• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-37
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• 2006

As the fertility rate of Korea has recently decreased to the lowest level in the world, the recognition of the needs for social support for the child-care has been increased. This resulted in the announcement of National Policy of Child-Rearing Support in 2004. This study attempted to propose the activation of the family child-care for the preparation of the introduction of the National Policy of Child-Rearing Support. Using literature review and interview, the following research questions were addressed. Firstly, the actual situation of the family child-care was compared with that of the other types of child-care. Secondly, the policies of child-rearing support and the family child-care systems in other countries such as United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan were introduced. Finally, activations of the family child-care were discussed in terms of the introduction of the National Policy of Child-Rearing Support. The results of this study implies that the family child-care in Korea is different from that of other countries as well as other types of child-care in Korea. Also, it suggests that key factors of the activation of the family child-care in Korea are to identify as the small, informal and family-like child-care, to differentiate as the infant-care and non-standard time child-care from other types of child-care, and to increase the level of professionalization. In conclusion, family child-care should become an alternative for the low fertility problem.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.285-310
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• 2017

This study reviews recent changes in parenting support policy in Japan, and examines the roles and functions of day-nursery as the base for parenting support in the local community. The purpose of this study is to provide implications for the direction of the parenting support policy and child-care facilities for the local communities in South Korea. The analysis concentrates on the official national reports such as the Declining Birthrate White Paper and Japan's National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery by the Japanese Cabinet Office. The study finds that the Japanese government has introduced comprehensive medium and long-term policies for all the members of the community with recognizing the changes in the domestic and foreign child-rearing environments and social needs. These policies have also helped to improve the social awareness of parenting. The role of the day-care center has been raised as a significant part of the support for child-rearing in the local community due to the revision of the Child Welfare Act for nursery school teachers in 2001 and the official announcement of Japan's National Guidelines for Care and Education at Day Nursery in 2008. The study also concludes that the social responsibility of the nursery center has been strengthened by being utilized as a public resource for the community. From the findings, we can elicit the conclusions and implications that the roles and functions of child care centers as a significant base for parenting support in the local communities need to be considered. We also listen to the voices of stakeholders such as parents and staff of child care centers. Last but not least, we would understand the social role and importance of bringing up children by cooperation of the community members, and promote the role of child care centers as a central place providing and communicating information on child-rearing in the local communities.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.259-277
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• 2008

Traditional familism and family value is known as the value that most Koreans share with. Strong family solidarity and family-centered perception among Koreans influences other social values and ideology. Under the family value, caring for family members is family responsibility instead of government responsibility. Previous studies argued that the family value played a role to impede the development of family policy in Korea. The aim of this study was to explore a relation between the family value and the needs for care-support family policy. This study investigated how the family value were related to the specific needs for care-support family policy. The data were drawn from the Seoul Families Survey conducted on 2006 by Seoul Women and Family Foundation. The survey data consisted of 2,500 married males and females living in Seoul. The statistical techniques used for analysis were frequencies, means, t-test, ANOVA, crosstabs, multiple regression models, and multinomial logit models. The major findings of this study were as followings. First, while the traditional familism appeared to be held at a certain level, the general attitudes towards cohabitation, divorce, and single-parent family seemed to be less traditional. Second, the familism was found to be partly associated with the needs for the care-support family policy. The respondents who had less traditional value on arriage and child-rearing showed the higher level of needs for daycare center. This finding implied that nontraditional attitudes were related to the needs for an alternative care service such as caring through facilities rather than to the needs for supportive or complementary services. Lastly, the respondents who had higher level of traditional familism showed a higher preference for direct economic service (supportive service) than for other types of service in child care. And the less traditional their attitudes towards marriage and child-rearing, the more likely they are to prefer flexible child care services and programs to other types of child care services. These results implied that the family value was partly influential to family policy. However, it is worthy to note that the family value was related to family policy preference rather than to family policy needs. In other words, traditional family value appeared to influence the types of family policy rather than the level of needs for family policy.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.363-384
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• 2017

The Korean government implemented better support for adolescent single-parent families by expanding the coverage of the Single-parent Family Support Act in 2010. In order to understand the effect, this study verified the moderating effect of the single-parent family policy's support for child rearing in the context of adolescent female single-parent's stress levels and education sustainability. This study utilized part of the National Youth Policy Institute's 'Research on the Actual Condition of the Adolescent Pregnancy, Birth and Rearing Children'. Participants of the study were 248 adolescent single-parents aged 24 and below. The findings and discussion of this study are as follows. First, the stress level of adolescent female single-parent in continuing studies was lower than those for discontinued studies. Students who discontinued their education in the middle of studies showed an increase in life stress level relative to age because they had a low level of education and had discontinued studies before pregnancy. Second, the public nanny service has been verified as an element to increase the continuation of education by controlling the level of stress. It is advisable to fortify and expand the scope of support for childcare services in the form of a study assistant or child education assistant. Last, adolescent single-parent childcare subsidies have been verified as a direct factor that raised the meaningful level of education continuity potential to a meaningful standard that can be seen as a more effective method than general policy support for single-parent families.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.1-12
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine how married women with a child perceived the low-fertility issue in order to increase the success of policy decisions for increasing the fertility rate and to present alternatives. The study subjects were 327 married women with a child who resided in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. After the survey was conducted, the collected data were analyzed with SPSS 11.5 program. The findings of the study were as follows. First, the married women who already had one child found it ideal to have two children. In fact, however, 36.4% had determined not to have another child, and only one parent wanted to have a second child in 26.9%. Second, they took a dismal view of the government's fertility encouragement policies, and they considered it necessary for the government to pursue a more down-to-earth measure. Third, economic aid for child rearing and education was identified as the most critical way to boost the childbirth rate. In conclusion, current national policies aimed at increasing the low-fertility rate are redundant if they are only designed to publicize government action. Actions need to be taken to assist married women in taking better advantage of the existing policies.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 2017

Father participation in child rearing is gaining its importance in the field of child development. Previous literature consistently suggests the importance of parental efficacy and educational support on children's school life. However, studies which that focus exclusively on the role of the father's role are highly limited. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized that parental efficacy would directly and indirectly affect children's school life via parental educational support at home. We aimed to expand on the previous literature by exploring the relations within fathers. Participants were 662 fathers whose children attended elementary, middle, and high school. We measured parental efficacy, educational support at home, and their children's school life were measured. Descriptive statistics were first conducted to investigate the general features of participants as well as the correlations between study variables. The research model was analyzed using structural equation modeling in AMOS 20.0. Results proved the direct effect of father's parental efficacy on father's educational support at home as well as children's school life. Fathers' educational support at home mediated the effect of parental efficacy on children's school life. Our results suggests that fathers who perceive themselves as efficient parents provides a higher level of educational support at home for their children; consequently, children of those fathers in turn adjust better in school and achieve higher grades. Also, the father's parental efficacy also indirectly exerts positive effects on children's school life via heightened educational support at home. An importance of paternal participation and support in child rearing and education was highly suggested. Relevant policy issues regarding paternal educational support were discussed.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the recognition on center-based child care health programs for parents with ill children. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study with convenient sampling method was used and 136 parents were recruited from two university hospital outpatient departments and hospitalized wards, and they completed a structured questionnaire. Results: Majority (57.4%) of parents experienced a leaving work early or being absent from their work due to children's illness. Most dissatisfying factors in child care centers were child health management. Most of parents agreed on the need for a center-based child care health program, and wanted a better management of health care by health professionals in child care centers. Conclusion: These results support that there is a great demand for center-based child care health programs. These special programs are needed for reducing a child rearing burden for working mothers and overcoming the low birthrate in Korea. Health-care programs in child-care settings can help parents meet the health needs of their children while reducing absenteeism from work, thereby contributing to job stability. These results suggest discussions of the related policy with child care centers responsible and national health and educational authorities.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-16
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• 2009

purpose of this study was to compare the direction of work-family balance policy with the family support of Chosun Dynasty by reviewing the literature of the period, including diaries of "Soemilok" and "Miamilki" and letters written by Yangban. The major findings drawn from the literature were as follows: The husbands in Chosen, especially as public officials, were under strong obligation to support their family like working wives in modern society. They were able to care for and support their families and maintain their careers due to flexibility in their office hours. They had dual burdens of home management and outside labor but their requests for the necessities of life were resolved promptly in public offices. From this result, it was argued that the policy for dual burden for women would benefit from a consideration for flexibility and reduction of working hours. Especially it was emphasized that the border between home and work place should be more open and the relationship of family should be supported by work-family balance policy.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.97-107
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• 2018

According to the 2017 national survey of the disabled persons conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, rehabilitation centers for the disabled appeared to be the service agency that disabled women use the most. This means that rehabilitation centers for the disabled hold an important role in securing the maternity rights of disabled women. However, in the practice of welfare for the disabled, programs for securing maternity rights are inadequate, and the actual condition is not being surveyed. As a result, programs related to maternity rights based on the legal basis exist, but actual support services for resolving the difficulties related to maternity rights that disabled women experience are inadequate. Thus, the study suggests that rehabilitation centers for the disabled should pay a central role in establishing the maternity rights of disabled women and provide support services such as developing a manual on basic information about pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing, offering childbirth-related counseling, activating a self-help group, providing an individualized program for families, connecting with medical institutions, and supporting case management.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.147-164
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• 2008

The goal of this study was to examine the economic and cultural factors that influenced the intention of having a second child. In particular, this study intended to examine whether the factors related to the intention of having a child differed by the employment status of married women. The data for this study were drawn from the National Survey on the Trend of Marriage and Birth. This survey was conducted in 2005 by Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The sample consisted of 690 married women who had one child(282 employed and 408 unemployed). The data were analyzed by logistic regression with SAS 9.1 program. The results showed that the employed women's intention of having a second child was affected by the husband's hours of housework, having a own mother(child's grandmother) and the perception of value of child. The employed women's intention of having a second child was affected by the perception of emotional value of child, and the sex of the first child. In sum, there were differences between the employed women and the unemployed women in the variables affecting the intention of having a second child. Perception of value of child was found important for both the employed and the unemployed women. Besides husband's hours of housework, having a mother and the needs for public support about child birth and rearing were found significant for the employed women. For the unemployed women, the costs of child care/education and the sex of the first child were found significant. The findings of this study suggested that different policy interventions be developed to satisfy the needs of the employed women and the unemployed women.