130 likes | 283 Views
The Relationship between Children’s Development and Socioeconomic Factors in Korea. Bong Joo Lee Seoul National University. Introduction. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in children’s policy in Korea. Shifting focus: from ‘protection’ to ‘development’
E N D
The Relationship betweenChildren’s Development and Socioeconomic Factors in Korea Bong Joo Lee Seoul National University
Introduction • In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in children’s policy in Korea. • Shifting focus: from ‘protection’ to ‘development’ • However, lack of basic knowledge on the status of child development has been a factor hindering implementation of concrete polices and programs to promote child development in Korea. • Purpose of this study: • To examine the level of development of Korean children in 4 domains: language, cognition, psychosocial behaviors, and physical health • To examine the effects of family’s socioeconomic and social capital factors on children’s development
Previous Studies: Factors affecting children’s development • Family Income • Mcloyd, 1990; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn & Klebanov, 1994; Ryu & Choi, 2003; Kim, 2008 • Language development: Lee & Kawk, 2008 • Cognitive development: McCulloch & Joshi, 2000 • And many other studies in and out of Korea • Family Structure • Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995; Runyan et al., 1998 • Family Process • Interaction patterns between parent and child: Chang, 1987, 1995; Cochran-Smith, 1984; Goldfield & Snow, 1984 • Parent’s child rearing attitude: Guerin, Gottfried & Thomas, 1997; Wasserman et al., 1990 • Parent’s self efficacy: Woo & Lee, 1994; Lee & Han, 2004; Coleman & Karraker, 1998 • Community characteristics • Kim, 2008; Boisjoly, Duncan & Hofferth, 1995; Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995; Garbarino & Sherman, 1980
Data • ‘Korea Children and Youth Survey, 2009’ • Nationally representive sample of 6,922 children (0-18 years old) and their parents • Household survey • 0-8 years old: responses from the parents on child development and family characteristics • 9-18 years old: child survey and parent survey
Key Variables: Developmental Domains • Cognitive development • 0-8 years old: scales developed to measure basic cognitive skills, mathematical thinking ability, scientific thinking ability, and social thinking ability by specific age groups • 9-18 years old: self reported school achievement level • Language development • 0-8 years old: scales to measure speaking, reading, writing, and social communication ability by specific age groups • Psychosocial development • K-CBCL child behavior problem scale • Internalizing and Externalizing problem behaviors • Physical health • Self-reported health status(by parents and children) • Being hospitalized
Key Variables:Socioeconomic and Social Capital Factors • Family’s socioeconomic charactersitics • Family income • Level of parent’s education • Owned house • Within family social capital • Family structure • Parent’s self efficacy • Level of parent-child communication openness • Time (playing and talking) spent with parents • Outside family social capital: Community characteristics • Neighborhood environment: sense of belonging, informal social control, social cohesiveness • Social support: economic, emotional, life, information
Key Findings • Poverty is a major risk factor for low level of development • All ages: • Low cognitive development • Low level of health • 0-8 years: Low language development • 9-18 years: Increased internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors • Parent’s education level matters • 0-8 years: higher education better cognitive and language developments
Family structure matters too • 0-8 years: both parent better language development and health • Parent’s self-efficacy is important • Al l ages: child’s better psychosocial behaviors • All ages: better health • Open communication style is important for cognitive and language developments for younger children • For younger children: more time spent with parents predicts • Better language development • Less internalizing problem behaviors • Better health • Community environment is important for older children’s health
Implications for Policy • Need for preventive child development support services and programs targeted for children in poverty • Strengthening family support programs including child rearing education programs for parents • Importance of communication with children • Spend more time with children • Self-efficacy of parents