A Study on Lifestyle Typology of Korean Elderly

This study aimed to identify the lifestyle types of the elderly and the socio-demographic characteristics and values according to the lifestyle type, targeting elderly people over 60 years of age.A survey targeted seniors aged 60 or older living in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and South Chungcheong in July and August 2022.Five hundred thirty-seven questionnaires were ultimately used for analysis.First, the lifestyle of the elderly using VALS was divided into seven sub-factors: leadership pursuit, fashion pursuit, challenge pursuit, practicality pursuit, stimulation pursuit, knowledge pursuit, and stability pursuit.As a result of cluster analysis with seven sub-factors, five lifestyle types were derived: achievement type, effort type, universal type, struggle type, and realization type.Second, the elderly, who belong to the 'Innovators,' have a high level of challenge seeking, practicality seeking, and knowledge seeking.The ratio of men and women is similar, and the number of people with a college degree or higher education is 42.4%.Elderly people in the 'Strivers' group seek low stimulation but high stability and knowledge.There are many women, and the proportion with a middle school diploma or lower is 26.6%, which is the second highest proportion of low-educated people after the struggling type.'Universals' is the group with the largest number of elderly people and ranks third in each lifestyle score.The proportion of elderly women was high school graduates were the highest at 43.6%.All values are at a medium level and are fairly universal.Elderly people belonging to the 'Survivors' had low scores on all lifestyles except challenge seeking, but their pursuit of stability was also low.The proportion of those a middle school education or higher was high.Lastly, the elderly belonging to the 'Achievers' had a high overall lifestyle score, and the pursuit of leadership, fashion, stimulation, and knowledge was the highest among the five clusters.Those with a college degree or higher account for 46.1%, and while they are success-oriented and relationship-oriented, they also value practicality.