• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.211-224
• /
• 1995

The grandmother role may be an important support network for dual-earner families and become more saliency among those children who are living with their grandmothers than those who are not. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of family structure characteristics on children's solidarity with their grandmothers and grandmothers' effects on grandchildren's self-esteem. Questionnaire data were collected from 429 grandchildren in the fifth and sixth grades. The major findings showed that (1)Solidarity between grandmother and grandchild in dual-earner families was associated with living arrangement. (2)Children's self-esteem in dual-earner families was not related to living arrangements with their grandmother. (3)Factors predicting solidarity between grandmother and grandchild and the grandchild's self-esteem differed by living arrangement. Solidarity between grandmother and grandchild was explained by grandmother-mother relationships, health of grandmother, parent-children relationship and occupational status of father for children living with their grandmothers. For those children not living with their grandmothers, grandmother-mother relationship, the educational level of father, families' economic level, parent-child relationship and health of the grandmother were significant predictors of grandmother-grandchild solidarity. (4)The regression of predictor variables on self-esteem for children living with grandmother revealed that grandmother-grandchild solidarity was the most powerful predictor, followed by occupational status of father, the educational level of mother, economic status of the family and parent-child relationship. For those children who were not living with grandmothers, parent-child relationship, economic status of the family, grandmother-grandchild solidarity and the educational level of the mother were also significant factors in that order.

• Human Ecology Research
• /
• v.58 no.1
• /
• pp.43-60
• /
• 2020

The literature on parent-child relationships in young adulthood lacks a systemic approach that considers the multifaceted nature of intergenerational relationships. In this paper, we identify the latent profiles of young Korean adults' relationships with their parents based on the six dimensions of intergenerational solidarity (structural, associational, affectual, consensual, functional, and normative solidarity) as indicators. We considered solidarity for the mother and the father separately for structural, associational, affectual, and consensual dimensions. In terms of functional and normative solidarity, we measured both upstream and downstream intergenerational support. The sample included 1,015 young adults who were 19-34 years old, never married, not in secondary school, and had both parents living. The latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: (a) independent but intimate (22.7%), (b) coresident, outwardly intimate (32.4%), (c) detached from father (6.7%), and (d) coresident, intimate (38.2%). The factors that predicted each profile included the young adults' education, income, subjective socioeconomic status, and experiencing the features of emerging adulthood along with the parents' marital status, father's employment, and overparenting. The "coresident, intimate" group reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms compared to the other three groups. The lowest levels of psychological adjustment were found in the "coresident, outwardly intimate" group and "detached from father" group.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the experience of children with a schizophrenic parent. Methods: The research methods included biographical in-depth interviews, structured questionnaires, and child's drawings. Data were collected from September until November, 2005 at one university hospital, and interviews were recorded on audio tapes and thereby transcribed. The subjects were three adolescent children (10~15 years old) of a parent with schizophrenia. Results: This study has five themes: It is often the case that the children with a schizophrenic parent are uninformed about their parent's illness, have difficulties dealing with symptoms are confused about their parent's image and display contradictory feelings of fear and sympathy toward their father; The children tend to harbor expectations on mother's role in the family affairs, and simultaneously show pity for her; Family relations without solidarity caused by the absence of their father make the children feel severance, separation, and isolation in and out of the family; The children feel the burden to assume additional household responsibilities; The children are reluctant to mention their father's disease. Conclusion: the study subjects have met negativeness in both developmental characteristics and needs, which supports the need for intervention programs that meet their actual experience.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.105-118
• /
• 2015

This study examined whether structural (coresidence, proximity) and associational (frequency of face-to-face contact, frequency of contact via phone, email or letter) solidarity between adult children and older parents may influence older parents' cognitive functioning. Adult children may help delay older parents' cognitive decline by promoting healthier lifestyle, engaging parents in complex everyday problem solving, and providing emotional support. The data consisted of men and women 65+ at Wave 1 who had at least one child 20+ and participated in at least two waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA, N=3,961). Cognitive functioning was measured with the Korean version of the Mini Mental State Examination. Fixed effects models were estimated using the xtreg procedure in STATA. Findings suggest that increases in proximity with at least one adult child may lead to enhanced cognitive functioning among older parents. Neither transitioning to coresidence with at least one adult child nor increases in frequency of contact with at least one non-resident adult child was associated with changes in older parents' cognitive functioning. With older parents' increasing preference for living close by, but not necessarily living with adult children, greater proximity may provide more opportunities for reciprocal support exchanges between the two generations, leading to better cognitive functioning of older parents.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.69-80
• /
• 2014

Guided by the exchange model, altruistic model, intergenerational solidarity theory, and cultural contexts, this study explored the determinants of financial intergenerational transfers between older parents and adult children in South Korea. We examined 18,820 parent-child dyads by using random-effects models on the first wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) data. Findings showed that downward financial intergenerational transfers were consistent with the self-interest exchange model but upward transfers did not support microeconomic theories. Family solidarity theory was generally supported by downward transfers but geographical proximity was not positively associated with upward transfers. Lastly, cultural contextual variables such as marital status, birth order, and sex of a child were found to be significant. Parents tended to both provide and receive more financial support from unmarried children than from married children. Within the same marital status, the hierarchy existed in order of the first-born son, the second or later sons, and daughters when it came to downward financial transfers. Regarding upward financial transfers, the preference in order was more complicated. The findings of this study help in understanding the intergenerational financial transfers in the Korean context.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.521-536
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is examining the effect of aging attitudes of older people on their life satisfaction, and investigating the mediating role of solidarity between parents and children. To achieve this, the survey was conducted with 2,076 Korean elderlies who were sampled with proportional stratified, and performed multi-mediated regression with SPSS macro PROCESS v.2.16. The results are following. First, aging attitude that older people recognized significantly affects to their life satisfaction. Second, aging attitude significantly affects to the five sub-categories of solidarity between parents and children. Especially, as elderly shows more negative attitude on aging, the solidarity also goes higher. Third, among sub-categories of solidarity between parents and children, affectional, identical, and functional solidarities play roles of mediator on the relationship between aging attitude and life satisfaction, and affectional solidarity shows the biggest influence on the relationship. Based on the results, practical and policy intervention were suggested for better life satisfaction of Korean elderly.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.83-113
• /
• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of mothers who participated in the training of consultants for the purposes building an early childhood educational community. Methods: Participants were 14 mothers in the first phase, 10 mothers in the second phase, and 8 mothers in the third phase. Data were collected from stories shared during the learning community activities. The mothers' experiences were analyzed according to qualitative analysis procedures. Results: Mothers' experiences of participating in the training of consultant for building early childhood educational community were categorized into three themes and seven sub-themes. The first theme was "self as a parent" including "looking inside myself in the parent-child relationships" and "looking inside myself in the relations with other mothers". The second theme was "self as a member of the community" which consisted of "sharing emotions through ritual", "forming communitarian identity through hospitality and solidarity" and "growing as a social mother". The third theme was "self as a educational community consultant" out of which emerged "setting up shared visions", "building practical community competence", and "creating fields of community implementation". Conclusion: The results suggested there are implications for the effective practices of building an early childhood education community and the direction and methodology of parent education.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.181-191
• /
• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine the social support network for divorced single mother families. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews with seven divorced single mothers who had at least one school-age child. Qualitative analysis of data showed that divorced single mothers evaluated themselves based on other people's perception. There were mainly three different kinds of self-images, which were “a competent divorced woman,” “a bad child to my parents,” and “a socially weak person.” We also found that there were two factors that influenced the everyday lives of single mothers: all of them .;offered hardships in living as a divorced woman with children, and they also had to deal with the weakened solidarity with family of origin, relatives, and neighbors. Single mothers shared common problems yet their lifestyles and adjustment strategies were diverse. Therefore, diverse social welfare policies for education and counseling for single mothers are urgently needed to support and empower divorced single mothers.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.79-94
• /
• 2002

The family concepts and values are investigated in this research, using data from a sample of 999 residents aged 14 to 89 years in Seoul. The results indicate that the family concepts of the subjects imply marital and/or parent-child relationships with normative gender role. People tend to regard divorced, remarried, and adopted members as famines, while classifying gay/lesbian couples, members living together in a communal fashion, and single households into nonfamily groups. People evaluate that the current Korean family doesn't adequately meet the functional needs of families in emotional support, solidarity, recreation, leisure, social and economic security, and generational transmission of culture. More conclusions and implications are discussed.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.259-277
• /
• 2008

Traditional familism and family value is known as the value that most Koreans share with. Strong family solidarity and family-centered perception among Koreans influences other social values and ideology. Under the family value, caring for family members is family responsibility instead of government responsibility. Previous studies argued that the family value played a role to impede the development of family policy in Korea. The aim of this study was to explore a relation between the family value and the needs for care-support family policy. This study investigated how the family value were related to the specific needs for care-support family policy. The data were drawn from the Seoul Families Survey conducted on 2006 by Seoul Women and Family Foundation. The survey data consisted of 2,500 married males and females living in Seoul. The statistical techniques used for analysis were frequencies, means, t-test, ANOVA, crosstabs, multiple regression models, and multinomial logit models. The major findings of this study were as followings. First, while the traditional familism appeared to be held at a certain level, the general attitudes towards cohabitation, divorce, and single-parent family seemed to be less traditional. Second, the familism was found to be partly associated with the needs for the care-support family policy. The respondents who had less traditional value on arriage and child-rearing showed the higher level of needs for daycare center. This finding implied that nontraditional attitudes were related to the needs for an alternative care service such as caring through facilities rather than to the needs for supportive or complementary services. Lastly, the respondents who had higher level of traditional familism showed a higher preference for direct economic service (supportive service) than for other types of service in child care. And the less traditional their attitudes towards marriage and child-rearing, the more likely they are to prefer flexible child care services and programs to other types of child care services. These results implied that the family value was partly influential to family policy. However, it is worthy to note that the family value was related to family policy preference rather than to family policy needs. In other words, traditional family value appeared to influence the types of family policy rather than the level of needs for family policy.