Earticle

The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of Filipino marriage immigrants’ acculturation stages in regards to their Korean family life culture and to identify the source of the support for each stage, hence to provide information for educational programs that would promote successful acculturation for each stage. The following findings have been obtained through in-depth interviews with 18 female Filipino immigrants to Korea. In a range of obstacles from the Honeymoon Stage to the Confusion stage, the first are the language and the aspects of the food/cooking/ingredients/diet that are different from their own culture. Especially, pregnancy/childbirth is a major change in one’s life and the biggest challenge in the acculturation process. As food and cooking are the first change that the immigrants have to face and get accustomed to in the early stage of their Korean life, the food culture is rather easier for the immigrants to get accustomed to than other parts of Korean life. From the Honeymoon Stage to the Harmony Stage, the immigrants make efforts to help their family in the home, while they look to their future in their children during the Autonomy Stage. Regardless of how long they have been in Korea, from the Honeymoon Stage to the Autonomy Stage, the immigrants have a hard time with the patriarchal environment in Korea due to the bilateral nature of kinship in the Philippines. Secondly, the immigrants receive the most support from their husband, family, and the tutors in Korean culture, while their mothers-in-law are the main source of the support for the Korean diet. At the Confusion Stage, the immigrants start visiting the regional multicultural family support centers and get help from the friends they meet there while depending on the TV for cooking tips. From the Harmony Stage, they may seek a job through the community network with their own effort and their children’s help. In the Autonomy Stage, they are concerned about their children rather than their own parents, and they find their own identity as a Korean and realize that their effort is important

The purpose of this study is to examine the preference for living with adult children of the baby-boomer generation and the elderly based on independent variables such as demographic characteristics, the values of their children and the consciousness for supporting their parents. The National Survey of Korean Families was done by the Ministry of Equality and Family in 2010. Respondents were 664 baby boomers and 628 elderly, and the results are as follows. First, the baby boomers rely heavily on their spouse, whereas the elderly rely heavily on their children. While both groups desire to live with their spouse in their later years, and the elderly rely the most on their children, they are reluctant to live together. This result shows that the elderly have high expectations for financial and emotional support from their children, but in reality, the elderly have lower expectations for living together and they prefer to live alone or with their spouse. Second, the boomers, who for the most part live in big cities, have comparatively high average monthly income and jobs and own a house, consider filial obligation as their own responsibility and yet tend to live independently. The boomers, who have a relatively high education level, consider living with aged parents as the children's obligation and consider their children as the most reliable people in their lives, and thus have high expectations to live together with their children. Third, the elderly, with a spouse, who consider having raised children to be their happiness, while considering providing financial support for the aging parents to be the children's responsibility, at the same time accept that the obligation of support lies on themselves, the government or the society, and thus have lower expectations of living with their children in later years. The elderly, now living with their family, with generous financial plans for their aging years and considering the children's success as their own success, have higher expectations of living together with their children.

This study performed an analysis to determine if an individual can maintain the current consumption, in the case of a single retired elderly person’s household using the accumulated assets. Assets are divided into three types, based on the behavioral economics life cycle hypothesis : financial assets, real assets excepting residential assets, and residential assets, and it is assumed that these assets were used on a step-by-step basis. Also, if the assets were sufficient, the maximum withdrawal amount was calculated. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, the monetary assets were sufficient to cover the cost of living for 2.7 years, 6.4 years by using the real assets of the non-occupied housing, and 26.3 years in the case of residential property. Second, in the case of preferentially using the financial assets, 4.4% of the sample households were able to cover the cost of living. Households that were not able to cover the cost of living used the next-stage assets, real assets of the non-occupied housing. Households that were not able to cover the cost of living by financial assets liquidated the real assets with the exception of residential assets and used these to cover the cost of living. A total of 4.8% of the households were able to maintain the current cost of living through the second stage and 25.5% supplemented their funds by using residential assets. That is to say, 35% of the sample households were able to maintain the current level of living by using their assets.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the baby boomers' perception of and preparation for their successful aging. Seven women and three men were interviewed with the use of an unstructured questionnaire. Their perceptions of their likelihood of future successful aging were not negative, and were influenced by a range of considerations that included health, leisure, finance, volunteer services, family relationships, and elderly life without children's supports. They tried to prepare several kinds of sports, leisure activities, and volunteer services for their elderly life. However, their reasons for preparing these activities varied, and the background of their differences consisted of the family background, personal values, and experiences. Moreover, men and women responded differently to their personal experiences as they related to their elderly life. Women were likely to match their family relationship with their perception and preparation for successful aging, and men were not.

Many leading companies provide family-friendly policies for a good work-family balance and to increase the productivity of their workers. The workers receive such benefits as family leaves or financial support for caring for their dependents. But the employees need much more support than these benefits to properly care for their families. This study examines the role of the companies in the expansion of family-friendly policies to the community. A few companies see community relations—such as investing in community programs—as linked to work-family policies. Accordingly, this study suggests the best practices and alternatives of many companies. This study also examines the role and perspectives of the Family-Friendly Support Center as an organization that can lead the community involvement of the business. This center can promote the company’s collaboration and network of stakeholders.

This study aims to identify the motives of Cambodian marriage immigrants and their spouses in order to determine the factors that are needed for them to experience a successful marriage and a happy family life in Korea. This study’s findings have been achieved through in-depth interviews with 10 married Cambodian female marriage immigrants and nine of the women’s husbands. The following factors play a key role. First, the social environment in Cambodia is generally less developed than it is in Korea. Therefore, the immigrants tend to easily adapt to the advanced culture they encounter in Korea. Second, the patriarchal culture in Korea seems to be changing. Thus, Korean females are more respected now than they have been in the past. The Korean mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law appreciate their daughters-in-law and are trying to be more caring rather than treating them with prejudice that, in the past, had been leveled against foreigners. These factors help the Cambodian immigrants adapt to the Korean culture. Third, multicultural family support centers have become the place where these marriage immigrants learn about Korean culture and socialize with other immigrants. The husbands of these women actively participate in marriage counseling and family counseling, and they are also willing to understand the complexity of a multicultural society and the importance of family.

The aims of this study were to analyze middle-aged households’ financial preparation for retirement. Specifically, this study surveyed the relation between human capital investment for children and the middle-aged households’ financial preparation for retirement and investigated factors influencing financial preparation for retirement. Data were obtained from the 3rd Korean Retirement and Income Study (KReIS) in 2009, and a sample of 757 households was selected. The statistical methods were frequency, percentile, mean, standard deviation, χ2, t-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and logistic regression analysis. The findings of this study are as follows. First, the percentile of preparation for living costs for old age was 49.9% for the middle-aged households. In terms of the types of preparation for living costs for old age, the results showed 61.6% of personal preparation, 33.9% of pension system, and 1.3% for children and relatives. In relation to the adequacy of the preparations for living costs for old age, preparations made by 57.4% of the middle-aged households were inadequate. Observing the minimum living costs for old age and adequate living costs after retirement for single and couple, the minimum living costs of the middle-aged households was 1.46 million won for couple and 0.91 million won for single. The adequate living costs for old age was 2.07 million won for couple and 1.34 million won for single. Second, there were 757 households with total education expenditure. Of these, 208 incurred annual expenditure on public education, and the annual expenditure for public education was 7.28 million won. There were 170 households with annual expenditure for private education, and the annual expenditure for private education was 2.50 million won. 243 households of middle-aged households had annual expenditure for human capital investment, including both public and private education, with annual expenditure for human capital investment for children of 7.82 million won. Furthermore, in the human capital investment factor, there was a difference in the middle-aged households’ financial preparation for retirement according to their annual expenditure for human capital investment including both public and private education. In addition, there was a difference in financial preparation for retirement based on their public education expenditure. Third, in the logistic regression model 1, which included human capital investment, the significant variables affecting the preparation for retirement of the middle-aged households were as follows : annual household income, total amount of annual household income, experience of inadequate living costs, existence of financial assets, total amount of annual household savings, financial independence, adequate living costs (for single) for old age, and human capital investment. In the logistic regression model 2, which included annual expenditure for public education and annual expenditure for private education, the significant variables affecting the preparation for retirement of the middle-aged households were as follows : annual household income, total amount of annual household income, experience of inadequate living costs, existence of financial assets, total amount of annual household savings, financial independence, adequate living costs (for single) for old age, and annual expenditure for public education.

This study investigated the educational culture experienced by married immigrant women in their own country, as well as their internalizing process of the educational culture in Korea, using a qualitative case study. The purpose of this study was to help married immigrant women solve the problem of acculturation based on their own educational and cultural experiences and to overcome limitations of previous studies, which dealt with the problem of acculturation superficially. Participants were 17 married immigrant women from eight countries who resided in Jeonnam and Jeonbuk provinces. They were selected by the sampling strategy of maximum variation. Data were collected through archives and in-depth interviews and analyzed using within-case analysis and cross-case analysis. The results showed that married immigrant women had no experience of attending private institutions and had good memories of their school life. Based on these kinds of experiences, they criticized Korean mothers who urged their children to attend private institutions. They respected their children’s opinions and allowed their children to select private institutions. Despite married immigrant women apparently suffering from acculturation, they educate their children according to their own philosophy and method of education. That is, they solve the problem of acculturation actively and independently. Consequently, in order to help married immigrant women solve the problem of acculturation, it is necessary to respect the difference in the cultures and frame a system that develops the activity and subjectivity of married immigrant women.

This study focuses on immigrant women who are married to Korean men and who live in a multicultural family situation in Gyeonggi-do. These women experience acculturative stress and marital conflict and this study aims to determine how social support seeks to mediate the effects of those stressors. The women in this study participated in activities and received services from one of Gyeonggi-do Province’s civic organizations, religious organizations, or social service organizations, such as the Social Welfare Agency and the Multicultural Family Support Center. In order to verify the study’s hypothesis, the researchers used the following statistical analytical methods : t-test, two-way ANOVA and multi-regression analysis. Analysis of the study’s results showed that the highest degree of marital conflict was found in the sub-zones and variables that were personal. Those variable were : the difference in mindset and values (personal domain), economic problems (communal living area), a child’s upbringing and education issues (third party area), and the participant’s sex life (in the marital relationship). The hypothesis was tested using the research model validation and the results are summarized as follows. First, in order to analyze the relationship between the marriage migration females’ acculturative stress and the impact of that stress on marriage conflict, the hierarchical regression analysis was used. It identified that a direct correlation existed between acculturative stress and marriage conflict; where a higher degree of acculturative stress was present, a higher degree of marriage conflict was found. Second, the study found a statistical significance in the correlation and relationship (β=.208, p<0.05) between the acculturative stress of the marriage migration female and material support. In other words, the material support can be seen as having a moderating effect on the acculturative stress, which is the independent variable, and the marital conflict, which is the dependent variable.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leisure time and time pressure based on time availability perspective and gender perspective. For this purpose, this study examined the use of leisure time and the level of time pressure according to gender and gender role attitudes and investigated the relationship between leisure time and time pressure focusing on gender differences in the moderating effect of gender role attitudes. The sample for the study was drawn from the Time Use Survey data collected by Korean National Statistical Office in 2009. Two cases were gathered from each of the samples who are married, aged over 20, presently working and raising preschoolers, which makes 3,150 cases in the total. The major findings are as follows. First, the differences of leisure time between groups according to gender role attitude are not significant, but gender differences are significant. Men's leisure time is more than women's leisure time. Secondly, people with progressive gender role attitudes have higher time pressure than people with conservative gender role attitudes. By the gender groups, women's time pressure is higher than men's time pressure. Thirdly, men's time pressure is decreasing as leisure time increases, but effect of leisure time on women's time pressure is not significant. Women with progressive gender role attitudes have higher time pressure than women with conservative gender role attitudes. On the other hand, influence of gender role attitudes on men's time pressure is not significant. Fourthly, only male group has a significant moderating effect of gender role attitudes in the relationship between leisure time and time pressure. In other words, time pressure of men with conservative gender role attitudes is decreasing more sharply than men with progressive gender role attitudes as leisure time increases. In contrast, increased leisure time does not relieve women's time pressure even though they have conservative gender role attitudes. These results show that men's time pressure can be interpreted in the time availability perspective, while women's time pressure can be described in gender perspective.

This descriptive study about a community center for elderly users identifies factors influencing economic dependency. The objective of this study is to find factors that contribute to increased economic dependency and to provide basic data for preventing conflict between caregivers and elderly dependents. The subjects are 204 elderly persons who are community-center users in SongPa-Gu. Thirteen dongs (administrative areas) were chosen randomly in a cluster sample from among 26 dongs in Soungpagu containing a total of 158 community centers for the elderly. I obtained informed consents for my research from all subjects, and collected data by conducting interviews from June 28th, 2011 to August 7th, 2011. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Duncan test and multi regression analysis. The mean economic dependency score was 3.23, meaning that subjects with this score are dependent at a level that is “over intermediate”. The level of formal education, homeownership, financial assistance from family and the number of families, financial assistance to the family and the number of families, economic life satisfaction, self efficacy and social support