• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.965-972
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• 2017

Assessment of vulnerability of water use to climate change include a variety of climate change scenarios. However, in most future vulnerability studies, only the climate change scenarios are used and not the future scenarios of social and economic indicators. Therefore, in this study, we applied the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change scenario and Shared Socioeconomic reference Pathway (SSP) developed by IPCC to reflect the future. We selected indicators for estimating the vulnerability of water use, and indices were integrated with a multi-criteria decision making approach - Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The indicator data utilized national statistics and reports, social and economic scenarios, and simulated results from the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model which reflects climate change scenario. Finally, we derived the rankings of water use vulnerability for the short-term future (2020) and mid-term future (2050) within the Han River watershed. Generally, considering climate change alone and considering climate change plus social and economic changes showed a similar spatial distribution. In the future scenarios, the watershed rankings were similar, but showed differences with SSP scenario in some watersheds. Therefore, considering social and economic changes is expected to contribute to more effective responses to climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1531-1538
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• 2014

The causes of cancer are diverse, complex, and only partially understood. Many factors including health behaviors, socioeconomic environments and geographical locations can directly damage genes or combine with existing genetic faults within cells to cause cancerous mutations. Collecting the cancer data and reporting the statistics, therefore, are important to help identify health trends and establish normal health changes in geographical areas. In this article, we analyzed cancer data and demon-strated how spatial patterns of the age-standardized rate and health indicators can be examined visually and simultaneously using linked micromap plots. As a result of data analysis, the age-standardized rate has positive correlativity with thyroid and breast cancer, but the rate has negative correlativity with smoking and drinking. In addition, the regions with high age-standardized rate are located in southwest and the areas of high population density while the standardized mortality ratio is higher in southwest and northeast where there are lots of rural areas.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors of importance in the medical field from the perspective of the consumer, using "Consumption Life Indicators in Korea." Methods: We examined the general characteristics, economic conditions, information acquisition, complaint-provoking experiences, cognitive score on dispute resolution, and factors affecting medical domain importance selection, using SAS 9.4. software. Results: It was found that "age" among general characteristics and "income" among economic conditions were important factors in selecting medical domain importance. Thus, it was possible to reaffirm the poor health of socioeconomically vulnerable people and their socioeconomic difficulties. Conclusions: The medical domain selection group needs the attention of the government, medical institutions, academia, consumer groups, community service groups and professional organizations, and needs substantial economic support and customized education.

• 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.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 1988

The subjects used in this study were chosen from self-employed women in Taegu City, Korea, Data for 415 respondents were collected by face-to-face interviews conducted during the period of November 10 through 23, 1987. There are three major purposes in this study : first, to describe the general characteristics of self-employed Korean women's fertility behavior ; second, to examine the determinants of fertility behavior among self-employed women : third, to explore the relative importance of the fertility determinants among the women. Regression analyses were introduced to test hypotheses. Nine variables, such as household income, educational attainment, mass media, abortion, the period of contraception practice, contraceptive expenses, the number of infant, deaths marital period, and age at first marriage were introduced as indicators in the regression. The results of this study show that there are negative relationships between the dependent variable of fertility and abortion, and the period of contraception practice. On the other hand, positive relationships between the dependent variable of fertility and the number of infant deaths, and marital period and age at first marriage are shown in this study. However, the results of this study show that there are insignificant relationships between socioeconomic variables and fertility. From the results of the F test to evaluate the significance of difference in $R^2$between two different regression equations, we have found that the regression equation including both socioeconomic variables and intermediate variables is misspecified to examine the determinants of fertility behavior among self-employed Korean women. That is, the F test shows that the regression equation including only intermediate variables as indicators is the best model for this study. Finally, the relative importance of the fertility determinants among self-employed women is found as follows : Age at the first marriage is the most influential variable in the fertility, and the next important factors are abortion, the period of contraception practice, the number of infant deaths, and marital period, in that order.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.68-80
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• 2021

Purpose: In this study, potential demographic, social, and economic factors causing tuberculosis were identified, and eight cities in South Chungcheong Province were compared and analyzed with the IPA method. Method: The factors potentially affecting the prevalence of tuberculosis were categorized demographically, socially, and economically, and selected through brainstorming. Furthermore, potential factors affecting tuberculosis were derived using the revised IPA. Based on this analysis, areas with a potential risk of tuberculosis were classified, and the following policy implications were suggested. Result: The analysis found the three cities of Nonsan, Boryeong, and Gongju to have the highest potential risk of tuberculosis, and the frequency of potential risk factors in the above three cities to be 6 or more. Thus, an urgent policy response to prevent tuberculosis in these regions is required. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it is necessary to take potential risk factors into account when promoting tuberculosis prevention policies and projects in South Chungcheong Province.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.245-256
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• 2021

Background and objective: The vitalization of urban agriculture has increased various forms of experience-based education using school gardens, which raised the importance of school gardens in terms of value as well as the need to develop an implementation system for education-based agricultural experience service using school gardens. Thus, we reset the evaluation indicators from the previous study to establish objective evaluation indicators that enable quantitative comparison of school garden education services. Methods: Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and direct question (DQ) surveys were conducted on 20 experts from October 12 to 19, 2020 after establishing the purpose and subjects of evaluation, and then the weights were calculated using the Expert Choice 2010 program. Results: First, we analyzed the problems of the previous indicators by categorizing the performance indicators and comparing and verifying them with six requirements of valuation. Then, we added 'welfare values' and established sub-indicators accordingly. The importance of value indicator in AHP was in the order of education values (0.544), health values (0.182), welfare values (0.164), environmental values (0.062), and economic values (0.049). The importance of environmental and economic values was relatively low, less than 0.1. The importance of sub-indicators was highest in cultivating character (0.144), followed by enhancing ecological sensitivity (0.141) > promoting mental health (0.134) > cultivating agricultural literacy (0.120) > improving social skills (0.104). And mitigating climate change in environmental values was lowest (0.009). Increase in income was the lowest (0.036). This can be regarded as the expression of change to increase the educational effect based on collective life and the connotative meaning of 'school'. In the case of DQ, the AHP weight and order were the same, but the environmental and economic values were relatively low, and the result was different from AHP weight. For sub-indicators, the importance in DQ was highest in promoting mental health (0.136), followed by promoting physical health (0.085), ]cultivating character (0.082), social integration (0.072), and enhancing ecological sensitivity (0.071). After reviewing related experts, we came up with 5 evaluation indicators and 16 sub-indicators for school garden education service, which are objective evaluation indicators that enable quantitative comparison. Conclusion: In the future, we will validate the socioeconomic values of school garden education services and contribute to revitalizing school gardens by establishing policy alternatives for effective operation and management of school gardens.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.131-149
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• 2012

This study examined the effect of parental socioeconomic position on the association between birth outcomes and infant mortality in early and late 2000's. Linked Birth and Infant Death data sets from 2001 to 2003 (T1) and from 2006 to 2008 (T2), provided by the Korea National Statistical Office, were used for analysis. Birth outcomes were categorized into four groups: normal term, small-for-gestational age (SGA), large-for-gestational age (LGA) and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Infant death was defined as the death of a live-born child under one year of age; indicators of parental socioeconomic position were limited to parental education and occupation. The results showed that T2 infant mortality hazard ratios of SGA and IUGR have increased compared to T1. Particularly, preterm and low birth weight babies with shorter gestational age and lighter birth weight than T1 have elevated in T2, possibly indicating that population quality might be continuously aggravated. Moreover, the effect of maternal age on infant mortality has disappeared, rather that of parents' socioeconomic position has increased during the periods, which entailed growing disparities in infant mortality by their social class. Further studies should be therefore done to estimate the effect of parental socioeconomic position on the relationship between birth outcomes and infant mortality in the near future.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.429-440
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• 2021

Objectives: Standardized guidelines and reference points for a food security policy are necessary to guarantee that basic social safety nets work properly. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the basic concepts and detailed dimensions of food security, including the potential relevant indicators, and sought to establish standardized well-being baselines. Methods: A literature review and 14 expert roundtable discussions were carried out to analyze and extract the key concepts of food security. After determining these concepts and detailed dimensions of food security, a conceptual framework was modeled. Then, indicators for each local government that could be monitored and evaluated for each sub-area were suggested. Results: The concept of food security was defined as follows: Individuals should be provided with sufficient, safe, and quality food, which should be accessible to the community and available for use to achieve health and well-being. In addition, food security should be ensured sustainably in a changing environment. Four dimensions were suggested while conceptualizing food security. First, sufficient food, which means sufficient food supply in quantity, quality, and safety. Second, equitable food which includes creating environments in which high-quality and safe food can be purchased at an appropriate price and can be provided regardless of the socioeconomic gap. Third, healthy food which should be provided to promote people's health and happiness through the eco-friendly consumption of food. Fourth, sustainable food, which can be supplied in a sustainable manner and as part of an eco-friendly food system that considers the conservation of natural environments. Conclusions: The basic concepts and detailed areas of food security including the potential indicators proposed in this study, may be useful for developing and implementing various policies and programs to support food and nutrition security in the future.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.101-130
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• 2018

Social class has become a major focus of research in the field of Western psychology due to its critical impact on human life. The Korean scholarship in psychology, however, has paid very little attention to the issue of social class despite the deepening of social stratification in the country; and the concepts and measurement they used were typically borrowed from sociology. In this study, I discussed what social class means and how it should be measured in order to emphasize the importance of the concept and its related issues. To this end, I examined a variety of theoretical backgrounds on the measurement of social class and the concept of socioeconomic status (SES)-a term commonly used as a synonym for social class. This study divided the method of measuring social class into objective social class and subjective social class, and outlined the characteristics of each approach and their main indicators. Finally, I assessed the recent trend in the Korean psychology on social class measurement. Among the 23 studies I have found, 65.2% used the objective social class index; and education was the objective indicator they most frequently employed, followed by income and occupation. Social stratification identity was used in all seven studies that applied subjective social class. And seven different words to describe social class was found. Based on these results, I concluded that there should be a call for more direct research on social class variables. In addition, I suggest that 'social class', instead of socioeconomic status, should be used as a preferred term in the future studies and propose a few notes on how to use the objective indicators and subjective social class measurement.