• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.611-632
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• 2016

Solutions for elderly health issues need to be found that take into account not only a medical perspective, but also interactions with social conditions such as socioeconomic status. With this in mind, this study aims to understand how socioeconomic status leads to health inequalities for the elderly. Specifically, this study investigates the mediating effects of socioeconomic status(income and education levels), health activities as an intermediary of the three dimensions of physical health(medical health, functional health, subjective health), accessibility of medical facilities, social participation, and social network. To test the research model, a secondary data analysis was conducted on the 2014 National Survey of Senior Citizens. The participants of the study were 10,451 elderly men and women aged 65 and above. To test the mediated model, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted following the procedures suggested by Baron and Kenny(1986). In addition, a Sobel test was conducted to test the mediated model's significance. According to the analysis, the effects of income and educational levels on the health of the elderly were not the same. Additionally, different results were found depending on health dimensions. However, the overall direction of the results showed that the socioeconomic status of the elderly creates health disparities, and health behaviors, accessibility of medical facilities, social participation, and social network had significant mediation effects between socioeconomic status and physical health. Study findings especially worth noting are as follows: education was shown to have a stronger effect on health than income; effects of social integration factors such as social participation were highlighted; and significant mediating effects on the accessibility of medical facilities remained even after taking residential area into account. Results of this study shed light on health inequality mechanisms due to socioeconomic conditions and the need to find alternatives to alleviate these problems.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.342-342
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• 2005

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.165-165
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• 2008

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.371-378
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of childhood obesity, the association between the undesirable lifestyles and socioeconomic factors, the association between childhood obesity and various risk factors, including socioeconomic factors, and the agreement between the body mass index (BMI) classification and the body fat percentage. Methods: The study subjects were all the 5th grade students from all the elementary schools in Gunpo City, Kyunggi Province, South Korea (4043 children at 22 schools). The subjects were measured for their height, weight and percent body fat etc. and they were also surveyed by questionnaire from March 18th to April 25th, 2005. To determine whether the children were within normal limits or not, standardized BMIs for each age group were used. The data was analyzed by logistic regression analysis using SAS 9.0 version. Results: The prevalence of childhood obesity prevalence was 25.1 %. Boys had a higher prevalence of obesity (27.5%) than did the girls (22.5%). Children had tendencies of having undesirable lifestyles and getting obese if they had a lower socioeconomic status. The risk factors for childhood obesity were low paternal education (OR: 1.17, 95% CI : 0.97-1.42) and non-parental caregivers (OR: 1.34, 95% CI : 0.98-1.82). Other risk factors for childhood obesity were a high birth-weight, longer TV/computer-using time, a lower fruit-eating frequency, short sleeping hours and parental obesity. The agreement rate between the BMI classification and the body fat percentage was 93.1 %. Conclusions: This study showed the children had a higher prevalence of obesity: further, not only individual lifestyles, but also socioeconomic factors could influence childhood obesity. Childhood obesity was especially more problematic for children with a low socioeconomic status.

• Proceedings of the Population Association of Korea Conference
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• 2006.12a
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• pp.59-87
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• 2006

This paper explores the effects of the 1997 economic crisis on the pattern of socioeconomic differentials in fertility. Based on analysis of data from the 2003 Korea National Fertility Survey, this study focuses on recent changes in the level of fertility according to socioeconomic status of the couple including educational level, occupation, working status, income, etc. Results reveal that the level of fertility of those with the highest education, most prestigious occupation, and employer status are higher than those of the next group in the socioeconomic hierarchy. These findings imply that the straight line inverse pattern of socioeconomic differentials in CEB yielded to a reversed J-shaped curve. However, recent differentials of fertility after the economic crisis were found to contrast with the pattern above. Decrease in fertility has been most drastic among those with a high level of fertility, and relatively slow for those with a low level of fertility. The level of recent fertility turns out to be highest among those with upper-middle socioeconomic status, followed by those with the highest socioeconomic status and those with the lowest status. Policy implications and some comments on current population policies of the Korean government are also presented in this paper.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2006

Objectives : This study was conducted to examine the relationships of the several socioeconomic position indicators with the mortality risk in a representative longitudinal study of South Korea. Methods : The 1998 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was conducted on a cross-sectional probability sample of South Korean households, and it contained unique 13-digit personal identification numbers that were linked to the data on mortality from the National Statistical Office of Korea. Of 5,607 males and females, 264 died between 1999 and 2003. Cox's regression was used to estimate the relative risks (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) of mortality. Results: Socioeconomic differences in mortality were observed after adjustments were made for gender and age. Compared with those people having college or higher education, those people without any formal education had a greater mortality risk (RR=2.21, 95% CI=1.12-4.40). The mortality risk among manual workers was significantly greater than that for the non-manual workers (RR=2.73, 95% CI=1.47-5.06). A non-standard employment status was also associated with an increase in mortality: temporary or daily workers had a greater mortality risk than did the full-time workers (RR=3.01, 95% CI=1.50-6.03). The mortality risk for the low occupational class was 3.06 times greater than that of the high and middle occupational classes (95% CI=1.75-5.36). In addition, graded mortality differences according to equivalized monthly household income were found. A reduction of monthly household income by 500 thousand Korean Won (about 400 US dollars) was related with a 20% excess risk of mortality. Self-reported poor living standards were also associated with an increased risk of mortality. Those without health insurance had a 3.63 times greater risk of mortality than the insured (95% CI=1.61-8.19). Conclusions: This study showed the socioeconomic differentials in mortality in a national longitudinal study of South Korea. The existence of socioeconomic mortality inequalities requires increased social discussion on social policies in Korean society. Furthermore, the mechanisms for the socioeconomic inequalities of mortality need to be explored in future studies.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.139-165
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• 2021

In this study, we focused on the socio-structural factors that cause ageism, investigating whether the influence of the resource scarcity on ageism in the younger generation depends on socioeconomic status. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an online study of 219 adults in their 20s and 30s. Specifically, participants were randomly assigned to either the resource scarcity priming condition or the control condition, and completed a writing task. After this, participants responded to ageism and socioeconomic status items. As a result, the effect of resource scarcity on ageism was not significant. However, we found that socioeconomic status moderated the impact of resource scarcity on ageism. In other words, resource scarcity priming has been shown to significantly reduce ageism for individuals who have relatively lower socioeconomic status. This finding is in line with previous studies in which people of low socioeconomic status were found to be more sympathetic to socially disadvantaged individuals suffering deleterious situations such as resource scarcity. This work is significant in that we have looked at both the situational and personal factors influencing ageism, and in that we have attempted to examine the causal influence of resource scarcity on ageism through an experimental approach. However, since the alternative explanation of the findings has not been completely excluded, replication through further studies will be necessary.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2005

Data were collected from 310 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students and parents by questionnaires and analyzed by t-test and multiple regression analysis. The higher parents attachment and parents monitoring, the higher prosocial behavior towards parents and siblings, the higher perspective-taking, the higher prosocial behavior towards parents, and the higher socioeconomic status, the higher prosocial behavior towards siblings. More prosocial behavior toward parents was reported by girls than by boys. Prosocial behavior toward siblings did not show a gender difference. In the total group, high parent attachment and perspective-taking predicted prosocial behavior towards parents; high parent attachment and socioeconomic status predicted prosocial behavior towards siblings. In the boy group, high parent attachment and perspective-taking predicted prosocial behavior towards parents; high socioeconomic status predicted prosocial behavior towards siblings. In the girl group, high parent attachment predicted prosocial behavior towards parents and high parent attachment and socioeconomic status predicted prosocial behavior towards siblings. Discussion focused on the relative importance of parents attachment, perspective-taking, and socioeconomic status in predicting early adolescents' prosocial behavior.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2024

Background: Korea's recent suicide problem has been the most serious in the world. This study was conducted to identify factors related to suicidal ideation of Korean adults and to identify the association with socioeconomic deprivation. Methods: The 17th Korea Welfare Panel Study (2022) raw data was used, and 10,065 adults aged 20 years or older who responded to all major questions were selected as subjects for the study. SAS ver. 9.4 program (SAS Institute Inc., USA) was used for data analysis. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the association between socioeconomic deprivation and suicidal ideation. Stratified analysis was performed to confirm the difference by subjective health status and gender. Results: For every 1 unit increased in socioeconomic deprivation, suicidal ideation increased 1.5 times (odds ratio [OR], 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37-1.61). People with good subjective health status showed 1.3 times higher suicidal ideation (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.12-1.52) for each unit increased in socioeconomic deprivation, and those with poor subjective health status showed 1.6 times higher (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.43-1.75). Conclusion: As socioeconomic deprivation increased, suicidal ideation increased. Therefore, policy measures should be prepared to improve the level of more multidimensional deprivation and subjective health status in order to lower the suicide rate of Korean adults.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1865-1871
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• 2015

While health information-seeking behavior as an indicator of health communication of patients including cancer survivors has been researched, few studies have focused on how socioeconomic position and media use combine to influence health-related information seekers. This study examined social characteristics of health information-seeking behavior taking into account an individual's socioeconomic position and their media use in Korea, a developed country. The data for this study came from a survey of 1,010 respondents drawn from a nationally representative sample in the Republic of Korea. We conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses for gender-specific effects. We found that men who reported high household income were one and half times more likely to seek health information than those with low income status. We also found that women who performed Internet searches by computer at home were almost two times more likely to seek health information than those who did not. Similar results were found for men as well. Our analyses revealed that socioeconomic position and media use are associated with health information-seeking behavior by gender. Studies on information seekers may bring us more effective health promotion and relevant intervention for people with chronic conditions including cancer survivors.