Abstract
This study was conducted to identify college students' supportive attitude toward the elderly and their awareness of the socialization of care for the elderly, since they will have the responsibility for and the support of the aged society in the near future. This study was also conducted to analyze the factors which affect the socialization of elderly care, and to contribute to building a care system which promotes ahealthy and happy lifestyle for the elderly. After conducting a survey of 1,100 students from13 universities around the entire country, I have analyzed 1,089 data forms, and omitted 11 data entries which had errors or were not answered. 1. Those surveyed are 1,089 students from 13 universities around the entire country. Regional distributions are as follows : 263 students from 4 universities in Daegu and Kyongsangbuk Do(24.2%), 291 students from 3 universities in Busan and Kyongsangnam Do(26.7%), 272 students from 2 universities in Jeolla Do(25.0%), 263 students from 4 universities in Seoul and Gyeonggi Do. Males are 51.7% and females are 48.3% of these students. 2. Instrumental supportive sense level is high in men and emotional supportive sense level is higher in women. Also emotional supportive sense is higher in groups of those having more family members and coming from agricultural regions. 3. The sense of living with aged parents is higher in those living with grandparents than those living separate. The sense of living with sons and daughters after aging is stronger in the students from the Science and Engineering Departments than in the Social and Human Sciences Departments; also higher for men than women. 4. Recognition of elderly care socialization is higher in those from Social and Human Sciences Departments than from Science and Engineering Departments; higher in the case of upper classmenand aged groups, groups having fewer family members than more family members, and in the case of living separated from grandparents. 5. The factors affecting the sense of living with grandparents were family cohesion and instrumental supportive sense. The factors affecting the sense of elderly care socialization were family cohesion, instrumental supportive sense, and emotional supportive sense. From the results it is concluded that to insure a healthy and happy lifestyle for aged people, elderly care socialization offered by society and the country must provide desirable, appropriate care services based on the centralized support system of the family. In order to do this, we propose that elderly care needs inter-family and inter-generational fusion programs to improve family cohesion and care recognition. Also, elderly care is in urgent need to build a strong Family and Health Welfare System for care socialization.