Egalitarian by Living Alone

• In Event: 2422 - Section on the Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (100 min): Table 8: Gender, Marriage, and Family

Abstract

This study proposes the rise of one-person households as a new contributing factor to gender role attitudes. South Korea has undergone dramatic socioeconomical change during the 20th century which has diversified the life course trajectories of individuals, especially in terms of household structure. This study employs sequence analysis and uses the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (N =2,684), a nationwide longitudinal panel data from 1998 to 2017 to investigate such association. Results indicate that individuals who experienced one-person households before marriage are significantly more egalitarian than those who either continuously lived with their family for the 17 waves or married straight after. A point to notice is that for men, those who lived with their family for all 17 waves turned out to be the most egalitarian, although those who experienced one-person household were still significantly more egalitarian than those married straight after. However, for women such pattern is reversed, with individuals who experienced one-person households turning out to be the most egalitarian out of the three. This study proves the impact of rapidly emerging one-person households as an influential factor on gender role attitudes, and points to the gendered outcomes of such association. It contributes to existing literature by proving the importance of research on such household structure and widening the influencing factors on gender role attitudes.

Authors

• JaYung Moon, Yonsei University

• Dohoon Lee, Yonsei University