Estrangement between parents and adult children in Korea: patterns and variations by socio-economic conditions

초록

The bulk of past research has been conducted in Western societies, and the patterns of family connection breakdowns in East Asian countries are mostly unstudied. Also, most prior analyses used a cross-sectional approach, despite the possibility of relationship recovery over the lifecourse. To bridge the gap in the literature, this study explores the extent and the socio-economic variations of parent-adult children estrangement in Korea. This article draws data from eight rounds of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (N = 28,038 parent-child dyads) and uses random-intercept logistic regressions to estimate patterns. The overall level of parent-adult child estrangement in Korea is lower than that observed in Western cultures. Also, a higher level of socio-economic achievement for the adult child was negatively associated with the odds of estrangement. A parent's gender and marital status emerged as important determinants for intergenerational estrangement. Though the prevalence of parent-child estrangement is comparatively lower in Korea, its likelihood varies substantially according to the socio-economic standing of family members. Both parents and adult children with lower socio-economic position are particularly vulnerable to losing family bonds, and more refined policy measures should be provided for them.

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