• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 1999

This study was performed to investigate the biochemical status of iron, zinc and copper for 125 preschool children (Males : 69, Females : 56) residing in a low-income area of Seoul. The number of subjects aged, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were 19, 41, 41 and 24, respectively. The hemoglobin level of the children aged 3 was 11.8 g/dl and was lower thant hat of the other groups(p<0.05). Similar results were found for hematocrit and serum zinc. The percentage of children with an iron deficiency assessed by Hb(3-5) years : <11.0g/dl, 6 years: <11.5g/dl), Hct(3-6 years : 33%, 6 years : <35%), serum transferrin(<16%) and serum ferritin(<10ng/ml) were 4.3%, 9.5%, 8.2% and 17.7%, respectively. The mean serum zinc was 67.9$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl and urinary zinc was 0.1300mg/day. Low serum zinc (61.0$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl) occurred in 28.0% of the children. The mean serum copper was 110.5$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl and urinary copper was 0.0126mg/day. The prevalence of children with elevated serum copper($\geq$ 130$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl) was 54.8%, which was higher than 7.4%, the prevalence of low serum copper(<70$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl). Children with higher status, more weight, larger girth of chest, or larger midarm circumference showed higher values of Hb. The height and weight of children also showed a positive crrelation with serum zinc(P<0.001-P<0.05).

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children in low-income households. A cross sectional study involved a survey of households (n = 223) receiving the financial assistance. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Eligible mothers that fulfilled the inclusion criteria such as non-pregnant, non-lactating mothers, aged 18 to 55 years with their youngest children aged 2 to 12 years, were purposively selected. The Radimer/Cornell hunger and food-insecurity instrument was administered and children's height and weight were measured. RESULTS: About 16.1% of the households were food secure, while 83.9% experienced some kind of food insecurity. Out of food insecure category, 29.6% households were food insecure, 19.3% women were individual food insecure and 35.0% fell into the child hunger category. Education of the mother (P = 0.047), household size (P = 0.024), number of children (P = 0.024), number of children going to school (P = 0.048), total monthly income (P < 0.001), income per capital (P < 0.001), number of household members contributing to the income (P = 0.018) and food expenditure (P = 0.006) were significant risk factors for household food insecurity. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in children were 61.0%, 61.4% and 30.6% respectively. Based on multinomial logistic regression, children in food-insecure households were 2.15 times more likely to be underweight and three times to be stunted than children in the food-secure households. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that household food insecurity is associated with the nutritional status of the children in the rural area of Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.23 no.2 s.74
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• pp.137-148
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• 2005

This study compared one-child households' economic structures between those who determined not to have more children and those who have a birth plan. This study examined the demographic characteristics and economic variables such as income, consumption expenditures, assets. debt, and a subjective evaluation of future economic status. Especially, it compared the effects of socioeconomic variables on expenditures on a child between low-fertility and birth-planned households. From a questionnaire completed by a husband or wife of one-child households, 154 low-fertility households and 201 birth-planned households were obtained. A t-test, chi-square test, multiple regression analysis and a dummy variable interaction technique were used. The findings of this study are as follows: First, low-fertility households were older, had higher income, and had more educated, employed wives. Their marital duration was longer, and their child was older than those of birth-planned households. Second, low-fertility households had higher consumption expenditures than did birth-planned households. Especially, expenditures of apparel and shoes, health care, education, and entertainment were significantly higher for low-fertility households. Also, low-fertility households spent more than did birth-planned households on a child. However, low-fertility households had significantly more debt than did their counterparts, and their expectation level of future economic status were lower than that of birth-planned households. Third, the effects of socioeconomic variables on expenditures on a child were different between low-fertility and birth-planned households. Age, education level, husband's occupation, wife's employment status, income, net asset, and subjective evaluation of future economic status showed significant differences. Income elasticity of expenditure on a child was significantly higher for low-fertility households than their counterparts.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1-14
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• 2002

This study investigated topic continuity in 5-year-old children during verbal interactions with peers by socioeconomic status and type of task. Each of the 78 children in this study participated in topic continuity sessions consisting of 4 l0-minute play periods with a same-sex peer : 2 in familiar and 2 in unfamiliar situations. Sessions were videotaped and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed by a modified version of the Kertoy and Vetter (1995) topic coding system; categories included topic initiation, topic continuation(collaboration and incorporation), and off-topic. Results showed that children from middle-income families stayed on topic and collaborated more than children from low-income families. Children displayed more topic continuation, collaboration and incorporation in familiar than in unfamiliar situations.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.493-505
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to examine the regional differences of 0-12 aged children's environment based on their parents' socioeconomic class and on the character of the settlement. One thousand and two hundred households were investigated and the results are as follows. It is revealed that families in low socio-economic class are more likely to be exposed to noise and home crowdedness. Families living in spontaneous settlement are deprived of natural light and the roads to their homes are steep and narrow. Low income families face a housing affordability crisis. Most of them pay housing rent on monthly basis. The basic infrastructure of low income neighborhood is lacking convenient facilities like shopping centers, public transportation systems, banks, public parks, and libraries. This lack of facilities is more severe in spontaneous settlement. Instead, bars and taverns are located in their neighborhood. Accessibility to parks and resource centers is an important factor that makes both middle and low income families consider their neighborhood to be positive and this condition is counted better in social housing area than in spontaneous settlement. On the contrary, social networks like friends and relatives are strong in spontaneous settlement and families in poverty value these relationships. Such networks are weak in social housing area and this difference is not related to their residential period. Low income families living in social housing area are more pessimistic about their future and this view might result from their counterpart middle class neighbors and the weak social networks.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.143-162
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influences on resource transfers between middle-aged parents and their married children. This study used 2009 data from the National Research Foundation of Korea regarding inter-generational resource transfers and preparation for later life (kfr-2009-c00010). A sample of 1208 households of middle-aged parents with married children was used. The study found that parents provided financial resource transfers to their married children in the following circumstances: where parents received financial resource transfers from their married children, where the household income of parents was high, where the children were younger, and where the children were male. Parents provided instrumental resource transfers to their married children in the following circumstances: where parents received instrumental resource transfers from their married children, where the gender of children was female, where the children were employed, where married children had their own children who were either younger than a preschooler, and where household incomes of married children were high. Parents received financial resource transfers from their married children in these circumstances: where their emotional ties with their children was high, where the household income of the parents was low, where the household income of the married children was high, and where married children had preschoolers. The circumstances in which parents received instrumental resource transfers from their married children were where parents provided instrumental resource transfers and the household incomes of married children were high.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.416-428
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of breakfast service on nutritional status, hematological status, and attentiveness of children in low-income families. The subjects were 19 boys and 13 girls between 7 and 11 years old. The subjects were divided into a control group and a breakfast service (BS) group, in which 12 boys and 5 girls received breakfast from February 1 to December 31, 2010. The results can be summarized as follows: intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin $B_2$, niacin, and vitamin C in the BS group were significantly higher than those in the control group. In the BS group, the intakes of calcium, folic acid, and vitamin C were lower than 75% of recommended intake levels. There were no significant differences in the total blood protein level and total cholesterol level between the BS group and control group. A blood albumin level was significantly higher in the BS group than in the control group. Systolic blood pressure was higher in the BS group than in the control group, whereas the diastolic blood pressure showed no significant difference between the groups. A dietary attitude score increased according to breakfast service and nutritional education. No significant differences were found in the capacity value and continuity value between the two groups, but the control value was significantly higher in the BS group than in the control group. Therefore, to sustain the effect of breakfast service and improve nutritional status for children skipping breakfast in low-income families, nutrition intervention services, as well as legal and financial support by the government should be provided.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.65-76
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to offer essential information related to early childhood education and care policy. Using the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS) Vol.5., this study analyzed sociodemographic factors that decide the use and type of institute for early childhood education and care. The following results are obtained： First, it is not easy for young children under three years old to use education and care institutes because of their preference for home care. Second, the mother's job status affects the child's use of child care centers and private institutes for education except for the using of early child education centers. Third, the affecting main factors for the use of child care centers are quite similar to critical factors for use of the private institute for education. Thus, young children using the private institute for education could be interpreted as coming from a low-income class compared with the children using the early child education centers.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2009

Ovjectives: As the attention devoted to children's mental health increases, medical costs and burdens mount as well. In the present study, we evaluated the association between socioeconomic status(SES) and major child psychiatric symptoms. Methods: The subjects of this study were children of recruited from a mental health screening program in the Seoul Sungbuk mental health center over the course of 3 months. To establish the SES of each child, we collected data about each child's medical insurance, years of parental education, household income, family structure and housing. 149 children & parents completed questionnaires including the Childhood Depression Inventory(CDI) and the Korean Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale(K-ARS). Results: The mean K-ARS-P score was $12.1{\pm}11.1$ and the suspected prevalence of ADHD was 20.8%(n=31). The mean cm score was $12.9{\pm}7.9$, and the prevalence of suspected depression was 16.8%(25). Depressive symptoms and ADHD symptoms were both more severe than those observed in a previous epidemiologic study in Korea. Depressive symptoms were more closely associated with family SES status. Conclusion: SES status is one of the most important risk factors in the development of major child psychiatric symptoms. In our study we found that depressive symptoms in particular were most tightly associated with psychosocial factors. Evaluation of the risk factors, early screening and intervention for low SES children would be valuable mental health management tactics to implement in a community mental health system.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.12
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• pp.1310-1314
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• 2008

Purpose : This study aimed to assess the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia in children from low-income families in Gunpo and to evaluate whether economic status affects the prevalence of obesity. Methods : Between October 2007 and March 2008, 341 children (167 girls and 174 boys; age, 6 to 13 years) were enrolled in this study. All these children came from families who earned minimum wages and who were supported by government. We measured height, weight, and blood pressure and performed laboratory examinations, including total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using weight and height. We compared the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia in children from low-income families with the prevalence of these maladies found in other studies. Results : Prevalence of obesity ($BMI{\geq}95^{th}$) was 7.1%. Prevalence of hypertension and hyperlipidemia was 8.2% and 16.7%, respectively. In the obese group, prevalence of hypertension and hyperlipidemia was 25.0% and 45.8%, respectively. Obesity and hyperlipidemia were slightly more frequent in our study than those found in other reports, and the prevalence of hypertension in the obese group was very high compared with statistics from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (25% vs. 19.5%) and those from other reports. Conclusion : Low-income status was associated with an increased incidence of obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Hypertension showed an especially strong association with economic status, which seemed to correlate with genetic, environmental, and dietary effects.