THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND HEALTH SATISFACTION ON KOREAN GRANDPARENTS CARING FOR THEIR GRANDCHILDREN:

MODERATING EFFECT OF SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

  

Hwajo Lee¹*, Sungmoon Choi²

¹Ewha Womans University, South Korea

²Ewha Womans University, South Korea

 

 

Abstract

The purpose of this study were to observe the moderating effect of spousal relationship satisfaction on the relationship between depression and health satisfaction on Korean grandparents caring for their grandchildren, and to observe gender differences. Data was taken from ‘Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA)’ and a total of 790 participants aged over 47 years old were included in the study. The data analysis was conducted using moderating effect on SPSS process macro. The results are as follows. First, participants showed lower health satisfaction with higher depression, and higher health satisfaction with higher spousal relationship satisfaction. Second, there was a significant moderating effect of spousal relationship satisfaction on female participants, decreasing the negative effect depression has on health satisfaction. Third, there was no significant moderating effect on male participants. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to strengthen the psychological and social support to relieve the depression and to improve the spousal relationship satisfaction. In addition, it is important to provide female careers with social support system that can reduce the stress, which can increase with grandchildren care. This study is meaningful in that it examines the importance of spousal relationship satisfaction in relation to grandchildren care.

 

Keywords: Grandchildren care, Depression, Health satisfaction, Spousal relationship satisfaction