저출산‧고령화가 가족형태 및 개인의 삶의 질에 미치는 영향

김은지; 김수정; 민현주; 정수연

저출산‧고령화가 가족형태 및 개인의 삶의 질에 미치는 영향 = The Effects of a Decline in Fertility and an Aging Population on Family Structure and Quality of Life in Korea

제목: 저출산‧고령화가 가족형태 및 개인의 삶의 질에 미치는 영향 = The Effects of a Decline in Fertility and an Aging Population on Family Structure and Quality of Life in Korea

저자: 김은지 ; 김수정 ; 민현주 ; 정수연

키워드: 고령화 ; 가족형태

발행연도: 2010

발행기관: 한국보건사회연구원
한국여성정책연구원

초록: ◈ 가족변화의 이론적 고찰
◈ 가족구조의 변화와 양상
◈ 주요 선진국의 가족유형별 사회적 지원체계
◈ 가족구조의 변화와 가족유형별 가족관계
◈ 가족유형별 사회적 지원체계 구축 방안

This research aims to provide suggestions for a social support system for the family structure of the future. It traces the changing pattern of the family structure as a result of a decline in fertility and an aging population in Korea, and also focuses on the change in quality of life by family structure. The first part of this research takes into consideration the general changes in family structure and provides an analysis of the change of maternal experience. In the latter part of the research, changes in quality of life are analyzed through use of two cross-sectional data over the past ten years. The analysis took into account both income/expenditure and time-use. The main findings from this research are as follows:
First, the definition of "family" is changing as a result of a decline in fertility and an aging population. This reduction is the result of the combination of three tendencies: 1) an increase of non-family households, 2) an increase of childless families, 3) and a decrease of families with children. The reduction in family size is caused by both the decline in fertility and an aging population. Affected by the decline in fertility, the number of children a family has is decreasing and the social norm that a family should consist of having and raising children is weakening. On the other hand, the number of elderly households has increased due to children choosing to live alone in adulthood and aging, which has expanded the proportion of couple-only households and single-person households in a life cycle.
Second, the portion of dual-earner and single-parent families is on the rise. The increase of dual-earner families is often referred to as the cause of the decline in fertility. However, this research suggests that the decline in fertility can also be a cause for more dual-earner families. In other words, as the number of children in a family decreases, the costs for raising a child increases, hence being a dual-earner family is a potential strategy to maximize stability and a better investment for children. The portion of single-parent households is also increasing as a result of less social pressure to get or stay married.
Third, there is a significant difference in maternal experience between the high birth-rate generation and low birth-rate generation, and a correlation between female employment and maternal experience is differentiated by cohort. Those families from a 1970s cohort are choosing to have children later than those in the older age cohort, and have a more negative maternal experience when employed. On the other hand, the duration of female employment had a positive effect on maternal experience, which indicates that stable employment is necessary to solve the decline in fertility.
Fourth, the change of the distribution of household income indicates that the financial risk of single-earner families among urban wage earners is increasing. It is generally more difficult for a single-earner family to penetrate into and between the high income bracket. Single-earner families with children have a much higher risk than childless single-earner families to be at the low income bracket. Changes over the past 10 years indicate society is moving into a direction which will make it more difficult for families to enter the high income group.
Fifth, when considering family expenses, it has been found that quality of life of families with children has decreased in the perspective of stability and discretion. Over the past ten years, education expenses mainly led the change in household expenses, and dual-earner families have more burden on education expenses than single-earner families. Expenses for social activities beyond family life has decreased and expenditure on recreation and entertainment activities has not increased, which shows that quality of life has not improved.
Sixth, over the past ten years time pressure has become greater across the entire society and discretionary behavior only in the personal care category has increased, while overall leisure time has decreased. Over the past decade, the amount of work hours has decreased with the introduction of a 40 hour work week. However, this has not led to a genuine improvement in quality of life, such as increased leisure time, but has resulted in increased time for personal care. Even though discretionary behaviors, such as appearance management and eating meals has increased within the personal care category, this still can not be considered as an improvement of quality of life because the time required for these behaviors has limitations in terms of genuine leisure time. In spite of time pressures, increased time for high-level leisure activities shows that there is an increased interest in upper-level leisure activities.
Seventh, time pressure of dual-earner families with preschool-aged children has worsened, while the contribution to housework and child care by fathers with preschool-aged children is slightly increasing. Worsening time constraints over the past ten years was found to be concentrated on mothers with pre-school children, who already suffer from a limited amount of leisure time. As a result, double-earner mothers who have preschool-aged children face serious time poverty both subjectively and objectively. On the other hand, the number of fathers with preschool-aged children who participate in housework and childcare has increased throughout all types of family structures. It can be understood that this is a response to a limit in mothers' time pressure and it is also possible that young fathers are more willing to participate in childcare.
From this research, suggestions for future policy on improving quality of family life are as follows: First, the policy paradigm needs to be shifted to support dual-earner families. Second, with an increasing number of single-parent families, support for stable childcare should be reinforced. Third, while support for multiple-child families is necessary, more support for single-child families is also needed because of the rising tendency for families to have less children. Forth, considering that stable employment enhances the birth rate, support for female employment needs to also be reinforced as a policy of fertility. Fifth, policy should more progressively intervene in lowering education expenses, which encompasses a significant portion of household expenses. Sixth, to relieve the problem of time poverty, which is a severe threat to parents who have preschool-aged children, stronger social services and shorter working hours should be promoted. Seventh, intervention into the current value system needs to be strengthened to increase a balance between work and family. Eighth, active support for leisure activities is required in the dimension of public leisure. Ninth, fundamentally, the quality of life perspective should be strengthened in fertility decline and population policy planning.

목차: 제1장 서 론
제1절 연구배경 및 목적
제2절 연구내용 및 방법

제2장 저출산‧고령화와 가족형태 변화
제1절 저출산‧고령화와 가족형태의 일반적 변화
제2절 저출산‧고령화와 출산경험의 변화

제3장 저출산‧고령화와 가족유형별 삶의 질
제1절 저출산‧고령화 사회와 삶의 질
제2절 소득 및 소비 측면에서의 삶의 질 분석
제3절 시간사용 측면에서의 삶의 질 분석

제4장 결론 및 제언
제1절 저출산‧고령화와 가족의 변화
제2절 미래가족의 삶의 질 향상 방안

참고문헌

부록