Browse > Article

Resilience and Mental Health among Migrant Workers in Busan, Korea  

Im, Hyuk (Dongseo University, Division of Social Welfare)
Lee, Hyo Young (Dongseo University, Department of Health Administration)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion / v.29, no.5, 2012 , pp. 13-26 More about this Journal
Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between resilience of migrant workers and their mental health for improving their quality of life and adaptation in Korean society. Methods: Data were collected from March 21 to May 7, 2011. The participants included 488 migrant workers who lived in Busan Metropolitan City or Gyoungnam province. Results: First, heavy working burdens and lack of rests, low wages, poor living environments, low economic status & deficiency of living necessities, hard physical labors, and conflicts with Korean workers had negative effects on mental health. Second, high perceived stress caused by usual 'living difficulties', high 'cutural shock', high feeling of 'social isolation', and high discomfort from 'lack of Korean language proficiency' gave negative effects on migrant worker's mental health. Third, the most important factor on the mental health was the 'cultural shock' among stressors. Even though many stressors existed among migrant workers, these negative effects on mental health were lessened by their high resilience level. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of migrant workers in Busan, Korea. To improve their mental health, social support including financial supports and educational programs that foster resilience needed.
Keywords
Migrant workers; Mental health; Resilience; Stress-coping model; Acculturation stress;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Kim, O. S., & Kim, G. H. (2003). Stress and health perception in cho-sun migrant workers. Korean Journal of Nursing Science, 15(1), 9-16.
2 Korea Immigration Service Ministry of Justice[KISMJ]. (2009). 2009 Statistics of immigration. Seoul, Korea: Author.
3 Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York, NY: Springer.
4 Lee, H. K., Jeong, K. S., Lee, J. H., & Seol, D. H. (2002). Comparative study on the labor management style in domestic and overseas Korean companies. Korean Sociology, 36(3), 47-77.
5 Lee, J. H. (2001). Perceived wage-fairness of migrant workers in Korea. Population Association of Korea, 24(2), 179-225.
6 Lee, J. H., & Lee, S. Y. (2007). Migrant Characteristics of Foreign Workers and Research Trends in Korea. Population Association of Korea, 30(2), 147-168.
7 Lee, J. H., & Zong, X. M. (2006). Organizational commitment of Chinese workers at Korean Companies in Korea and China. International and Area Studies, 10(2), 603-629.
8 Lee, M. H., Park, J. I., Koo, J. W., & Lim, H. W. (1997). The stress level according to the working status in the migrant workers. The Korean Journal of Occupational Medicine, 9(2), 309-319.
9 Lee, S. W., Kim, G. S., Kim, T. G., Ryu, H. W., Lee, M. Y., Won, Y. I., & Song, Y. H. (2009). The relationship between job stress and depressive symptoms in migrant workers in Kyung-gi Province in Korea. The Korean Journal of Occupational Medicine, 21(1), 76-86.
10 Magana, C. G., & Hovey, J. D. (2003). Psychological stressors associated with Mexican migrant farmworkers in th Midwest United States. Journal of Immigrant Health, 5(2), 75-86.   DOI   ScienceOn
11 Mumford, D. B. (1998). The measurement of culture shock. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33, 144-154.
12 Ou, S. W., Cho, B. L., Huh, B. Y., Lim, K. E., Hong, S. K., & Choi, K. M. (2000). A study of medical utilization and health status for migrant workers in Korea. The Korean Academy of Family Medicine, 21(8), 1053-1064.
13 Park, H. Y. (2006). An ecological perspective on linguistic human rights of Asian migrant workers. Asian Studies, 48(4), 205-283.
14 Russell, D., Peplau, L., & Cutoron, C. (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 472-480.   DOI
15 Rutter, M. (1993). Resilience: Some conceptual considerations. Journal of Adolescent Health, 14(8), 626-631.   DOI   ScienceOn
16 Sarasson, I., Sarasson, B., Shearin, E., & Pierce, G. (1987). A brief measure of social support: Practical and theoretical implications. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4, 497-510.   DOI
17 Seol, D. H. (2005). Migrants workers and human rights: looking through sovereignty of a nation and fundamental rights of citizen as well as contradiction element of human fundamental rights. Democracy and Human Rights, 5(2), 39-77.
18 Statistics Korea. (2009). Population of world and Korea. Seoul, Korea: Author.
19 Suk, W. J. (2002). Living environment of migrant workers. Education Critics, 10, 170-182.
20 Tran, T. V., Tricia, S., & Hyunh-Hohnbaun, A. T. (2008). A measure of English acculturation stress and its relationship with psychological and physical health status in a sample of elderly Russian immigrants. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 50(3/4), 37-50.   DOI
21 Wangnild, G. M., & Young, H. M. (1993). Development and psychometric evaluation of the resilience scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 1, 165-178.
22 Seol, D. H., Choi, H. Y., & Han, G. S. (2002). Human rights in migrant workers in Korea. Seoul, Korea: National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
23 Sim, U. S. (2008). The problem & current situation of remittance by illegal residents in Korea: Around Mongolian workers. Mongolian Study, 24, 313-342.
24 Wilks, S. E., & Croom, B. (2008). Perceived stress and resilience in Alzheimer's disease caregivers: Testing moderation and mediation models of social support. Aging & Mental Health, 12(3), 357-365.   DOI   ScienceOn
25 Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2009). The age of migration(4th ed). New York, NY: Guilford.
26 Yang, O. K., Choi, S. Y., Song, I. S., Kwon, J. S., Yang, H. Y., & Yeom, T. S. (2009). Social welfare and resiliency. In R. Greence (ed.), Resiliency: and integrated approach to practice, policy and research. Seoul, Korea: Namam.
27 Yang, O. K., Kim, M. O., & Choi, M. M. (2006). Strengthening family resilience. Seoul, Korea: Namam.
28 Yu, X., & Zhang, J. (2007). Factor analysis and psychometric evaluation of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) with Chinese people. Social Behavior and Personality, 35(1), 19-30.   DOI   ScienceOn
29 Berry, J. W., & Sam, D. L. (1997). Acculturation and adaptation. In J. W. Berry, M. H. Segall, C. Kagitcibasi (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology. Vol 3: Scocial behavior and applications (2nd ed, pp. 291-326). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
30 Boyle, E. S., & Harrison, B. E. (1981). Factor structure of the health locus of control scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 37(4), 819-824.   DOI
31 Chesney, M. A., Beilands, T. B., Chambers, D. B. J., Taylor, M., & Folkman, S. (2006). A validity and reliability study of the coping self-efficacy scale. British Journal of Health Psychology, 11, 421-437.   DOI   ScienceOn
32 Choi, S. H. (2007). Alcohol-drinking state and determination of problem and binge drinking. Alcohol Science, 8, 49-64.
33 Cohen, S., Kamrarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.   DOI   ScienceOn
34 Conner, K. M., Jonathan, R., & Davidson, T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Conner-Davision Resilience Scale(CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76-82.   DOI   ScienceOn
35 Goldberg, D. P., & Hiller, V. F. (1979). A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 9, 139-145.   DOI
36 Han, K. S. (2003). Korea society and migrant workers' representation. Cross Cultural Studies, 9(2), 157-193.
37 Humphreys, J. (2003). Resilience in sheltered battered women. Mental Health Nursing, 24, 137-152.   DOI   ScienceOn
38 Jang, Y. J. (2006). Growth of the business area for migrant workers and ethnic networks: In Case of Wongok-Dong, Ansan. Journal of Korean Regional Geographer, 12(5), 523-539.
39 Jung, G. S. (2003). Migrant workers's workplace adaptation: Migrant workers workplace and living. Seoul, Korea: Knowledge Ground.
40 Kim, D. I., Lee, S. M., & Eun, H. J. (2001). The reliability and validity of General Health Questionnaire for screening of psychiatric patients. Social Science, 27, 221-230.
41 Kim, C. H., Seol, D. H., & Hong, S. K. (2006). Human rights to health of migrant workers. Korean Regional Sociology, 7(2), 93-129.
42 Kim, J. E. (2006). The analysis of the educational materials and current situation for migrant workers in Korea. Korean Journal of Bilingualism, 30, 77-112.