Centre for Policy on Ageing



Elderly Koreans' tendency to live independently from their adult children — adaptation to cultural differences in America
Author(s)	Seong Ho Yoo, Kyu-Taik Sung
Journal title	Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, vol 12, no 3, September 1997
Pages	pp 225-244
Keywords	Living with others ; Immigrants ; Parents ; Children [offspring] ; Attitude ; United States of America ; Korea.
Annotation	Korean older persons who immigrated to the United States (US) tend to live apart from their adult children, contrary to the assumption that they would adhere to their old custom of intergenerational family living prevalent in Korea where the tradition of filial piety is still influential. This paper explores factors associated with the older immigrants' living separate from their adult children, and elicits the reasons they give for this residential pattern. Over 100 older Korean-Americans were interviewed. The results of this study show that public welfare programmes, income, and education were major factors associated with the older people's independent living. Other factors influencing their preference for living independently include needs for privacy and freedom. The paper concludes with a discussion of cultural factors related to family living patterns.
Accession Number	CPA-980227408 A
Classmark	KA: TJ: SR: SS: DP: 7T: 7DK
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.