• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.17-43
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• 2011

With a substantial rise in divorce rates since the mid 1990s, single-parent households are increasing rapidly in Korea. Often it is believed that children in single-mother households suffer the most economically and socially with the marital disruption of the parents. This study hypothesizes that in Korea the socioeconomic status of single-father households may be lower than that of single-mother households mainly because low-income divorced women are not able to form their own households with children. The analysis is based on two sub-samples from the 2% sample of the 2005 Census, one, with children 12 years old or younger and, the other, with divorced mothers of children of the same ages. The findings support the hypothesis that previously-married single fathers show the lowest educational and occupational status among 6 groups of parents: fathers and mothers from two-parent families, fathers and mothers from married but spouse-absent families, and previously-married single fathers and mothers. Divorced mothers'likelihood of living apart from their children has a strong negative association with their educational attainment, with the highest likelihood among women of middle school or lower education and the lowest likelihood among women with college education. Although single mothers comprise a larger percentage of single-parent households, single-father households demonstrate a particular vulnerability with their weak socioeconomic status.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.321-353
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• 2012

This study aims to find out ways of improving life satisfaction of rural elderly by investigating their work and leisure activity, two significant axis of the life in later life. For this purpose, researchers and one assistant researcher visited house, senior citizen's center and health center, in order to have interviews with senior citizen above 65, who are currently working in the field. The summary of the research findings are as follows; First, the average size of the farm land which each senior citizen works on is $9,237.92m^2$ and they mostly work for economic reason. During farming season, they work on average 8.62 hour per day. As primary reasons for why farming work is difficult, "insufficient income" was picked. In fact, the average annual income senior citizens earn from farming is about 15.4 million won. 49.1% of sample senior citizens work both on watered farm and farm, and they are engaged in farming 48.82 years on average, showing that most of their lives have been spent on farming. In spite of these difficulties, most senior citizens showed high intention to continue farming work further. Second, senior citizens turn out to spend their leisure time mostly on public leisure activities such as watching TV, hearing radio and gatherings with families, relatives. However, individual activities such as meditation, yoga, drawing and calligraphy turn out to be low because they require foundations to enjoy. Third, senior citizen in rural areas were divided into four groups by farm work and leisure activity: group separated from work and leisure activity(27.09%), group centered to leisure activity(24.42%), group centered to work(23.75%), and group integrated work and leisure activity(23.75%). Fourth, the groups were different depending on demographic characteristics. Namely, male senior citizen, higher educational level, living in elderly couple households, and satisfied with their economic level belonged to the group integrated work and leisure activity. But senior citizen aged above 65 years old and working for their livelihood belonged to the group centered to work, and most of female and senior citizen aged above 80 years old belonged to the group separated from work and leisure activity. Finally, as the result of analysis of differences in life satisfaction according to farm work and leisure activity of senior citizen in rural areas, the group integrated work and leisure activity, and group centered to leisure activity were higher in life satisfaction than the group separated from work and leisure activity, and group centered to work. The above result indicates that life satisfaction of senior citizen depends upon leisure activity rather than work.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.321-330
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• 1996

With changing socio-economic environments, there have been some changes in the Korean diet. One of major changes is the increasing fat intake. Based on the current trend of increase, it is important to understand factors related to fat intake levels. Objective of this study was to find out the differences in food consumption patterns, demographic characteristics, and other socio-economic factors among three groups of households. The households were devided into three groups by percentage of fat energy intake to total energy intake such as less than 15%(Group 1), from 15% to 25%(Group 2), and more than 25% (Group 3). Among 1, 987 households, the numbers in Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 were 792(39.6%), 902(45.4%), and 293(15.1%), respectively. The mean size of family was 3.44 person per households for total survey household, 3.42 for Group 1, 3.54 for Group 2, and 3.21 for Group 3. More than 60% of families living in the rural area belonged to Group 1(p<0.05). Group 3 had most educated food preparers and more income than other groups(p<0.05). Group 3 showed higher intake of all nutrient analyzed except carbohydrate (p<0.05). Other than calcium and vitamin A for Group 1, and vitamin A for Group 1, and vitamin A for Group 2, all nutrient intake analyzed for three groups were more than 75% of Korean recommended dietary alowances. Mean fat intakes for Group 1, Group 2, and group 3 had highest amount of intake for all food groups. According to food group analysis, Group 3 had highest amount of intake for all food groups except vegetables. Group 3 consumed more than 10 times of meats compared to Group 1. Group 3 had more dishes prepared by baking, deep-fryng, stir-frying, and pan-frying other two groups. Processed foods were used most frequently in Group 3. Other diet and related factors were analyzed also. These results showed that the amount of fat consumed by Korean households varies widely. Households with high fat energy intake had tendency to reside in the largy city, and to have heigher education level and more income than other groups. They eat less vegetables, use more cooking methods using oils, and use more processed foods. To ensure a proper intake of fat, there should be two separate ways of approach for high fat energy group and low fat energy group, since they are different in many ways.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.227-246
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• 1993

Gender differences in the seperation of emplo-yment from home and commuting patterns of the Seoul Area are examined in this paper. Throughout the analysis, it is found that there exist a substantial gender variation in comm-uting rates. Even though the regional variation of commuting rates of male workers is very small, the female workers' regional variation of commuting rates is substantial. Especially, the area around the traditional central place of Kangbuk, the area near the Youngdungpo and Kuro where manufacturing and retailing activities are concentrated, and the area where low-income families are concentrated show high rate of female commuting. In contrast, the traditional residential area, especially the high-income area of Kangnam, shows lower rate of female commuting. Generally, female workers tend to work closer to home than male workers. Accordingly, the job search range of female workers is smaller than that of mle workers. But the areal unit of job search range of female workers is wider at least than Dong. The fact that female workers' job search area is smaller than male workers' implies that the job opportunity around the home location could have more impacts on female workers' job search process than male workers' job search process. There is a substantial difference in commuting behavior between male and female workers. In general, male workers commute longer, use more expensive transportation mode, and pay higher transportation cost in comparision with female workers. These gender differences in commuting behavior could be resulted not only form the gender difference in the seperation of employment form work, but also form the gender difference in the social status in both work place and home.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1043-1061
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate cost side by type of long term care services economically, and then to discuss the findings and implications for the results of analysis. For this research, primary caregivers that provide care the elderly requiring long term care services sanctioned by National Health Insurance Corporation were drawn and surveyed. Among collected data, data for 422 primary caregivers were used for this study. The subjects used in this study consisted of family caregivers from various settings that give care to the elderly. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, caregiver's household income level is low. Therefore, caregiving families with the elderly are likely to have financial difficulties. Second, under coverage of long term care insurance system, the direct cost caregiving households pay for the elderly is still very high. Third, indirect cost of caregiving households accounted for the larger proportion caregiving costs. Fourth, social cost burden for caregiving the elderly is very high. This cost amount is appropriately equal to household income of caregivers surveyed in the research. Fifth, service use cost of caregiving households is differentiated by type of long term care service. Sixth, direct cost of caregiving households is statistically significantly differentiated by type of long term care service, but is differentiated less than service use cost. Seventh, social indirect cost for caregiving the elderly is statistically significantly differentiated by type of long term care service. Eighth, social cost amounts for the elderly utilizing long term care service is very high, total social cost per capita by types of long term care service tend to converge on average social cost per capita of total service.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.54
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• pp.297-331
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating roles of neglectful rearing attitudes and mental health in the relationship between economic status of single-parent famillies and school adjustment, and the differences between single-parent and two-parent families, using structural equation modeling. Data were obtained from the Middle School 1 Panel(third-wave) of the Korean Child and Youth Panel Survey 2010. This study selected 2,195 middle school 3th-grade students (249 from single-parent families and 1,946 from two-parent families). Data were examined with structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis using AMOS 21.0, and mediating effects were tested using the Sobel test. The results were as follows; First, the single-parent children reported lower levels of economic status and school adjustment, and higher levels of neglectful rearing attitudes than the two-parent children. Second, multi-group analysis showed a statistically significant difference between single-parent and two-parent in structural equation modeling. Economic status of two-parent famillies affected school adjustment of children, but economic status of single-parent famillies did not affect school adjustment of children. Third, as a result of examining for total effect, the variable that most influenced school adjustment of children was neglectful rearing attitudes. Fourth, neglectful rearing attitudes and mental health did play a mediating role in the relationship between economic status and school adjustment in case of two-parent famillies, but neglectful rearing attitudes and mental health did not play a mediating role in case of single-parent famillies. Based on the result, this study stressed the following; First, the study suggested that problem of the single-parent famillies supporting standard which is concentrated on the low income single-parent famillies. Second, the study proposed multifaceted support measures which reflects characteristics of single-parent famillies to increase school adjustment of the single-parent children.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.190-199
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• 1981

A survey of nutrition and incidence of parasites was conducted from January 23 to 31 and February 14 to 18, 1981, to determine the nutritional status of young children under the age of 6 years, in one of the rural family health project areas: Whaseoung-gun, Kyunggi-do, Korea. This study covered a total of 233 children. The results are summarised as follows: Approximately one-half of these families had an annual income between \1,000,000 and \2,500,000. Nearly 84% of the households were involved in farming. Energy intake of children met 70.6% of the requirement: carhohydrates provided 77%, protein provided 11%, and fat provided 12% of the total energy intake. Low intake of iron; calcium; and vitamins, excluding thiamin, was also found. Mean hemoglobin value was $10.6{\pm}1.0gm/100ml.;\;42%$ of subjects were categorized as low group, 22% were in the deficient group, and only 36% were at an acceptable level as indicated by O'Neal. Thus, 22% of the subjects were proven to be anemic by the hemoglobin criteria. Mean hematocrit value was $30.1{\pm}2.8%$, and 80 of 208 children, or 38.4% of subjects, were below 30% of the standard established by O'Neal. The positive prevalence of parasitic infection was 20% , significantly higher than that observed in the Yowido compound (5.5%) in 1980. Hematologic findings had no significant correlation to parasitic infection. The majority, 95.2% of the subjects, met or surpassed 90% of the KlST's standard of height:whtile 28. 6% of the subjects were below 90% of the KIST's standard of weight. The ratio of weight to height for boys 4 to 6 years old was 15.8 to 17.5, in contrast to 16.3 to 16.9 for boys of KHDI project areas, and also in contrast to 17.7 to 17.9 for boys of the same age group from the Yowido apartment compound in Seoul. According to the results of the assessments, the authors found a clear difference in growth values, hematologic findings and dietary patterns between rural areas and advantaged urban areas of Seoul. Our results suggest the need to develop the nutrition and parasite control training of village women for better nutritional care of their young children.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.131-135
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• 2017

We developed a portable card reader for the visually impaired. In South Korea, there is insufficient development of lifestyle aids for people with disabilities. Living aids for people with disabilities are being developed using information technology, smart phones, Internet of Things(IoT) devices, 3D printers, and so on. Blind people were interviewed, which showed that the card recognition function using a currently developed smart phone app was not able to recognize the screen of the smart phone by the hand of the visually impaired, and it was inconvenient to operate. In recent years, devices that enable the visually impaired to recognize cards have been studied in foreign countries and are emerging prototypes. But what is currently available is expensive and inconvenient. In addition, visually impaired people are most vulnerable to low-income families, which makes it difficult to purchase and use expensive devices. In this study, we developed a card reader that recognizes a card using a Raspberry Pi, which is an open-source hardware that can be applied to IoT. The card reader plays it by voice and vibration, and the visually impaired can use it at a low price.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with suspicious developmental delay in infants and early childhood. Methods: Participants were 133 infants, aged from birth to 6 years old and their mothers, who were being seen at 16 Public health centers in B city. Korean Denver II was used to test infant development. ${\chi}^2$-test, Fisher's exact test and multiple logistic regression were used with SPSS 19.0 to analyze data. Results: Of participant infants, 7.5% were below the 3rd percentile for the weight percentile, 8.4% is a weight curve that crosses more than 2 percentile lines on the growth charts after previous achievement, and 9.8% had suspicious developmental delay according to Korean Denver II. Further the predictive factors related to suspicious development delay in the children were decrease of weight percentile (Odds Ratio [OR]=6.69, Confidence Interval [CI])=1.22-36.45), low economic state (OR=6.26, CI=1.50-26.00), and development delay perceived by their mothers (OR=4.99, CI=1.24-20.06). Conclusion: It is necessary to build a government level system to follow management of development of infants and children from the time of birth. Especially, it is necessary to develop a program for children in low income families.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.6
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• pp.434-441
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• 2010

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem resulting in significant burden for patients and families. However, family caregivers' burden has not been well recognized. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the level of caregivers' burden and to explore the related factors based on family, patient, and social support factors. Methods: A face-to-face interview with 86 family caregivers who had been taking care of COPD patients was conducted. The participants answered a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included the level of family caregivers' burden, health status and the relationship within the family, functional limitation of patients perceived by family caregivers and the social support. Results: The level of caregivers' burden among participants was considerably high. Risk factors for caregivers' burden included low educational level of family caregivers, low family income, hours of caregiving, and functional limitation of the patients. Protective factors for caregivers' burden were good relationship within the family and support from other family members or friends. Conclusion: It is proved that family caregivers are facing significant burden in taking care of COPD patients. To reduce family caregivers' burden, it is necessary to address socioeconomic status of the family and to provide various community resources including financial support and nursing services.