• Human Ecology Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.113-125
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• 2021

Previous research on the association between marriage and life satisfaction is limited due to the lack of attempts to investigate the time profiles of life satisfaction around marriage. This study addresses unresolved questions about the positive association between marriage and life satisfaction as well as tests if it is moderated by childhood parental divorce. Using 14 waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study(N=3,890 individuals or 25,338 person-year observations), the author first used an ordinary least squares model with clustered standard errors and found that married people reported higher life satisfaction before marriage, compared to people who remained single during the survey. This result supports a social selection perspective. Next, the author used a fixed effects regression model and found that the transition into marriage was associated with an initial rise and subsequent decline in life satisfaction. Life satisfaction increased after reaching its lowest level in the third year of marriage. Life satisfaction after the transition into marriage was significantly higher than that observed three or more years prior to marriage. The result supports a social causation perspective. Such changing patterns were not moderated by parental divorce during childhood. This study advances the current literature on marriage and life satisfaction by using a nationally representative longitudinal data set as well as by testing social selection and causation perspectives.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.159-184
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• 2012

This study purports to analyze how individuals' labor market integration affect their transition to marriage. In doing so, I construct variables for job stability and continuity to represent labor market integration using labor force status and years of participation at the time of marriage and during the three years up to the point of marriage. In particular, I focus on differential effects of these labor market integration on the transition to marriage by cohorts: one for those who are likely to enter the labor market after the 1997 financial crisis and the other for those who are before the 1997 financial crisis. I used the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study and analyzed individuals aged above 18 in 2008. The main results are as follows. being currently employed and regular employment increases hazards of the first marriage for men but decreases them for women. long-term no-jobs decreases hazards of marriage for both women and men. long-term regular employment increases hazards of marriage for women but not for men at the statistically significant level. These effects vary by cohorts implying that recent economic and labor market instability deteriorated economic conditions for the youth making transitions to marriage.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-145
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• 2017

Objectives: Grounded in a life-course perspective, this study examined the effects of non-coresident children's transitions to marriage and parenthood on the frequency of contact with their parents. Gender of adult children and the educational levels of both adult children and their parents were evaluated as potential moderators of the transition-contact linkages. Method: The analytic sample consisted of adult children aged between 20 and 50 whose parents participated in four waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012). For analysis, fixed effects regression models were estimated using the xtreg procedure in Stata. Results: First, transition to marriage was associated with a decrease in face-to-face contact, whereas a greater increase in contact with parents via phone, mail, email etc. occurred only among newly married with less than college education compared to the newlywed with college degrees. Second, transition to parenthood was associated with an increase in contact via phone, mail, email etc. In addition, a greater increase in face-to-face contact was found with parents who completed high school or more education compared to those with less than high school education. Conclusions: The findings suggest that adult children's transitions to marriage and parenthood may bring about increases in contact with their parents, particularly for adult children with less than college education and parents with more than high school education.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.180-194
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• 2016

The local identity of a female marriage migrant is not fixed to certain boundary or location, but rather comprised flexibly according to geographical movement or new settlement to different place. This research focuses on the local identity and life change of female marriage migrants that are constituted/reconstituted according to spatial transition, or migration. The analysis was conducted to find out traits of changes in the periods of migration and settlement based on the following categorization: multiculturalism and bicultural identity, assimilation and host country identity, exclusion and origin country identity, marginalization and marginal identity. The results are as follows; while having identical experience in terms of a migration, the local identities of marriage migrant women differed according to individual/regional characteristics as well as their respective roles within those traits. In addition, most of females showed passivity in maintaining and exposing their cultural identities of original states. Moreover the life satisfaction change of female marriage migrant that is type of assililation and host country identity is appeared more than others. through this assimilation and accommodation mean adaptation to female marriage migrant lived in Korea. However the intercultural competences of both marriage migrant woman and children in multicultural families facilitate the connection among different cultures. Based on these outcomes, with the transition to multicultural society and space, this research proposes the necessity of fostering global citizenship for mutual recognition of each culture, thus enabling coexistence.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.139-164
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• 2009

The first demographic transition refers to the historical decline in mortality and fertility, as shown from the 18th Century in several European populations, and continuing present in most developing countries. The end point of the first demographic transition(FDT) was supposed to be a stationary and stable population corresponding with replacement fertility and zero population growth. In addition, households in all parts of the world would converge toward the nuclear and conjugal types, composed of married couples and their offspring. The second demographic transition(SDT), on the other hand, sees no such equilibrium as the end-point. Rather, new developments bring sub-replacement fertility, a multitude of living arrangements other than marriage, and the disconnection between marriage and procreation. Populations would face declining sizes if not complemented by new migrants. Over the last decades birth rates have been on the decline in all countries of the world, and it is estimated that already more than half of he world's population has below replacement level fertility. Measured in terms of the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), currently 34 countries have fertility levels of 1.5 or less. Similarly, Korea has been below lowest-low fertility for eight consecutive years since 2001 and below the replacement level for more than twenty years. In explaining the low fertility in Korea, some researchers explain the low fertility as revenge against a male-dominated society and institution, while others focus the impact of the employment instability. These studies share the basic ideas (spread of individualism, delayed marriage and childbearing, high divorce rate etc.) of a second demographic transition in order to explain the low fertility in Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.188-195
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• 2022

Purpose: With the first generation of marriage-based immigrant women in East Asia now reaching their middle or old age, the need to focus investigations on their health-related quality of life has arisen. This study aimed to examine the extent to which physical and mental health, and psychosocial variables can predict health-related quality of life among Japanese middle-aged immigrant women. Methods: This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 197 Japanese middle-aged marriage-based immigrant women from two regions of South Korea were recruited between December 2017 and March 2018. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires on health-related quality of life, menopausal symptoms, depression, perceived health status, disease morbidity, social support, and acculturation. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Results: Depression was the strongest predictor of health-related quality of life, followed by perceived health status, social support, and household income. Menopausal symptoms, presence of disease, and acculturation appeared to have no additional impact on participant's health-related quality of life. Conclusion: In times of rapid growth of global migration and the aging of immigrants in new destination countries, nursing interventions and public health policies for aging marriage-based immigrant women should be prioritized to improve their mental health by facilitating social support and disease management. In addition, social and employment policies that can help immigrant women transition to a healthy midlife are needed.

• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.77-98
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• 2016

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore perceived meanings of dating and marriage among well-educated Korean couples who were in optimal marriageable ages. Particularly, an emphasis was placed on finding out where the traditional gender norms and post-modern contexts intersect on the couples' course of dating and marriage. Method: We undertook a qualitative analysis of 8 couples (age: 26-34) dating. Participants were limited to university graduates of upper-middle rank universities in Seoul, South Korea. The rationale for choosing such sample was based on the idea that characteristics of class is inherent in the act of dating and marriage, and that such characteristics lead to different contextual experiences in dating and marriage. This study was based on interviews conducted over a three-month time span. The interviews were first transcribed into research text and then subjects and key categories were drawn from the transcripts for analysis. Results: Participants sought meanings of joy, learning, and self-improvement in dating, and they were free from traditional gender norms in their romantic relationships. They viewed marriage as having a permanent companionship with their partner, becoming independent from their parents, and/or a social norm to be followed. Participants reported mixed perceptions about marriage in such fashion that they described their parents' relationship in terms of a gendered leader-supporter relationship, while viewing their own relationship as being genderless partners. In transition to parenthood, however, they regressed to traditional gender norms dichotomized as women being a homemaker and men being a breadwinner. In sum, participants displayed expectations that were inconsistent with regard to dating and marriage over the study period. That is, during the course of dating and early marriage, they did not hold separated gender norms; however, when transitioning from being a newly married couple to giving their first childbirth, expectations shifted to traditional gender norms and values. Conclusion: This suggests that it is not marriage, but the experience of childbirth and motherhood, which strengthen traditional gendered norms, engendering regeneration of the gender norms in families. The results indicate that there is a need to promote co-parenting behavior among the newly-married couples and to educate gender equality about parent roles or for parents in South Korea so that they can overcome traditional gendered norms in family.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.51-75
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• 2016

This study focuses on the life experience of married women in their 30s to 40s who have experienced parental divorce. For a comprehensive understanding towards the women, this study takes a life history research approach. The participants of this research are 8 women who have experienced parental divorce and are now married with children. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews and were analyzed through the spiral of analysis, following the process of Wolcott's "description, analysis, and interpretation." The results of this study are as follows. First, participants experienced emotions such as fear, anger, and lack of affection. Second, parenting attitude and parental divorce had negative effects on the participants' formation and development of self concept and in turn, participants experienced anxiety and withdrawal from interpersonal relationships. Some had difficulties in concentrating on their schoolwork, which was caused by psychological effects from their instable home environments and some were negligent at school due to their parents' indifference or as an act of rebellion towards them. Third, although participants displayed interest towards the opposite sex, fear towards the opposite sex or unrealistic expectations led to difficulties in forming relationships. Participants also confessed that although they married so that they could escape their original family and form a new happy one, they experienced a rocky start at the beginning of their marriage. Fourth, parental divorce had a lifelong impact on children. Even after the children became adults, parental divorce affected each key stage of transition in life such as dating, choosing one's spouse, marriage, and child rearing. Fifth, participants displayed a strong attachment to life under the assumption that only they themselves can be depended on. This led to their strong commitments to a successful marriage without the possibility of divorce. In conclusion, parental divorce is not a transitory or incidental event. Rather, it becomes a part of the children's lives with lifelong implications.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.3-42
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• 1983

The purposes of this paper is to introduce a technique for construction of nuptiality tables using proportion single of synthetic cohorts between times at two consecutive censuses, and to observe patterns of change in marriage habit of Korean through the nuptiality tables for single population from 1925 to 1980. In this paper abridged gross and net nuptiality tables for single population of Korea have been constructed for the four quinquinial period: 1925-1930, 1955-1960, 1970-1975, and 1975-1980. Significant time trend has been observed in the nuptiality rates among the single population. The major findings observed in each table are as follows; (1)During 1925-1930, the rates are initially small, but increase rapidly until they reach a maximum at ages 25-29 for bachelors and 20-24 for spinsters, following which they are still in high level. (2)During 1955-1960, the age pattern of nuptiality begins to change; for female population, the rates increase rapidly in the same pattern as in l925-l930 untill they reach the highest level at ages 25-29, after which they gradually decline. During the period, however, there were an unprecedented high level of marriage rates for male population at a relatively later ages. (3)During 1970-1975, Korea had experienced a transition in marriage habits; at this times, nuptiality rates for both sexes showed the same pyramid shaped patterns as in western countries as age increases. The mean ages at marriage for both sexes also reached the highest level of 27.5 years for males and 24.1 years for females. (4)During 1975-1980, the age patterns of nuptiality showed almost the same patterns as in 1970-1975. In the later age group, however, age-specific marriage rates for both sexes greatly declined compared to the level of 1970-1975, while the rate in age group of 20-24 for male population greatly increased.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2009

This research examines, based on nursing's point of view, the current status and problems of the healthcare-related multi-cultural policy which is one of the major issues of contemporary Korea. Today, Korean society is facing a drastic increase of migrant workers and marriage for migration in Korea that leads to the transition to multiculturalism. Each field of society is providing prevalent supports to solve the problems of multicultural families and to promote adoption to Korean society. The activities and researches for multicultural families in nursing area were found and analyzed. 11 researches and 2 books were published. Among these 13 publications, 10 were on the marriage with immigrant women. 8 researches out of 11 (72.7%) were defined as the descriptive surveys, and 3 researches (27.3%) were defined as quasi-experimental studies. Although Korea Nurses Association (KNA) led various activities, more researches and activities by nurses and nursing scholars are required to contribute in improving the health of multicultural families.