• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 2010

As the population, buying power, and intensity of self-expression of the elderly generation increase, its importance as a market segment is also growing. Therefore, the mass marketing strategy for the elderly generation must be changed to a micro-marketing strategy based on the results of sub-segmentation that suitably captures the characteristics of this generation. Furthermore, as a customer access strategy is decided by sub-segmentation, proper segmentation is one of the key success factors for micro-marketing. Segments or sub-segments are different from sectors, because segmentation or sub-segmentation for micro-marketing is based on the homogeneity of customer needs. Theoretically, complete segmentation would reveal a single voice. However, it is impossible to achieve complete segmentation because of economic factors, factors that affect effectiveness, etc. To obtain a single voice from a segment, we sometimes need to divide it into many individual cases. In such a case, there would be a many segments to deal with. On the other hand, to maximize market access performance, fewer segments are preferred. In this paper, we use the term "sub-segmentation" instead of "segmentation," because we divide a specific segment into more detailed segments. To sub-segment the elderly generation, this paper takes their lifestyles and life stages into consideration. In order to reflect these aspects, various surveys and several rounds of expert interviews and focused group interviews (FGIs) were performed. Using the results of these qualitative surveys, we can define six sub-segments of the elderly generation. This paper uses five rules to divide the elderly generation. The five rules are (1) mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE) sub-segmentation, (2) important life stages, (3) notable lifestyles, (4) minimum number of and easy classifiable sub-segments, and (5) significant difference in voices among the sub-segments. The most critical point for dividing the elderly market is whether children are married. The other points are source of income, gender, and occupation. In this paper, the elderly market is divided into six sub-segments. As mentioned, the number of sub-segments is a very key point for a successful marketing approach. Too many sub-segments would lead to narrow substantiality or lack of actionability. On the other hand, too few sub-segments would have no effects. Therefore, the creation of the optimum number of sub-segments is a critical problem faced by marketers. This paper presents a method of evaluating the fitness of sub-segments that was deduced from the preceding surveys. The presented method uses the degree of homogeneity (DoH) to measure the adequacy of sub-segments. This measure uses quantitative survey questions to calculate adequacy. The ratio of significantly homogeneous questions to the total numbers of survey questions indicates the DoH. A significantly homogeneous question is defined as a question in which one case is selected significantly more often than others. To show whether a case is selected significantly more often than others, we use a hypothesis test. In this case, the null hypothesis (H0) would be that there is no significant difference between the selection of one case and that of the others. Thus, the total number of significantly homogeneous questions is the total number of cases in which the null hypothesis is rejected. To calculate the DoH, we conducted a quantitative survey (total sample size was 400, 60 questions, 4~5 cases for each question). The sample size of the first sub-segment-has no unmarried offspring and earns a living independently-is 113. The sample size of the second sub-segment-has no unmarried offspring and is economically supported by its offspring-is 57. The sample size of the third sub-segment-has unmarried offspring and is employed and male-is 70. The sample size of the fourth sub-segment-has unmarried offspring and is not employed and male-is 45. The sample size of the fifth sub-segment-has unmarried offspring and is female and employed (either the female herself or her husband)-is 63. The sample size of the last sub-segment-has unmarried offspring and is female and not employed (not even the husband)-is 52. Statistically, the sample size of each sub-segment is sufficiently large. Therefore, we use the z-test for testing hypotheses. When the significance level is 0.05, the DoHs of the six sub-segments are 1.00, 0.95, 0.95, 0.87, 0.93, and 1.00, respectively. When the significance level is 0.01, the DoHs of the six sub-segments are 0.95, 0.87, 0.85, 0.80, 0.88, and 0.87, respectively. These results show that the first sub-segment is the most homogeneous category, while the fourth has more variety in terms of its needs. If the sample size is sufficiently large, more segmentation would be better in a given sub-segment. However, as the fourth sub-segment is smaller than the others, more detailed segmentation is not proceeded. A very critical point for a successful micro-marketing strategy is measuring the fit of a sub-segment. However, until now, there have been no robust rules for measuring fit. This paper presents a method of evaluating the fit of sub-segments. This method will be very helpful for deciding the adequacy of sub-segmentation. However, it has some limitations that prevent it from being robust. These limitations include the following: (1) the method is restricted to only quantitative questions; (2) the type of questions that must be involved in calculation pose difficulties; (3) DoH values depend on content formation. Despite these limitations, this paper has presented a useful method for conducting adequate sub-segmentation. We believe that the present method can be applied widely in many areas. Furthermore, the results of the sub-segmentation of the elderly generation can serve as a reference for mature marketing.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 1997

The survey of weed community in paddy field was carried out to investigate the changes of weed species on 340 fields in Kyonggi Area in 1995, that is almost same condition as sampled in 1991. The weed species observed include 3 species of grasses, 5 species of sedges and 14 species of broadleaf and other weed. Herbicide treatment system in one time treatment vs more than two time treatment was 34:66 percentage. About 25 percentage among one time treatment system was used butachlor G. Ratio of annual weed vs perennial weed was 38:62, and then perennial weed ratio was high. Major dominant weed species were Sagitaria trifolia, Eleocharis kuroguwai, Echinochloa crus-galli, Bidens tripartita and Monochoria vaginalis. Weed occurrence was decreased as order of normal soil, poorly drained soil and saline soil. Dormant weed species were S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai, E. crus-galli and B. tripartita in normal soil and were S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai, E. crus-galli and Polygonium hydropiper in poorly drained soil, and were Scirpus planiculmis, S. trifolia and E. kuroguwai in saline soil. Weed occurrence was increased with delaying the transplanting time; dominant weed species were S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai, E. crus-galli and M. vaginalis in May transplanting field and were E. kuroguwai, S. trifolia, and C. serotinus in June transplanting field. Weed occurrence was decreased as order of non-plowing transplanting field, autumn plowing and spring plowing paddy field. Dominant weed species were S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai, E. crus-galli and M. vaginalis in autumn plowing, were S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai, E. crus-galli and B. tripartita in spring plowing, and were E. crus-galli, S. hotarui and S. trifolia in non-plowing transplanting field.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.4 s.59
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• pp.669-685
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• 1997

Previous studies, reporting the inverse relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis suggest the existence of possible pathophysiologic mechanisms between them. To examinine the hypothesis that 'bone mineral densities of women with osteoarthritis are significantly higher than that of women without osteoarthritis in Korea', subjects from the health and nutritional examination survey in Kuri city were sampled. Samples were selected through multi-stage sampling frame using established clusters in Kuri city. From August 18 to September 10,1997, the survey was conducted. Among the. total number of selected sample population (1,656 people), response .ate was 52.4 percent (348 men and 519 women). 420 women who took BMD measurement, radiologic exam, and anthropometric exam were selected for the analysis. The analytic results are as follows. 1. General characteristics: Mean BMD was $0.493g/cm^2$, mean age was 43.0, mean BMI was $23.9kg/m^2$. The number of women who experienced menopause was 106, hysterectomy was 19. There were 0 case of osteoarthritis of hip, 64 cases of osteoarthritis of knee, and 2 cases of osteoarthritis of hand. 2. Univariate analysis results: Mean BMD of women with the osteoarthritis of knee was significantly lower than that of women without the osteoarthritis of knee(0.4269 vs. $0.5057g/cm^2$). But, there were too few cases of osteoarthritis of hip and hand, so comparative studies of BMD in osteoarthritis of hip and hand could not be conducted. There were significant differences of BMD among pre-menopause group(0.5204), post-menopause group(0.4206), and hysterectomy group(0.4881). Additionally, there were significant differences of BMD among diabetes group(0.4297), impaired glucose tolerance group(0.4874), and normal group(0.5057). Furthermore, age, parity, BMI, bioimpedance were significantly related with BMD. 3. Multivariate analysis results: To examinine the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD while controlling the other variables' effects which were significant in the univariate analyses, multiple linear regression analysis was done. But, it was found that osteoarthritis of knee was not a significant variable to BMD anymore. While age and menopause had significant negative relationship with BMD. Diabetes, parity, BMI, and bioimpedance did not have significant relationships with BMD. After stratification of subjects according to menopause, multiple linear regression analyses were done to each strata. Consequently, age in post-menopause group, age and osteoarthritis of knee in hysterectomy group showed significant negative relationship with BMD. The results did not support the many results of other previous studies done with white men and women. further studies of biological plausibility to Korean women are recommended. Also it is suggested that longitudinal study to verify the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD will be valuable.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.5-9
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• 1976

The categories of national health problems may be mainly divided into health promotion, problems of diseases, and population-economic problems which are indirectly related to health. Of them, the problems of diseases will be exclusively dealt with this speech. Rurality and Disease Problems There are many differences between rural and urban areas. In general, indicators of rurality are small size of towns, dispersion of the population, remoteness from urban centers, inadequacy of public transportation, poor communication, inadequate sanitation, poor housing, poverty, little education lack of health personnels and facilities, and in-accessibility to health services. The influence of such conditions creates, directly or indirectly, many problems of diseases in the rural areas. Those art the occurrence of preventable diseases, deterioration and prolongation of illness due to loss of chance to get early treatment, decreased or prolonged labour force loss, unnecessary death, doubling of medical cost, and economic loss. Some Considerations of Innovative Approach The followings art some considerations of innovative approaches to the problems of diseases in the rural Korea. 1. It would be essential goal of the innovative approaches that the damage and economic loss due to diseases will be maintained to minimum level by minimizing the absolute amount of the diseases, and by moderating the fee for medical cares. The goal of the minimization of the disease amount may be achieved by preventive services and early treatment, and the goal of moderating the medical fee may be achieved by lowering the prime cost and by adjusting the medical fees to reasonable level. 2. Community health service or community medicine will be adopted as a innovative means to disease problems. In this case, a community is defined as an unit area where supply and utilization of primary service activities can be accomplished within a day. The essential nature o the community health service should be such activities as health promotion, preventive measures, medical care, and rehabilitation performing efficiently through the organized efforts of the residents in a community. Each service activity should cover all members of the residents in a community in its plan and performance. The cooperation of the community peoples in one of the essential elements for success of the service program, The motivations of their cooperative mood may be activated through several ways: when the participation of the residents in service program of especially the direct participation of organized cooperation of the area leaders art achieved through a means of health education: when the residents get actual experience of having received the benefit of good quality services; and when the health personnels being armed with an idealism that they art working in the areas to help health problems of the residents, maintain good human relationships with them. For the success of a community health service program, a personnel who is in charge of leadership and has an able, a sincere and a steady characters seems to be required in a community. The government should lead and support the community health service programs of the nation under the basis of results appeared in the demonstrative programs so as to be carried out the programs efficiently. Moss of the health problems may be treated properly in the community levels through suitable community health service programs but there might be some problems which art beyond their abilities to be dealt with. To solve such problems each community health service program should be under the referral systems which are connected with health centers, hospitals, and so forth. 3. An approach should be intensively groped to have a physician in each community. The shortage of physicians in rural areas is world-wide problem and so is the Korean situation. In the past the government has initiated a system of area-limited physician, coercion, and a small scale of scholarship program with unsatisfactory results. But there might be ways of achieving the goal by intervice, broadened, and continuous approaches. There will be several ways of approach to motivate the physicians to be settled in a rural community. They are, for examples, to expos the students to the community health service programs during training, to be run community health service programs by every health or medical schools and other main medical facilities, communication activities and advertisement, desire of community peoples to invite a physician, scholarship program, payment of satisfactory level, fulfilment of military obligation in case of a future draft, economic growth and development of rural communities, sufficiency of health and medical facilities, provision of proper medical care system, coercion, and so forth. And, hopefully, more useful reference data on the motivations may be available when a survey be conducted to the physicians who are presently engaging in the rural community levels. 4. In communities where the availability of a physician is difficult, a trial to use physician extenders, under certain conditions, may be considered. The reason is that it would be beneficial for the health of the residents to give them the remedies of primary medical care through the extenders rather than to leave their medical problems out of management. The followings are the conditions to be considered when the physician extenders are used: their positions will be prescribed as a temporary one instead of permanent one so as to allow easy replacement of the position with a physician applicant; the extender will be under periodic direction and supervision of a physician, and also referral channel will be provided: legal constraints will be placed upon the extenders primary care practice, and the physician extenders will used only under the public medical care system. 5. For the balanced health care delivery, a greater investment to the rural areas is needed to compensate weak points of a rurality. The characteristics of a rurality has been already mentioned. The objective of balanced service for rural communities to level up that of urban areas will be hard to achieve without greater efforts and supports. For example, rural communities need mobile powers more than urban areas, communication network is extremely necessary at health delivery facilities in rural areas as well as the need of urban areas, health and medical facilities in rural areas should be provided more substantially than those of urban areas to minimize, in a sense, the amount of patient consultation and request of laboratory specimens through referral system of which procedures are more troublesome in rural areas, and more intensive control measures against communicable diseases are needed in rural areas where greater numbers of cases are occurred under the poor sanitary conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 1995

Family is a primary unit of the major socialization processing for children. Parents among the family members are one of the most important figures from whom the child and adolescent acquire a wide variety of behavior patterns, attitudes, values and norms. An organization of family members product family structural functioning. Abnormal family structure is one of the most important reference models in the learning of antisocial patterns of behavior. Therefore incest and child sexual abuse including spouse abuse, elderly abuse, and neglect occurs in the abnormal family structural setting. In particular, incest, a specific form of sexual abuse, was once thought to be a phenomenon of great rarity, but our clinical experiences, especially over the past decade, have made us aware that incest and child sexual abuse is not rare case and on the increasing trend. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the family problem and dynamics of incest family, and character pattern of post-incest adolescent victim in Korea. A total of 1,838 adolescents from middle and high school(1,237) and juvenile correctional institute(601) were studied, sampled from Korean student population and adolescent delinquent population confined in juvenile correctional institutes, using proportional stratified random sampling method. The subjects' ages ranged from 12 to 21 years. Data were collected through questionnaire survey. Data analysis was done by IBM PC of Behavior Science Center at the Korea university, using SAS program. Statistical methods employed were Chi-square, principal component analysis and t-test etc. The results of this study were as follows ; 1) Of 1,071 subjects, 40(3.7%) reported incest experiences(sibling incest : 1.6% ; another type of incest : 2.1%) in their family setting. 2) The character pattern of post-incest adolescent victim was more socially maladjusted, immature, impulsive, rigid, anxious and dependent than non-incest adolescent. Also they showed some problem in academic performance and their assertiveness. 3) The other family members of incest family revealed more psychological and behavioral problem such as depression, alcoholism, psychotic disorder and criminal act than the non-incest family, even though there is no evidence of the context between them. 4) The family dynamics of incest family tended to be dysfunctional trend, as compared with non-incest family. It showed that the psychological instability of family member, parental rejection toward their children, coldness and indifference among family member and marital discordance between the parents had significant correlation with incest.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2014

In this study, Analyze environment of location, investigation into vegetation resources, survey management status and establish to classify the management area for Natural monument No.374 Pyengdae-ri Torreya nucifera forest. The results were as follows: First, Torreya nucifera forest is concerned about influence of development caused by utilization of land changes to agricultural region. Thus, establish to preservation management plan for preservation of prototypical and should be excluded development activity to cause the change of terrain that Gotjawal in the Torreya nucifera forest is factor of base for generating species diversity. Secondly, Torreya nucifera forest summarized as 402 taxa composed 91 familly 263 genus, 353 species, 41 varieties and 8 forms. The distribution of plants for the first grade & second grade appear of endangered plant to Ministry of Environment specify. But, critically endangered in forest by changes in habitat, diseases and illegal overcatching. Therefore, when establishing forest management plan should be considered for put priority on protection. Thirdly, Torreya nucifera representing the upper layer of the vegetation structure. But, old tree oriented management and conservation strategy result in poor age structure. Furthermore, desiccation of forest on artificial management and decline in Torreya nucifera habitat on ecological succession can indicate a problem in forest. Therefore, establish plan such as regulation of population density and sapling tree proliferation for sustainable characteristics of the Torreya nucifera forest. Fourth, Appear to damaged of trails caused by use. Especially, Scoria way occurs a lot of damaged and higher than the share ratio of each section. Therefore, share ratio reduction Plan should be considered through the additional development of tourism routes rather than the replacement of Scoria. Fifth, Representing high preference of the Torreya nucifera forest tourist factor confirmed the plant elements. It is sensitive to usage pressure. And requires continuous monitoring by characteristic of Non-permanent. In addition, need an additional plan such as additional development of tourism elements and active utilizing an element of high preference. Sixth, Strength of protected should be differently accordance with importance. First grade area have to maintenance of plant population and natural habitats. Set the direction of the management. Second grade areas focus on annual regeneration of the forest. Third grade area should be utilized demonstration forest or set to the area for proliferate sapling. Fourth grade areas require the introduced of partial rest system that disturbance are often found in proper vegetation. Fifth grade area appropriate to the service area for promoting tourism by utilizing natural resources in Torreya nucifera forest. Furthermore, installation of a buffer zone in relatively low ratings area and periodic monitoring to the improvement of edge effect that adjacent areas of different class.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2010

Understanding consumers' preferences and use of media types is imperative for marketing and advertising managers, especially in today's fragmented market. A clear understanding assists managers in making more effective selections of appropriate media outlets, yet individuals' choices of type and use of media are based on a variety of characteristics. This paper examines one personality trait, sensation seeking, which has not appeared in the literature examining "new" media preferences and use. Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined as "the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences" (Zuckerman 1979). Six hypotheses were developed from a review of the literature. Particular attention was given to the Uses and Gratification theory (Katz 1959), which explains various reasons why people choose media types and their motivations for using the different types of media. Current theory suggests that High Sensation Seekers (HSS), due to their needs for novelty, arousal and unconventional content and imagery, would exhibit higher frequency of use of new media. Specifically, we hypothesize that HSS will use the internet more than broadcast (H1a) or print media (H1b) and more than low (LSS) (H2a) or medium sensation seekers (MSS) (H2b). In addition, HSS have been found to be more social and have higher numbers of friends therefore are expected to use social networking websites such as Facebook/MySpace (H3) and chat rooms (H4) more than LSS (a) and MSS (b). Sensation seekers can manifest into a range of behaviors including disinhibition,. It is expected that alternative social networks such as Facebook/MySpace (H5) and chat rooms (H6) will be used more often for those who have higher levels of disinhibition than low (a) or medium (b) levels. Data were collected using an online survey of participants in extreme sports. In order to reach this group, an improved version of a snowball sampling technique, chain-referral method, was used to select respondents for this study. This method was chosen as it is regarded as being effective to reach otherwise hidden population groups (Heckathorn, 1997). A final usable sample of 1108 respondents, which was mainly young (56.36% under 34), male (86.1%) and middle class (58.7% with household incomes over USD 50,000) was consistent with previous studies on sensation seeking. Sensation seeking was captured using an existing measure, the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (Hoyle et al., 2002). Media usage was captured by measuring the self reported usage of various media types. Results did not support H1a and b. HSS did not show higher levels of usage of alternative media such as the internet showing in fact lower mean levels of usage than all the other types of media. The highest media type used by HSS was print media, suggesting that there is a revolt against the mainstream. Results support H2a and b that HSS are more frequent users of the internet than LSS or MSS. Further analysis revealed that there are significant differences in the use of print media between HSS and LSS, suggesting that HSS may seek out more specialized print publications in their respective extreme sport activity. Hypothesis 3a and b showed that HSS use Facebook/MySpace more frequently than either LSS or MSS. There were no significant differences in the use of chat rooms between LSS and HSS, so as a consequence no support for H4a, although significant for MSS H4b. Respondents with varying levels of disinhibition were expected to have different levels of use of Facebook/MySpace and chat-rooms. There was support for the higher levels of use of Facebook/MySpace for those with high levels of disinhibition than low or medium levels, supporting H5a and b. Similarly there was support for H6b, Those with high levels of disinhibition use chat-rooms significantly more than those with medium levels but not for low levels (H6a). The findings are counterintuitive and give some interesting insights for managers. First, although HSS use online media more frequently than LSS or MSS, this groups use of online media is less than either print or broadcast media. The advertising executive should not place too much emphasis on online media for this important market segment. Second, social media, such as facebook/Myspace and chatrooms should be examined by managers as potential ways to reach this group. Finally, there is some implication for public policy by the higher levels of use of social media by those who are disinhibited. These individuals are more inclined to engage in more socially risky behavior which may have some dire implications, e.g. by internet predators or future employers. There is a limitation in the study in that only those who engage in extreme sports are included. This is by nature a HSS activity. A broader population is therefore needed to test if these results hold.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.349-354
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• 1974

Survey results concerning the general information on health status of 7,050 inhabitants (1,141 households) which have been selected within Keumsan Gun, Chung Choung Nam Do area are as follws: 1. The average family size is $6.18{\pm}2.17$ persons per household. Tertiary sex ratio is 105.5 population composition of Kumsan Gun shown a pyramidal form consisting of 51.6% of the inhabitants under 20 years of age. 2. Rate of illiteracy amounts to 12.1% and only 4.1% of villagers were graduated from high schools, 80% of the inhabitants have some kind of jobs: 46.1% of them are engaged in agriculture, 95.2% of villagers have their own houses, and remaining 4.8% do not have their own. 3. 72% of households made use of health services provided provided by health centre or subcentres during a period of 1 year from April 1, 1973 to March 31, 1974. 26.8% of them visited health centre of sub-centres 2-4 times annually for the following purposes: 1) Vaccination: 35.7% 2) Diagnosis or treatment: 26.7% 3) Family planning: 24.1% 4) Maternal and child health: 10.5% 4. Utilization rate of health facilities is on an average 4.4 times per household and 0.75 times per capita. 5. Birth rate in the area is 1.91% and death rate is 0.75%, indicating the natural increase rate is only 1.16% that is lower than the nationwide rate of 1.8-2.2% in 1970 and 1.5-1.9% in 1973. 6. 37.7% of fertile women (20-40 years old) in the area are still unmarried, Fertility rate is the highest in the age group of 63-40 years old showing a value of 17.1%. 7. The unmarried population in this area amounts to 61.4% : 61.4% in male and 57.6% in female. 8. Number of inhaibtants who practice family planning is 612 persons(22.6%) among the married (2.771). This value consists of 8.3% of married males and 34.8% of married females. Only 16.0% of the people who put family planning in practice undergo permanent contraceptive methods and remaining 84.0% of them do temporary measures. 9. Only 57.7% of the subjects took vaccinations as follows: 1) B.C.G. vaccination: 82.7% 2) D.P.T. vaccination: 76.2% 3) Poliomyelitis vaccination: 67.9% 4) Smallpox vaccination: 62.6% 10. In the utilization of medical facilities in case of sickness drug stores (32.15%) comes first and hospitals or clinics (28.65%), health centre of health sub-centres (17.96%), herb drug stores (7.36%) and herb gerneral practioners (6.31%), etc., in decreasing order. Sickness that people living in this area suffer from are neuralgia, disease digestive troubles, respiratory diseases and skin lesions, etc.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.185-201
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• 1991

A household survey was conducted to compare the patterns of morbidity and medical care utilization between medical aid beneficiaries and medical insurance beneficiaries. The study population included 285 medical aid beneficiaries that were completely surveyed and 386 medical insurance benficiaries selected by simple random sampling from a Dong(Township) in Taegu. Well-trained surveyers mainly interviewed housewives with a structured questionnaire. The morbidity rates of acute illness during the 15-day period, were 63 per 1,000 medical aid beneficiaries and 62 per 1,000 medical insurance beneficiaries. The rates for chronic illness were 123 per 1,000 medical aid beneficiaries and 73 per 1,000 medical insurance beneficiaries. The most common type of acute illness in medical aid and medical insurance beneficiaries was respiratory disease. In medical aid beneficiaries, musculoskeletal disease was most common, but in medical insurance beneficiaries, gastrointestinal disease was most common. The mean duration of acute illness of medical aid beneficiaries was 3.8 days and that of medical insurance beneficiaries was 6.8 days. During the one year period, mean duration of medical aid beneficiaries chronic illnesses was 11.5 months which was almost twice as long compared to medical insurance beneficiaries. Pharmacy was most preferrable facility among the acute illness patient in medical aid beneficiaries, but acute cases of medical insurance beneficiaries visited the clinic most commonly. Chronic cases of both groups visited the clinic most frequently. There were some findings suggesting that much unmet need existed among the medical aid beneficiaries. In acute cases, the average number of days of medical aid users utilized medical facilities was less than medical insurance users. On the other hand, the length of medical care utilization of chronic cases was reversed. Geographical accessibility was the most important factors in utilization of medical facilities. Almost half of the study population answered the questions about source of funds on medical security correctly. Most respondents considered that the objective of medical security was afford ability. The chief complaint on hospital utilization was the complicated administrative procedures. These findings suggest that there were some problems in the medical aid system, especially in the referral system.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.54-66
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• 1988

I. Introduction Since the 1970's drug abuse among young people has increasingly become a social problem in Korea. In the 1980's, drug abuse, especially glue sniffing, has become the cause of many unfortunated incidents resulting in harm to others as well as the abusers themselves. Taking into consideration of the seriousness of this problem, the Republic of Korea National Red Cross initiated a nation-wide research programme, to understand the present situation and to raise the level of public awareness. The goal of this research was to begin a nation - wide campaign against drug abuse. The research team was composed of the Advisary Committee members and the staff of the Youth Department of the Republic of Korea National Red Cross. The data were collected in February 1988 with the collaboration of the staff and volunteers in the local Chapters. The respondents were allocated nation-wide by the quota sampling method. The questionnaires were distributed to the respondents in three groups :2, 700 to junior and senior high school students, 605 to working youths, and 916 to delinquent youths. A total of 4, 221 questionnaires were collected. II. Characteristics of the Respondents The respondents in each group were selected evenly from rural and urban areas. The general characteristics of the respondents can be described as follow: in case of students, the proportions between male and female respondents, and between senior high school and junior high school students were almost evenly distributed. In case of working youths, the proportion of females (80.5%) was higher than those of the students and the delinquents groups. Delinquent youths were defined as those currently being under custody of the centers for juvenile delinquents. Of this number, 38.8% and 68.2% were junior and senior high school drop-outs respectively. The majority of them (92.6%) were male. As for the family background of the respondents, the proportion of those residing in poverty - stricken areas, and the proportion of those from broken families were higher in case of working youths and delinquent youths than those in case of students. III. Present Patterns of Drug Abuse The following summarizes the presents of drug abuse, as tabulated from the results of the survey. 1. Smoking The percentage of youths who smoke was 36% in the student group, 32% m the working youths group, and 94.4% in the delinquent youths group. 2. Alcohol 50.3% of students, 71.6% of working youths, and 93.3% of delinquent youths has experienced drinking alcohol beverages. 3. Tonic: non - alcoholic, caffeinated beverages popular in Korea and Japan The percentage of those who have used tonic at least once was over 90% in all of the three groups. 4. Sedative About 70% of each group has used sedative with the proportion of working youths use higher than those in other groups. 5. Stimulants Those who have used stimulants comprised around 15% in each group. 6. Tranquilizers Somewhat less than 5% of students and working youths, and 28% of delinquent youths, have used tranquilizers. 7. Hypnotics The users of hypnotics amounted to 0.4% of students, 2.6% of working youths and 7.1% of delinquent youths. 8. Marihuana Those who have used marihuana indicated 0.7% of students, 0.8% of working youths, and 13% of delinquent youths. 9. Glue-sniffing The percentage of glue-sniffing was 3.7%, 5% in the students group and in the youths group respectively, but the proportion was unusually high, at 40.7% in the delinquent youths group. From the results of the survey the present situation of drug abuse in Korea can be summarized as follows: 1. A high percentage of Korean youths have experienced smoking cigarettes and drinking alcoholic beverages. 2. Tonics (non - alcoholic, caffeinated beverages), antipyretic analgesics and stimulants quite regularly used. 3. Tranquilizers, hypnotics, marihuana and glue-sniffing are more widely used among delinquent youths than the other youths. From this fact, there exists a correlation between drug abuse and juvenile delinquency. IV. Time-series Analysis of the First Experience of Drug Abuse and Deviant Behaviour The respoundents were asked when they were first exposed to drugs and when they committed deviant acts. By calculating the average age of each experience, the following pattern was found (See Figure 1). Youths are first exposed to drugs by abuse of tonic(non - alcoholic, caffeinated beverages). At the age of 13, they amoke cigarettes, the use of antipyretic analgesics begins at 14 year old, while at the age of 15, they use tranquilizers, and at 16 hynotics. The period of drug abuse which starts from drinking caffeinated beverages and smoking cigarettes and ends in the use of hypnotics takes about three years. During this period, other delinquent behaviours begin to surface, that is, at the age of 13 when smoking cigarettes begins, the delinquent behaviour pattern starts with truancy. Next, they start taking money from others by using physical force. Prior to the age of 15, they are suspended from school, become hostile to adults, begin running away from home, and start using stimulants and alcohol. Soon they become involved even in glue-sniffing and in the use of marihuana. At the age of 15, they begin to see adult videos and carry weapons. Sexual promiscuity and usage of tranquilizers follows the viewing of adult videos. Consequently, by the time they reach the age of 16, they visit drinking establishments, and are picked up by police for committing delinquent acts. And finally, they come to use hypnotic - type drugs. From the above descriptions, drug abuse can be assumed to have a close correlation with delinquent behaviour. V. Social Factors Related to Drug Abuse As for the Korean youths, glue-sniffing is found to he related to aggressive delinquency, in such cases as run - aways, being picked up by the police, and taking money by force. Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol is found to be related to seeing adult videos and visiting drinking establishments. Hypnotics and marihuana were found to be representive of drugs which are related to degenerational delinquency, irrespective of social delinquency. The social factors connected with these drug abuse are as follows: 1. Individual factors Male students were more heavily involved in the usage of drug than females. Youths who do not attend church were more likely to be involved in drugs than those who attend. 2. Family factors The youths who were displeased with their mothers smoking and those who thought their parents did not love each other, or those whose parents had used drugs without prescription, were more likely to he drug users. 3. School factors Those youths who found school life boring, were unsuccessful in their studies, spend most of their time with friends, feel their teachers smoke too much, those who had a positive perception of their teachers smoking were likely to he drug users. To sum up, drug abusers depend on the influence of their parents, teachers and peers. IV. Reasons for Drug Abuse Korean students have mainly used drugs to release stress (42.8%), to stay awake (19.7%), and because of the easy accessibility of drugs( 16.6%). Other reasons are due to their ignorance of the side effects of the drugs (3.6%), natural curiosity (4.2%), and to increase strength(3.O%). From the above facts, the major reasons for drug abuse among Korean youths are to release stress and to stay awake in order to prepare exams. Furthermore, since drugs are readily available, we can conclude that drug abuse is caused by the school system(such as entrance exams) in Korea. VII. Conclusion Drug usage among Korean youths are relatively less common than those of western youths. In some cases, such as, glue-sniffing and use of stimulants, the pattern of drug abuse is found. Moreover, early drug abuse is evident, and it has a close connection with deviant behaviour, resulting in juvenile delinquency. Drug abuse cannot be attributed to any one social factor. Specifically, drug abuse depends on parents, peers, teachers and other members of the community, and also is influenced by social institutions such as the entrance exam system. Every person and organization concerned with youth must participate collectively in restraining drug abuse. Finally, it is suggested that social agencial working for youth welfare should make every effort to tackle this serious problem confronted by the Korean youths today.