여성의 잘 나이들기 한국 여성노인의 잘 나이들기 성숙한 노화 개념의 탐색 = Search for Aging Well in the Korean Elderly Woman Moving toward Matured Aging

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examined the matured aging as an alternative concept of successful aging to guide aging well for the elderly woman in Korean culture. As Korea is going to aged society very fast, it is expected that aged women will take numerical superiority to aged men in over 65 years old people. Longevity is a bright side of aged society, but the dark side of it is rapid raise of social burden for young generations to take. We reviewed a variety of changes as we age and several theoretical models for successful aging constructed in Western cultures in section 3. Then we discussed the implications of cultural differences based on the comparisons of components and influential factors of successful aging through 79 researches done in western and Korean cultures. In section 4, we present three possible concepts of aging well for Korean elderly woman: happy aging, positive aging and matured aging. For happy aging, warm and intimate human relationships is more important. In positive aging focused on growing and development as we age, we examined the power of positivism of such as gratitude and wisdom. Lastly, we suggested that matured aging as an alternative model of successful aging based on matured personality shown in Confucianism. Matured aging is to move toward the expansion of human existence from self-control, to harmonize human relations, and finally to taking the social responsibility. The implication of this study is to present the necessity of re-conceptualization of aging well in terms of Korean culture. There is a distinction of between matured aging to be aimed at a harmonized happiness for both elderly`s happiness and young people`s happiness and successful aging to be mainly aimed at personal growth and well-being in western cultures.