Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the middle aged's perception of aging and the degree of physical/financial/social preparation for later life and to explore the effect of the middle aged's perception of aging, who live in Gwangju & Jeonnam of Korea, on physical/financial/social preparation for later life. This research also explores gender differences in perception of aging, preparation for later life and related factors. For the purpose, the survey data was gathered from 424 middle aged (40's & 50's) citizens who live in Gwangju and Jeonnam, using structured questionnaire. The statistical methods used for data analysis are descriptive statistics, cross tables, t-test, correlations and regression with Spss/win 17.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: Most of the respondents perceive that the age of being aged is 65 or 70 years old. Respondents feel anxiety about health (84%), finance (57%) and roleless role (22%) of later life. Female group feel health anxiety more than male group. Many people perceive that social preparation for later life is better than financial preparation and physical preparation for later life. The result shows that female group perceives their physical preparation level more positively than male group generally. But, there were no differences in financial and social preparation between gender groups. Finally, the result shows the meaningful relationships between male group's perception of aging and financial preparation for later life. Monthly income is the most important variable predicting preparation for later life.
