• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.25-50
• /
• 2017

Recently, concern about family safety is rising again as an important issue with the context of family healthiness and well-being in Korean society despite of the dramatic economic growth. The purpose of this study is to examine the status of family safety of singles and single-parent households and to investigate the effect of social capital on the level of their family safety. Data are from the 10th wave of Korea Welfare Panel Study analysing one-person households(N=2,017) and single-parent households(N=172). One-person households were categorized as three groups by age(the youths/middle-aged/the elderly) and single-parent households were also three by family types(mother-child/fahter-child/grandparent-child). The major results were as follows: First, the mean of family safety index was highest among middle-aged, while single youths had the fewest problems in terms of family safety. Second, social capital was found to vary by family structure. In the one-person households, all the levels of the social capital variables, including trust, bond, acceptance, and participation, differed significantly; only two variables, bond and embracement, differed in the single-parent households. Third, social capital differed between the low-income households and others significantly. Forth, the positive effects of social capital on overcoming family safety problems were investigated. In conclusion, social capital represents an alternative resource for overcoming economic hardship for low-income one-person/single-parent households, especially for middle-aged singles and father-child single-parent households. Based on these empirical results, theoretical implications were discussed with regard to family policy and programs.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.54-74
• /
• 2023

This study examined the subcomponents of the local environment that have an important influence on the life satisfaction of people living in single-person households and analyzed how the causal relationship between these variables differs between generations. Specifically, the local environment was classified into the following subcomponents: convenience, comfort, safety, healthcare, and neighborhood relationships. This study analyzed the data of 3,260 respondents from single-person households in the 2020 Residents' Quality of Life Survey in Gyeonggi Province. As a result, it was found that the perception of all subcomponents of the local environment had a positive effect on the life satisfaction of people in single-person households. The effect of neighborhood relationships was relatively large compared to other subcomponents. Next, the influencing factors on life satisfaction of people in single-person households showed differences between generations, which were defined by this study as youth (under age 35), middle-aged (35-64), and elderly (65 and older). Convenience and safety for the youth group and neighborhood relationship for the middle-aged group were most important. The elderly group was most affected by healthcare. The proportion of single-person households worldwide, including in Korea, is gradually increasing, and considering this, this study provides important policy implications.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.69-77
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to explore housing cost burden of young single- or two-person households in the United States who have recently moved for job-related reasons. Total 580 households were selected from 2009 American Housing Survey public-use microdata for data analysis. The findings are as follows: (1) Targeted single-person households were characterized as younger households with higher educational attainment, lower household income, and greater proportion of renters, multifamily housing residents and households with housing cost burden than other households; (2) two-person households showed a higher income level and lower housing cost burden; (3) characteristics that showed significant influences on housing cost burden were household size, householder's age, gender, race and educational attainment, household income level and tenure type; and (4) a linear combination of household size, household income, whether or not a low-income household, residency in metropolitan area, and home structural type were found to be most efficient to predict a single- or two-person household's housing cost burden regardless of the household size.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.322-330
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparison of nutrient intake and metabolic syndrome between single person households and non-single person households in elderly subjects. We analyzed data from 2,903 subjects ≥ age 65 who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2013~2015. As a result, single-person households had lower income and economic ability, overall nutrient intake was deteriorated, and the proportion of high-carbohydrate intake was high, compared to non-single person households. After adjusting for potential confounders (sex, age, education, household income, economic activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, walking frequency, health status, depression status, and dietary factors), the single-person household showed a tendency of 1.22-fold higher ORs of metabolic syndrome and 1.3-fold higher ORs of hypertriglyceridemia than the non-single-person household. We suggest that the single-person household may be associated with increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome and hypertriglyceridemia in the elderly subjects.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.123-148
• /
• 2012

The main objective of this study was to investigate how people prepare for old age by looking at financial statements from single-person households in Gyeonggi province; the policy implications regarding low fertility and population aging are considered. The subjects were members of 600 households who were aged 26 to 44 years old and not married. The data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, and dichotomous logistic regression using SPSS WIN 12.0. Respondents pointed out that financial problems are the greatest challenges for those facing old age in single-person households; they said that a stable job is the most important factor for secure living. About 57% of household residents responded that they have prepared for retirement, and a majority of them said they hoped to spend their elderly years with a marriage partner. The financial statements from single-person households were inferior to those from other types of households. The assets of single-person household members were less than those of other households. Only 10.5% of respondents have owned homes. The study discusses policy implications for those who want marriage and for those who don't want it. For those who want marriage, job-seeking support was proposed, and for the others, tax deductions and family programs for single-person households were proposed.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.39-49
• /
• 2018

Objectives : In this study, we used the data of the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey in its 6th Phase, and the total number of subjects included was 4,884. Methods : Frequency analysis, crosstab and logistic regression analysis were conducted to investigate unmet medical factors related to family members. Results : The subjects of the study were 10.3% single-person households and 89.7% non-single-person households. There were statistically significant differences in age, education level, marital status, income level, private health insurance, and subjective health status. Factors associated with unmet healthcare needs according to single-person households was subjective health status. Age, gender, marital status and subjective health status were the factors associated with unmet healthcare needs according to non-single-person households. Conclusions : It is necessary to establish health care policies that can expand the health education necessary for providing appropriate information on medical care and improving awareness of social illnesses and improving affordability and convenience.

• Korea journal of population studies
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.125-139
• /
• 1993

Korea has successfully achieved a lowered fertility level owing to the strong population control policy and effective family planning program. Along with fertility decline and decreased number of children in family, average number of household members has decreased and nontraditional households such as one person household and households composed of unrelated individuals have prolifirated, even though the absolute number of them are found minimal in Korea. However in recent years several data and survey results suggest that one person households are gradually in the increasing trend. The study aimed at investigating the real state of one person households in Korea and next analyzing the proportional distribution of one person households by a few socioeconomic characteristics, thus providing basic for eatablishing far-singhted population and social welfare policy in the future. Korea has experienced high growth rate of economy through government-led development plans starting from the 1960s. During the past three decades, Korea has shifted from the agricultural state to the industrialized one. In compliance with the economic growth, urbanization and industrialization have brought about rural-to-urban migration and a great bulk of young population migrated to urban areas, who are seeking for educational and job opportunities. Korean society has also been under drastic change in every aspect of life involving norms, tradition, and attitude, etc. Therefore, in spite of the prejudice on 'living alone' still remaining, young people gradually leave parents and home, and further form nontraditional households in urban areas. Current increase in the number of one person households is partly attributable to the increase in high female educational attainment and female participation in economic activities. As the industrial structure in Korea changes from primary into secondary and tertiary industries, job opportunities for service/sales and manufacturing are opened to young female labor force in the process of industrialization. Contrary to the formation of one person households by young people, the aged single households are composed when children in family leave one by one because of marriage, education, employment. In particular, a higher proportion of aged female single households occur in rural areas due to the mortality difference by sex. Based on the data released form the 1990 Population and Housing Census and National Fertility and Family Health Survey in 1985 and 1991, the study tried to examine the state of one person households in Korea. According to Census data, the number of one person households increased to 1, 021, 000 in 1990, comprising 9.0 percent of total households. And the survey reveal that among total 11, 540 households, 8.0 percent, 923 households, are composed of one person households. Generally, the proportion of female single households is greater than that of male ones, and a big proportion of one person households is concentrated in the 25-34 age bracket in urban areas and 65 years and more in rural areas. It is shown than one person householders in urban areas have higher educational attainment with 59.2 percent high schooling and over in 1991, Job seeking proved to be the main reason for leaving home and forming one person households. The number of young female single households with higher education and economic self-reliance are found nil and the study did not allow to analyze the causal realtionship between female education and employment and one person household formation. However more research and deep analysis on the causal facors on one person household formation using statistical method are believed to be necessary.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.93-103
• /
• 2020

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify unmet healthcare needs among man and woman one-person households and to explore related factors by gender. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The final sample consisted of 820 one-person households. The statistical analysis, conducted in SPSS version 20.1, included complex sampling analysis; descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and logistic regression. Results: The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of women in one-person households were significantly different from those of men in one-person households. Women in single-person households were mainly in their 70s or older and married, and they tended to have a low education level, low income, and no formal occupation. Unmet healthcare needs were experienced by 17.3% of women in one-person households and 13.5% of men in one-person households, which was not a statistically significant difference (χ²=2.17, p=.139). Factors related to unmet healthcare needs were subjective health status and unmet dental care needs in single-person-household men. By contrast, having experienced impairment within the past year, stress, and unmet dental care needs were factors related to unmet healthcare needs in single-person-household women. Conclusion: As one-person households become increasingly common, more attention needs to be paid to them and our understanding of them needs to be improved. Women in one-person households, in particular, are especially vulnerable, as they experience more unmet healthcare needs.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2022

With the recent rapid increase in single-person households, food companies are releasing small packaging and small-capacity products regardless of product line such as beverages, fresh foods, and home snacks, and food consumption patterns are also changing. Meanwhile, as a series of accidents related to food safety occurred during cost-effective consumption pursuing price-performance, more consumers wanted to choose products that have been proven safe even with higher money due to food safety anxiety. Considering the concept of 'safety' of food, this study by using the 'ordered probit model' empirically investigated whether there is a difference in the degree of preference for safety in food consumption behavior between single-person and multi-person households. Summarizing the results, it was found that women rather than men, and elderly households among young and single-person households had a higher demand for food safety. The results of marginal effects considering food safety variables show that respondents with low frequency of delivery and take-out use are considering food safety more, and that single-person households are considering safety more than multi-person households. In the future, the population structure of Korea will continue to increase in single-person and elderly households, and women's economic activities will also continue to increase. Therefore, the growing home convenience food market needs marketing strategies to secure and emphasize food safety, such as sterilizing treatment technology for hygiene and safe container development from environmental hormones, and needs a lot of support and attention to meet changes in food culture trends and demographic structure.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.1257-1260
• /
• 2017

Single-person households recently have been rapidly increasing and one reason may be the increment in elderly single-person. Since the change of living patterns is relevant to the government policy direction, it is important to understand how single-person households are clustered and which factors have influence on them. In this study, we tried to detect spatial clusters of single-person households and low-income elderly single-person households after adjusting for deprivation index. A recently developed fused lasso for Poisson data was used for data analysis and we provided the details on how to use it in R. From these analysis results, we observed the effect of socioeconomic level on the clusters and explained the reason why spatial clusters are shown after adjusting for deprivation index.