• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.105-138
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• 2009

Although the decline in fertility rate is generally observed along the history of economic development throughout the world, the continuing decline hitting below the replacement level in Korea over the recent years gathered serious social concerns on the ground that it accelerates the process of population aging. The total fertility rate in Koreareached 2.08 in 1983, and gradually fell to the levels of 1.08 in 2005 and 1.26 in 2007. The policy debate over the role of the government has been focused mainly on the level of theoretical discussion without substantial basis on firm empirical evidence and the determinants of fertility. The objective of the paper is to empirically investigate the fertility effect of the female wage, which is understood as one of the most important determinants of fertility in Koreasince 1980 focusing on one aspect of fertility, namely birth spacing. Using the Korean National Fertility Survey conducted in 2006, I estimate a duration model of first and second births taking into account individual heterogeneity, which turned out to be an important factor to control for. Compared with previous studies in the literature on the Korean fertility, the study has an advantage of using the complete pregnancy history of women in a more representative sample. Unlike the previous studies, the analysis also deals with the endogeneity of marriage by treating a certain age, rather than age at marriage, as the time in which a woman becomes exposed to the risk of pregnancy. The study shares the common problem in the literature on birth spacing of lacking relevant wage information for respondents in a retrospective survey. I estimate the wage series as a function of the basic characteristics using the annual Wage Structure Survey from 1980 to 2005, which is considered as a nationally representative sample for wage information of employees. The results suggest that the increase in female wage by 10 percent leads to a decrease in second birth hazard by 0.56~0.92 percentage points and that the increase in spouse's wage by the equal amount is accompanied by the increase in second birth hazard by 0.36~1.13 percentage points. These estimates are more precisely estimated and of smaller magnitude than those presented by the previous studies. The results are robust to the different specifications of the wage equation. The simulation analysis based on the predicted values shows that about 17% of the change in the second birth hazard over the period 1980 to 2005 was due to the change in the female wage. Although there is some limitation in data, the results can be viewed as one estimate of the role of female wage on the recent fertility decline in Korea. The question raised by the paper is not a normative one of whether a government should promote childbearing but a positive one thatexplains fertility decline. Therefore, if there is a wide consensus on promoting childbearing, the finding suggests that the policies designed to reduce the opportunity cost of women in the labor market would be effective. The recent movement of implementing a wide range of family-friendly policies including child care support, maternity leave, parental leave and tax benefit in developed countries should be understood in this context.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.137-163
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• 2010

This study examines how individual, familial, and social factors are associated with persistent very low fertility in Busan Metropolitan City and contemplates family-friendly environments and social strategies for fertility increase. Fertility decline in Busan Metropolitan City recorded the lowest birth rate nationwide recent years among metropolitan cities and provinces in Korea. Birthrates are low partly because of multiple factors such as high age at childbearing and at marriage, decline in marriage, high divorce rate, the phenomena of marriage avoidance among unmarried women, traditional gender role attitude of men, low domestic work participation of husbands among dual career couples, low marital satisfaction and family life satisfaction, abortion, and more broader attiributes such as family policy, availability of childcare, education expenses, and family-friendlyness of a society. In addition, women of dual career couples in Busan strained from domestic work overload under traditional norms of gender role, and marital satisfaction recorded below average nationwide along with espeacially low marital satisfaction of wives compared to that of husbands. Major aspects of implications and considerations for higher birth rate and family friendly policy in Busan are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2009

Objectives : Prevalence of postpartum depressive disorders reaches approximately 10-15% of childbearing women. This preliminary study was intended to explore the relationships between postpartum depressive disorders and family adaptability and cohesion. Methods : Childbearing women(n=24) were assessed for risk factors for postpartum depression before and after childbirth prospectively. At gestational age between 36th and 40th week, the questionnaire about various factors before childbirth, Edinburgh postnatal depression scale(EPDS), Family adaptability-cohesion evaluation scale (FACES), and Beck anxiety inventory(BAI) were assessed. After childbirth, for the diagnosis of postpartum depressive disorders, a structured diagnostic interview according to MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview was performed, furthermore, the questionnaire about various factors after childbirth, EPDS, and BAI were assessed at 4-6 weeks postpartum. Results : Among various factors and scales, family adaptability and cohesion, mood symptom and change during pregnancy were associated with postpartum depressive disorder in comparison with non-postpartum depressive disorder subjects. In addition, low family adaptability and cohesion and mood change during pregnancy were significantly associated factors with postpartum depressive disorder using logistic regression analysis. Conclusion : The results suggest the postpartum depressive disorder could be related with prenatal low family adaptability and cohesion. This preliminary study, however, includes only a few subjects, so that further large-sized study will be needed to replicate our results.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.685-701
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• 2015

The low fertility rate and the unprecedented rapid pace of population aging is a significant factor degrading the national competitiveness and the social security system of Korea. The government has implemented various maternity incentives to alleviate the low birth problem; however, the policy seems in effective to solve the problem of low fertility. This study proposes a conditional birth-order specific fertility rate and investigates the policy effects of fertility transition in Korea to provide a basis for more effective policy development. The use of a conditional birth-order specific fertility rate allows for an effective calculation of the change and the effect in total fertility rate than a birth-order specific fertility rate. We compare the effects of the total fertility rate according to various scenarios that enables us to calculate how the total fertility rate can achieve the current multi-child childbirth support policy of the government and estimate how the total fertility rate can be achieved when focusing on the first or second childbirth support policy. We also summarize the research results on policy development for a practical increase in the childbirth that considers the rapid decrease in women of childbearing age (15-49 years) due to continued low fertility and present the number of childbirths in accordance with the total fertility rate.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.377-387
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• 2020

This study is a retrospective and descriptive research to identify the factors affecting development of spontaneous abortion in women of childbearing age. The subjects totaled 198 females aged 20~45 who had experienced childbirth or spontaneous abortion at least once, and data was collected for one month since July 2019 through self-reporting questionnaires. The results showed that the factors affecting development of spontaneous abortion were use of panty liners (daily: reference, 1~2 times a week: B=-1.74, no: B=-0.77) and antimicrobials (often or a lot: reference, small or normal: B=-0.71, no: B=0.79), occupational groups (inoccupation: reference, service industry employee: B=0.73, white collar: B=1.22, professional: B=0.63, manager: B=1.54), and exposure-risk behavior toward endocrine-disrupting chemicals (B=0.81) during pregnancy, and their explanatory power for development of spontaneous abortion was 24.4% (R²=.24). As a result, it is necessary to prevent endocrine-disrupting chemicals exposure and pay attention to the occupational environment during pregnancy in order to reduce the development of spontaneous abortion.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.600-604
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• 1995

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a rare disease in women of childbearing age, is the result of benign nodular hypertrophy of the smooth muscle of the lypmhatics and other tissues of the abdomen and thorax. We report a 36-years-old woman with pulmonary and retroperitoneal lymphangioleiomyomat.osis who responded with hormone treatment. She developed vaginal pruritis and a pelvic ultraound was done given her significant past medical history. Ultrasound examination demonstrated a large mass in the right side of her pelvis. Therefore she was admitted to St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto for laparoscopy. Result of cytology was to be consistent with the diagnosis of retroperitoneal lymphangioleiomyomatosis. High resolution CT sacn of the thorax demonstrated multiple small cystic lesions, without associated nodularity compatible with a diagnosis of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis. She has been taking Provera tablets 100mg po tid since Dec. 15, 1993. We have given her a prescription for Depo provera 500mg IM monthly since she came back to Korea. and made arrangements for regular follow up monthly. We performed chest X-ray, CT of chest(high resolution), abdomen and pelvis, pulmonary function tests and arterial blood gas analysis. Chest X-ray and CT findings showed no significant change since July. 20, 1993.