• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.151-159
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• 2014

The study investigated the effects of reading intervention to enhance reading fluency for children from low-income families. The participants were 20 children from low-income families who are in grades 1 to 3. To qualify for participation in this study, all children had to score below 30 % ile on the Receptive vocabulary Test of the Expressive and Receptive Vocabulary Test or the Word reading fluency of the Korean Language-Based Reading Assessment. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n=10) or control (n=10) group. The intervention group participated in the individualized intervention program using the guided repeated reading and the corrective feedback strategies. The results showed that participants in the intervention group performed better on reading fluency than those in the control group after participating in the intervention program. Specifically, guided repeated reading with corrective feedback strategies produced significant improvement on generalization to unpracticed passages as well as practiced passages. The results of this study suggest that guided repeated reading with corrective feedback is effective for enhancing reading fluency for children in Korea. Further study is needed in order to develop language-specific reading intervention.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.613-622
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate infants' development, parenting characteristics, and the infants' daily routines by monthly family income, and examine variables related to infants' development. The 2010 data of the panel study on Koreans were used. The sample for this analysis was 1,802 children aged 21-23 months and their parents. The data were analyzed with ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis with SPSS version 18.0. The results were as follows: First, the development of infants differed by the family income. Infants' communication and problem solving skills in families with an income at the 25th percentile or below was lower than those above the 25th percentile. Second, parenting characteristics differed by family income. In the lower income group, the mother's parenting stress was highest, but the father's parenting time on weekends was lowest. Third, the most frequent activity of infants differed by family income. Playing with friends or caregivers was lowest, but watching TV and videos was highest in the lower income family group. Fourth, there was a relation among infants' development (communication and fine motor skills) and parenting characteristics (mother's parenting style, stress, and father's parenting time on weekends), and the infants' daily routines (playing with friends or caregivers). Fine motor development was affected by playing with a caregiver.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.103-118
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• 2010

This study used qualitative data to examine how low-income families confront the child care needs of their children in the midst of changes in public policy. The data were drawn from in-home interviews conducted every 6 months with 22 mothers who were welfare-dependent at the start of the research. This research depicted several life stories of the circumstances of poor children that have not had much previous attention in the literature: the general flows and the special conditions of child care among the low-income families with or without a disabled child were reported. The results in this study suggested that enabling families, through both social support and public funding, find affordable and quality child care would be one pathway to foster self-sufficiency in these families.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to assess dietary habits and nutrition knowledge of elementary school students who use community food-service centers according to family type. The subjects were comprised of 147 individuals in low-income households, aged from 7 to 12 years, and who consumed free meals at community welfare centers or at local children's centers in Seoul and Kyunggi-do, Korea. Dietary habits and dietary intake were obtained using 24-hr recall. Children in low-income single parent families skipped breakfast more frequently than children in low-income married pa-rent families. No difference in nutrition intake or dietary habits was observed between children in low-income single parent families and children in low-income married parent families. More interest and financial support of the government are required to develop nutrition education and food assistance programs for children in low-income single parent families.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.199-212
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• 2008

Relationships between parents' home literacy attitudes in low-income families and children's emergent literacy were studied with 107 children 4- and 5-years of age and their parents. Instruments were Kim and Kwon's (2006) questionnaire about parents' literacy attitudes, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised(Kim et al., 1995) and the Concepts About Print(CAP; Kim & Kim, 2004). Results showed that parents of younger children were positive about reading books; parents of older children were positive about reading instruction. More positive parental feelings about reading and higher frequencies of reading with the child were related to children's higher vocabulary scores. Children's CAP was positively related with amount of parents' reading instruction, home literacy resources, and number of child's books in the home.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2011

This article addresses potential barriers to sustained employment for rural low-income mothers. Drawing from a two panel longitudinal sample of 240 families from the Rural Families Speak project, it examines the extent to which human capital and family factors were related to these mothers' ability to be employed. Comparisons are made between mothers, who over a three-year period, were continuously unemployed, intermittently employed, or stably employed. Many of these rural low-income mothers faced multiple individual and family barriers that impacted their labor force participation. Notably food insecurity, mental health, caring for a young child, housing, and a family history of welfare were associated with less stable employment. The implications for public policy and service delivery are discussed.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the We Start center visiting intervention program on the positive changes in the developmental areas and literacy interests of young children from low-income families. The subjects were 195 young children (109 in the experimental group, M=71.7 months; 86 in the control group, M=73.3 months) living in We Start areas (Ansan, Gwangmyeong, and Suwon cities) of Gyeonggi-do. The We Start center visiting intervention programs were conducted for 30-34 weeks in each city, and pre-tests and post-tests were conducted before and after the intervention programs. The instruments used were the developmental checklist and the literacy interests test The developmental checklist consisted of 7 domains (personality & sociality; language, reading, & writing; scientific thinking; mathematical thinking; arts; social learning; and physical development). The literacy interests test consisted of 2 factors (interest in literacy and interaction during activity). The scores on the developmental checklist showed positive changes in several domains (personality & social development; language, reading, & writing ability; scientific thinking; and social learning), but not in mathematical thinking, arts, and physical development. Second, the results of the literacy interests test showed positive effects on interaction during activity and the total score. In conclusion, the We Start center visiting program for young children from low-income families is an effective early intervention program to end the intergenerational transference of poverty in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.679-688
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• 2011

Using data from an ongoing study of 170 children aged 4-6 years in low-income families, this study tests how mothers' parenting behaviors and teacher-child relationship influences the adjustment to child-care centers of young children. The mothers' parenting behaviors were measured by the mothers of surveyed children, while the teacher-child relationship and children's adjustment were rated by teachers. Measurements were recorded from using the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory(Crase et al. 1987), Student-Teacher Relationship Scale(Pianta et al. 1995) and the Adjustment to Child-care Centers Scale(Lee 2004). The collected data was analyzed by hierarchical regression using the SPSS Program. Results indicate that mothers' parenting behaviors in the low-income families controlled characteristics of children and are positively associated with one area of early school adjustment, learning readiness. In other words, mothers who are more involved and demonstrate supportive parenting, have children with better learning readiness. The teacher-child relationship is strongly related to all areas of children's adjustment. The interaction effect of parenting behaviors and the teacher-child relationship on children's learning readiness is observed. These results highlight the importance of the teacher-child closeness as well as the quality of parenting behaviors during the preschool period for the low-income family in improving early school adjustment.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.13-26
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• 1998

This study investigated first, socio-economic, residential characteristics, and values for future life among low-income family wives. Second, the relationship of these characteristics to the wives' stress was examined. The subjects were 249 mothers of urban low-income families whose children attended one of 20 daycare centers located in poor residential areas. The instruments included Social Network Scale, Home Stress Scale, and Occupation Stress Scale. Data were analyzed by means, standard deviations, frequencies, paired t-tests, and the stepwise multiple regressions. We found that a majority of the mothers and their husbands had high school educational status and simple labor or sales/service work status. They lived in rental houses or apartments. Their families of origin were a major source of emotional supports. Insufficient income for non-employed wives, long work hours and lack of free time for employed wives were a major stress. Levels of the wives' home-related job-related stress were negatively related to their own and their hudsbands' work status.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.233-265
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• 2011

Material hardship measures have been used to supplement the traditional income-based poverty measures. Recently poverty researchers have increasingly used measure of material hardship to examine the well-being of low income families. Measuring the material hardship might be useful to a better understanding of the multi-dimensions of the poverty in Korea. Using the data of the Korea Welfare Panel Study(the fourth wave), I examine incidences of material hardship across quintiles of the income distributions and the factors that might affect the experience of material hardship among the poor families. Major findings are as follows. Descriptive results show that nearly one-fifth of all families had experienced at least one of the five material hardships in the year. Those in the bottom quintiles and the poor families are more likely to experience material hardship than the other quintiles and non-poor families. But, incidences of the material hardship in the middle income quintiles and low income families are not a few(18 percent and 37 percent). Logistic regression results show that family-consumption related variables, income other economic resources(asset and public assistance), and household's employment status affect the experience of material hardship among the poor families. But, material hardship among the poor families is not significantly related with family income. These results indicate that material hardship measures are the useful indicators to understanding the multi-dimensions of the poverty in Korea. And they suggest that an extensive reform of the public assistance policy is necessary to relieve the material hardships of the poor in Korea.