A Study on Social Policy, Happiness and Social Support: Focusing on the Poor Elderly Women in Korea

Abstract

This study recognizes the seriousness of poverty experienced by elderly women in Korea and to examine the relationship between various variables based on their understanding of the happiness they seek. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 293 poor elderly women over the age of 65 on social policy, social support, and happiness. From the collected data, it was confirmed whether satisfaction with two social policies, the national pension and the basic pension, affects the happiness of the poor. And it analyzed whether social support acts as a mediator in the path of the research model designed in this study. The analysis results of this study are as follows. First, through the verification, the reliability of the measured variables was secured, and it has been confirmed that the model designed in this study is a model that describes the relationship between social policy and the happiness of poor elderly women. Second, as a result of analyzing the effect of social policy on the happiness of the elderly in poverty, it was found that the national pension system and the basic pension system had a significant positive effect on the happiness of the poor elderly women. Finally, it was analyzed that there was a more positive effect when there was a mediating effect of social support in the relationship between social policy and the happiness of poor elderly women. Furthermore, based on the results of this study, the policy and practice direction for improving the happiness of the elderly in poverty were presented.