KOREASCHOLAR

This study was conducted to investigate Korean youths' use of fastfood and family restaurants in different regions, especially among cities and rural towns. Total 1,600 questionnaire surveys were distributed to Junior high and Senior high school students and 1,487 were used for the analysis. In order to consider regional differences as well as overall characteristics of youths' fastfood and family restaurant visiting behaviors, the subjects were evenly sampled from north Seoul, south Seoul, big cities, middle/small cities and small towns. As for the frequency of visiting fastfood restaurants, 58.3% of the respondents answered 'once to five times' a week. South Seoul area showed the highest frequency. 'Easiness' was the main reason of eating fastfood, which was up to 57.8% of the overall respondents while 42.8% of the small town youth ate fastfood because of the 'good taste.' As for the concepts on fastfood, 42.7% understood it as 'easy to eat' while 33.6% responded as 'easy to get fat.' For the question of getting channel of fastfood information, 44.8% answered 'TV' and 28.3% responded 'from friends.' Coupons were found to affect fastfood restaurant visits, highest in south Seoul, and lowest in small cities. For the question of the relationship of Koreanized menus and fastfood restaurant visits, small towns showed the highest frequency, while South/North Seoul had the lowest frequency. For the percentage of visiting family restaurants, respondents answered in the order of South Seoul(59.7%), North Seoul(44.5%), Big cities(39.5%), small cities(19.4%), and small towns(13.1%). Most of youth visited family restaurants because of the taste, while youths of middle/small cities visited due to the atmosphere. The effect of coupons on visiting family restaurants were found to be lower than the one of fastfood restaurants. Korean youths were found to visit fastfood restaurants very frequently in all regions and the tendency of visiting family restaurants is also increasing. At this point, balanced menus and education for healthy eating habits are urgently needed for the youth.

• 조혜영 | Jo, Hye-Young
• 김선아 | Kim, Sun-Ah