This research used the data from 2007 Research on aging society and the life of
Korean senior citizens」targeting 717 elderly people (age 55~79) living in Seoul and
Chunchun to understand the effects of economic activity participation and reasons for
participation on psychological well-being.
As a result of T-test for comparing the psychological stabilities of two groups- the
elderly engaged in economic activities and the elderly not engaged in economic
activities, the former group shows higher psychological stabilities than the latter. A
Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyze, when the other factors are excluded, also
shows that whether or not the elderly participate does not affect on their psychological
stabilities. The comparison, which was made by the same analysis method, between the
elderly who participate because of financial needs and the elderly who participate by
reason of other ones than financial needs shows that the former show lower
psychological stabilities than the latter. Thus, the reasons for the engagement in the
economic activities affect on the participants\' psychological stabilities.
The researches conducted so far in relation to the economic activity of senior citizens
mainly discussed whether or not senior citizens participated in economic activity, and
stated that participation in economic activity had positive effects on the lifestyle
satisfaction of senior citizens. However, these results were obtained without reflecting
the reasons why senior citizens participated in economic activity, and this research took
interest in the reasons why senior citizens participated in economic activity. As a result
the research showed that the reasons for senior citizens participating in economicactivity was due to the important effects on psychological well-being.
Therefore, the reasons for the engagement in the economic activities will be a
significant factor for the establishment of labour policy for the elderly and, on the other
hand, a research on what the engagement in the economic activities means to the
private lifes of the elderly rather than to the entire economic situation is required to be
conducted.