한국여성노인의 생애사 분석에 통한 노년기 삶의 이해 -인생전환점, 삶의 맥락, 적용전략을 중심으로- = Korean Women`s Life Trajectories and Later lives

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to understand the lives of Korean elderly women in old age through examining their life trajectories. This study used personal narratives extracted from tape-recorded interviews of 13 elderly women and analyzed the key issues focused on life transitions in their subjective life experiences. Main results of this study are the following: First, Korean elderly women have experienced several kinds of life transitions due to many other reasons, e.g. abandoning somepathways for wars or poverty. Their lives are fabrications of their inner and outer life worlds:self, family, and society. Also we have to understand their lives in such complicated life fabrications. Second, Korean elderly women`s life courses revealed elderly women`s abilities to adapt to their environments and overcome adversities. The alteration process, the self endeavor to reconcile the present with the past may help some informants to overcome their harsh environments and adapt themselves successfully to their old age. These results show that life in old age is founded on the continuum that links the past and the present, and on this continuum the elderly interact with themselves and their surroundings.