Determinants of Welfare Attitudes towards Healthcare Services: Focusing on Self-Interest, Symbolic Attitude, and Sociotropic Perceptions / 보건행정학회지

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to analyze determinants of welfare attitudes toward healthcare services in South Korea, using three main theories: self-interest (positive welfare attitudes if the policy fulfills people's personal interests), symbolic attitudes (positive welfare attitudes if the person is politically progressive or egalitarian), and sociotropic perception (positive welfare attitudes if the person experienced positive aggregated collective experiences of societal events and trends regarding the policy). Although the definition of the welfare attitude is rather ambiguous in literatures, in this investigation, we operationalize the concept as the ‘willingness to pay higher taxes to improve the level of health care services for all people in Korea' which shows individuals’ actional propensity. METHODS: We used the health module from the International Social Survey Program 2011 for the analysis (N=1,391). Five logistic regression models were built successively using two variables for each theory to measure key concepts of self-interest, symbolic attitudes, and sociotropic perceptions as independent variables. RESULTS: The result showed self-interest and symbolic attitudes factors to be strong determinants of welfare attitudes towards healthcare services in South Korea, whereas sociotropic perception factors have inconsistent effects. CONCLUSION: For a more politically elaborated healthcare reform in South Korea and elsewhere, there needs to be further research on various dimensions and determinants of welfare attitudes to understand popular basis of welfare expansion, especially in the era of inequality.

Generosidade versus interesse próprio: juízos morais de crianças e adolescentes / Generosity versus self interest: moral judgment of children and adolescents

Este estudo investigou, em contexto psicogenético, que lugar a generosidade ocupa no universo moral de crianças e adolescentes em contraposição à satisfação de um interesse próprio. Foram entrevistados, individualmente, 30 alunos de uma escola pública de Vitória-ES, os quais foram divididos em três grupos de acordo com a faixa etária (7, 10 e 13 anos). Foi utilizada uma história-dilema que trazia um conflito entre a possibilidade de manifestar a generosidade e a oportunidade de satisfazer um interesse próprio. Em todas as faixas etárias pesquisadas, a maioria dos participantes optou pela generosidade em detrimento da satisfação do próprio interesse. A porcentagem dessa resposta na faixa etária de 10 anos, contudo, foi inferior às porcentagens nas demais idades estudadas. Pode-se afirmar, portanto, que a generosidade faz parte do universo moral infantil e adolescente. Este trabalho contribui para a expansão do campo de pesquisas sobre a moralidade e oferece importantes subsídios para propostas de educação moral que contemplem virtudes como a generosidade.

This study investigated, on a psychogenetic context, the place occupied by generosity in children's and adolescents' moral universe as opposed to the satisfaction of self-interest. Thirty students from a public school at Vitória-ES, divided in three groups, according to their age (7, 10 and 13 years old), were individually interviewed. It was used a story-dilemma which aroused a conflict between the possibility of manifesting generosity and the opportunity of satisfying self-interest. It was verified that, in all age groups, the majority of the participants chose generosity instead of satisfaction of their own self-interest. The percentage of this answer in the 10-year-old age group, however, was inferior to the percentage in the other age groups. It can be affirmed that generosity is a part of the moral universe of children and adolescents. This study contributes to the expansion of research on morality and offers important subsidies to moral education proposals that enhance virtues such as generosity.