중년여성의 노인부양과 상속에 대한 태도 및 관련요인분석

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The propose of this study is to explore the attitudes of middle aged women in their 40’2 and 50’s toward elderly care and inheritance. We randomly selected a sample of 608 women aged between 40 and 59 living in the city of Pusan. Face-to-face interviews and five separate categorized questionnaires were used for this research. The five categories were (1) Experience with Caring for Elderly Parents, (2) Issues Related to the Care of One’s Own Elderly Parents, (3) Issues Related to the care of Elderly Parents-in Law, (4) Opinions Related to One’s Own Aging Issues, and (5) General Attitudes toward Elderly Care and Inheritance. The Interviewer visited each selected subject ant the questionnaires were completed. This research was conducted during August of 1999. The results of this research are as follows : 42 percent of the respondents reported that they have had experience with living together with elderly parents. Of those, 23 pa-cent of the worr en reported caring for their own parents, while 68 percent reported caring for their husband. The results for the question regarding living situations when one parent is alone are as follows: the preference of worn in their 40’s and 50’s lean more strongly toward living together with one parent in the case of the parent-in-law (47.7%) as compared to their own parent (24.8%). The results for the question “It is good to live with parents” are as follows: women with education level of junior high school or lower are more likely to prefer living with elderly parents when compared to those women with education level of senior high school or higher. The results for the question regarding inheritance are as follows: 71.5% somewhat disagree or strongly disagree. This results showed that if one were to provide care for the aging parents, there is an expectation of material reward for such services rendered. We conclude from our research that Korean women in their 40’s and 50’s feel strongly that they have a duty to care for not only their own parents but also to care for their parents-in-law. We also found that while consciousness of filial piety is gradually diminishing in contemporary Korea, the actual relationship between parents and children is still very close. The elderly are much more integrated into their farnilies. At the same time, it is also true that the relationship between parents and children has been changing. Especially, those women who have higher academic background are not likely to prefer to live together with elderly parents. Therefore, the government should prepare for the changing consciousness in the care of elderly parents.