Colloquium in February 2025
Pildoo Sung (Hanyang University, Department of Sociology)
Unprecedented population aging, coupled with high poverty and suicide rates, has heightened interest in understanding mental health disparities among older adults in Korea.
This presentation introduces three studies that have identified key factors contributing to mental health among older Koreans, drawing on data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA).
The first study investigates the impact of a child’s divorce on older parents’ depressive symptoms, focusing on the moderating roles of the child’s gender and the parent-child relationship.
The second study examines the reciprocal causal relationships between formal/informal social engagement and depressive symptoms in later life.
The third study explores the stability and changes in older adults’ social networks before and after the pandemic outbreak, and assesses their effects on depressive symptoms during the pandemic.
Collectively, these studies highlight the need for continued efforts to identify modifiable social determinants of mental health among older adults in Korea.
