자녀의 분거가 부모-자녀 간 관계만족도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Objectives: This study examines how living separated of children affects the parents’ satisfaction in the relationship with children. Method: For the empirical analysis, a total of approximately 25 thousand households with children are obtained from ‘Social Survey’ of the National Statistical Office. The underlying methodology used for the identification of the impact of living separated is an Ordered Logit model. In addition, Propensity Score Matching analysis is also employed in order to remove possible bias inherent in the treatment effect estimator when living arrangement is determined endogenously. Results: Interestingly, regardless of the identification methods and the sample, the result shows that satisfaction in the parents-child relationship tends to improve when children live separately. However, the impact appears to vary across the demographic groups. Particularly, the estimated impact is significantly large and negative when the child living separated is a young, preschool-age child. With child living separated, the satisfaction in the relationship with the child tends to decline significantly in the households whose heads are younger. Conclusion: These findings imply that a serious attention be taken for the households with young children living separated who need parents’ delicate care. Furthermore, the results show that mother, compared to father, tends to experience a relative drop in the satisfaction in the relationship with a child living apart, indicating that various maternity and paternity protection measures should improve in order to enhance the labor market status of women and have males more actively engaged in childcaring and childrearing.