A Study on the Climacteric Symptoms and Emotion of Korean Women Living in the United States and Korea

Kim, Jing Ae

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the climacteric symptoms and emotion of Korean women living in the United States and Korea. The 195 subjects consisted of 81 women who have lived for more than 10 years in the United States and 114 women who live in Korea. All the subjects were from 40 to 60 years of age. Data were collected by convenience sampling using a questionaire in the west and mid-west regions of the United States and in Kyungbuk province in Korea. The results of .this study are as follows: 1. Both subjects in the United States and Korea showed the highest negative emotions according to the following ; in the 50-54 years of age group, divorced, less than high school graduation, lower income level and Protestant in religion. So we concluded that the cultural differences between the United States and Korea did not exert an important influence on the women's emotional tendency, but personal characteristics and background did. 2. Emotional tendency of Korean women from 40 to 60 years of age living in United States and Korea was slight negative (Korean-American ; 3.97+/-.94, Korean ; 3.90+/-.71) 3. The emotions of women living in the United States showed a significant difference according to the state of health(F=3.7726, p<.05). The emotions of women living in Korea showed a significant difference according to marrital status(F=6.4733, p<.05). 4. There were negative correlations between the number of climacteric symptoms and emotions.