Abstract

This study compared the importance, satisfaction with and the functions of the Korean's family life and kinship, community life and the various group activities(i.e., social gatherings, groups for hobbies, social service groups and the religious groups). This study also examined the relationships between the satisfaction with these groups and communal life and the subjective well-being. The respondents were 1,000 males and females of age of over 20, sampled from the whole population. The results demonstrated that people showed approximately the same level of satisfaction with family life as that with group activities. It was also found that people considered the kinship as the most important group among these, social gatherings the next, neighbors, alumni and the religious groups, listed by downward order of importance rating scores. The results also demonstrated that the relatives were considered as the ones who could provide the practical and material help when needed, implying that their main function was instrumental. On the other hand, friends were considered as important and helpful as travel partners of when people felt depressed, which showed that the function of friends was mainly that of emotional nature. Satisfaction with family and relatives were the most correlated with the satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with the community, collective self-esteem, and satisfaction with religious groups were also related with the satisfaction with life, in their downward order. The implications of these findings were discussed.