Cross- cultural Study of Clothing Deprivation and Clothing Decision Criteria in Korean and Taiwanese Young Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare the perception of Korean and Taiwanese young women's clothing deprivation and clothing decision factors. The study used a convenience sample consisting of 238 female college students: 101 Korean with a mean age of 20.78 and 137 Taiwanese with a mean age of 21.03. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 14.0 for windows was used for the data analysis. The clothing decision criteria and clothing deprivation scale were used for the study. The Koreans chose both brand name and newest fashion as higher criteria than Taiwanese. Both countries chose fit (4.28/ 4.09) as an important factor of how often they think about things when they decide what clothes to wear. Compared to Korean women, clothing deprivation for clothes for school was twice as high among Taiwanese women. Korean women had relatively low percentage of clothing deprivation for clothing for school and for friends. However, they did have higher clothing deprivation for dress-up clothes.