2023, Vol.36, No.1

THE KOREAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.67

pISSN : 1229-0718 / eISSN : 2671-6542
https://journal.kci.go.kr/baldal

This study aims to verify and visualize the conceptual structure, dimension, and importance of death preparation by utilizing concept mapping regarding experiences with and content of death preparation as recognized, by older adults. For this purpose, 12 older adults who were interested in death preparation were selected as study participants. Subsequently, 52 final statements were generated from interviews with research participants. Using multidimensional scale analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and the K-means method on the derived statements, confirmed that the concept of death preparation comprises two dimensions and four clusters. The two dimensions were named the “realistic-existential” dimension and “future oriented-present oriented” dimension, while the four clusters were named “Concentration on the rest of life”, “Organizing daily life”, “Wish for the final process” and “Pursuit of meaning and creation”. Participants rated all four clusters as important in death preparation; however, they rated “Organizing daily life” the highest and “Wish for the final process” the lowest. This is the first study to confirm how the concept of death preparation is recognized by older adults from their own perspectives, and contributes to promoting future research related to death preparation in old age.

The Input language provided to young learners play important roles in their language acquisition. Caregiver speech draws and sustains learners’ attention, and this sustained attention may facilitate word acquisition. The role of caregivers’ speech quality in sustaining learners’ attention and facilitating word acquisition has not been investigated in Korean. Twenty-four Korean mothers’ speeches provided for their 15-20-month-olds were analyzed to examine how the relationships between speech quality and sustained attention relate to concurrent and later vocabulary acquisition. Unlike English findings, syntax predicted later vocabulary acquisition, instead of the referential nature or communicative intent. Specifically, declarative use elicited sustained attention and positively predicted vocabulary growth, whereas sentence fragments were less likely to sustain attention and negatively predicted word growth. Interestingly, however, a similar proportion of overall referential speech was observed to that of English, raising the possibility that Korean caregivers may be less likely to omit referent mentions in infant-directed speech.

This study investigated whether the relationship between SNS use purpose (relationship pursuit, information pursuit, entertainment pursuit) and successful aging is mediated by loneliness. The mediating model is examined using PROCESS Macro v3.5. The mediating model was examined for 328 domestic older adults aged 65-79 years(M=67.77, SD=2.95) using SNS. The results indicated that the mediating effects of loneliness were significant in the relationship between the three types of SNS use and successful aging but in different ways. In other words, it was found that SNS use for relationship pursuit and SNS use for information pursuit in older adults not only directly affects successful aging, but also indirectly affects successful aging by lowering loneliness. On the other hand, the indirect effect of loneliness was positive for SNS use in the pursuit of relationships and information but negative for entertainment. These findings suggest that, contrary to the other two types of SNS use, the use of SNS for entertainment reduces successful aging by increasing loneliness. This study revealed a mechanism by which the purpose of SNS use in older adults affects successful aging through loneliness, and confirmed that the relationship between these mechanisms may vary depending on the purpose of SNS use.