of preparation for living costs for old age, the results showed 61.6% of personal preparation, 33.9% of pension system, and 1.3% for children and relatives. In relation to the adequacy of the preparations for living costs for old age, preparations made by 57.4% of the middle-aged households were inadequate. Observing the minimum living costs for old age and adequate living costs after retirement for single and couple, the minimum living costs of the middle-aged households was 1.46 million won for couple and 0.91 million won for single. The adequate living costs for old age was 2.07 million won for couple and 1.34 million won for single. Second, there were 757 households with total education expenditure. Of these, 208 incurred annual expenditure on public education, and the annual expenditure for public education was 7.28 million won. There were 170 households with annual expenditure for private education, and the annual expenditure for private education was 2.50 million won. 243 households of middle-aged households had annual expenditure for human capital investment, including both public and private education, with annual expenditure for human capital investment for children of 7.82 million won. Furthermore, in the human capital investment factor, there was a difference in the middle-aged households' financial preparation for retirement according to their annual expenditure for human capital investment including both public and private education. In addition, there was a difference in financial preparation for retirement based on their public education expenditure. Third, in the logistic regression model 1, which included human capital investment, the significant variables affecting the preparation for retirement of the middle-aged households were as follows : annual household income, total amount of annual household income, experience of inadequate living costs, existence of financial assets, total amount of annual household savings, financial independence, adequate living costs (for single) for old age, and human capital investment. In the logistic regression model 2, which included annual expenditure for public education and annual expenditure for private education, the significant variables affecting the preparation for retirement of the middle-aged households were as follows : annual household income, total amount of annual household income, experience of inadequate living costs, existence of financial assets, total amount of annual household savings, financial independence, adequate living costs (for single) for old age, and annual expenditure for public education.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.11 s.158
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• pp.1608-1617
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• 2006

Due to the popularization of fashion, it is important for consumers to find out under what kinds of reasons consumers choose and prefer the clothing products as consumers are interested in clothing and have variety of their styles to choose This study is to classify the self-image of the middle-aged women and examine the characteristics of each group and also to inquire into the evaluation of clothing by each group. Data are collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey from 4 to October 31, 2005 from 350 middle-aged women in Daegu; 275 are used for the data analysis. Data analysis is performed using SPSS Package, which included cluster analysis, factor analysis, ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test, and chi-square test. The results are as follows: 1. As a result of factor analysis of self-image, the five factors which are intelligent image, social image, fashionable image, female image, bold image are extracted. Besides, as a result of cluster analysis, the three types which are female-type, neuter-type, male-type are classified. 2. The middle-aged women regard the classic style as their best style for outgoing and then they like the casual style, elegant style, dramatic style in order. 3. As a result of factor analysis for clothing image, the four factors which are dignity, attraction, simplicity activity are extracted. 4. According to self-image types, there are differences for clothing image and preferring clothing styles. While female-type groups choose the elegant style, neuter-type groups regard the classic style as their best style and male-type groups regard the casual style as their best style. In case of daring style, the preference shows the lowest among all the types unrelated to self-image types.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.1522-1534
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• 2008

The subjects of ttis study were middle-aged women in their 40s$\sim$50s and older women aged 60 and over who were living in Seoul and Kyonggi-do, Korea. Through studying the participants' responses to the questions regarding the attributes of image preference in terms of the levels of satisfaction and importance, the target consumers' demand has been studied. And, they are applied to a QFD Matrix, to find out the relationship between the attributes of product quality and the guidelines of clothing design. For this study, clothing image preference is categorized as three types: fashionable and urbane image, elegant and formal image, comfortable and active image. It has also been found that middle-aged and older women think the clothing that projects fashionable and urbane image needs more improvement that those for other images. To review demands for the clothing image preference attribute of formal suits for middle-aged and older women, the priority of these attributes through QFD Matrix that shows the relationship between the attributes and dress elements emphasized by designers has been examined. In reflecting clothing image preference by consumers for their formal two-piece suits, the most important design elements related to material in order of importance were material type, style, thickness and texture, and those related to color were the number of colors used and coloring type.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.417-423
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to compare the consumers' ethics depending on consumers' characteristics. From the exploratory factor analysis, consumers' ethics were composed of four sub-factors such as actively benefiting from non-ethic behavior, actively benefiting from illegal behavior, benefiting from passively illegal behavior, and benefiting from others' costs. As results of this study, followings were found: 1) non-city residents, females, and 20's aged group tended to be more non-ethical rather than city residents, males and other aged group, respectively. 2) Group of middle school education tended to behave actively illegal compared with that of the graduate school education. 3) Religious values influenced on consumers' ethics. 4) While the lower income group tended to be actively benefiting more from non-ethic behaviors, the upper income group from actively illegal ones.