Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find possible solutions to the aged-related problem that is emerging as one of serious social issues in Korea by investigating the images young people have toward the aged. The questionnaire-based survey for this study was conducted with 643 middle school students representing teens and 523 undergraduates representing young people in the twenties, who were 592 from Daegu and 574 from Gwangju. It was carried out from December 2000 to March 2001. The data were analyzed in frequency(N), percentage(%), mean(M) and standard deviation(SD) through the SPSSWIN 10.0 program, $x^2-test$ and reliability test. The findings are summarized as follows. 52.5% of respondents reported that they had the experience in living together with their grandparents, while the number of respondents currently living together with their parents just accounted for 17.6%. In the question about the sense of value for family life, it was shown that the traditional idea that an eldest son or other son has the duty of supporting parents was positively changed to one that any of sons or daughters may support parents. The entire image toward the aged appeared to be positive with the mean value of 3.62. Things associated with the aged were the respect-for-aged house and a stick in that order. The images young people perceive towards the aged were largely divided into the 13 items image including the community centers for the aged.

Keywords

• image of elderly people

• 노인 이미지;