• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.135-162
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to investigate Korean men that chose international marriage in terms of motivations, relationships with their spouses in terms of content and process, and quality changes by approaching them in a biography research method, as well as to look into the world of their specific experiences. Ten Korean men in international marriage participated in the study. In-depth interviews with them generated plenty of data. The analysis results of the data indicate that the instrumental nature was strong as for their motivation to marry a woman of a different nationality. They maintained partner relationships with their spouses until the exchange values became equal between them, when tension and conflicts started to happen. The ways they reacted to the crisis determined whether their marital relationships would continue or end. Most of the subjects that succeeded in maintaining their marital relationships deconstructed their own culture, reorganized it at the contact points with the culture of their spouses, and then moved to a new diaspora. The research implications emphasize an academic need to regard female marriage immigrants as a neo-diaspora in the global age. And suggestions were made as to intercultural education.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2008

Purpose: To assess the health status and health behavior characteristics of immigrant women married to Koreans. Method: A descriptive research design was employed. Fifty female marriage immigrants who were clients of the visiting health program at W public health center were recruited. After full consent, direct interview with a structured questionnaire and physical measurements were conducted by visiting health nurses. Descriptive statistics were utilized. Results: All of the subjects showed normal blood sugar. 25.7% of them exhibited extreme body weight condition of either obesity or low body weight by BMI. 36.4% had pre-hypertension stage and 15.9% had first stage of hypertension. Only two of the women had been diagnosed with hypertension and treated by a doctor. Almost all (95%) of them perceived their general health status as good or moderate. Most of them did not exercise, smoke or drink. Regarding dental care, no subject brushed before lunch. and only one did between meals. About 30$\sim$60% of subjects had undergone health screening. Conclusion: Health education is needed for immigrant women married to Koreans to enhance their health behavior, prevent life style disease and improve their health.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.35-49
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was examine the depression among Mongolians in South Korea. We also determined the effect of acculturative stress and social support on depression. In this study, total of 200 adults over age 18 completed the BDI-II of Mongolian Version, Acculturative stress scale for international student, The Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Data were analyzed by using the factor analysis, correlation analysis, t-test, and hierarchical regression analysis. We used SPSS 22.0, AMOS 22.0. We found significant difference in mean scores between groups according to socio-demographic characteristics. The level of depression was high in over 3 years immigrants group (M = 8.41, SD = 9.6954), marriage immigrants group (M = 19.1, SD = 16.7649), and female groups (M = 7.61, SD = 9.2188) than compared to reference groups. Acculturative stress and social support of Mongolian immigrants had a significant impact on depression (β = .365, p <.001; β = .- 555, p <.001). There was a moderating effect of social support on the relationship between acculturative stress and depression (β = 1.080, p <.001). The limitations and implications of the study were discussed. We conclude that this study can be used to assess the depression and the mental health of Mongolians in South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.589-602
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• 2012

The Korean society has gone through a dramatic change in its population, with rapidly increasing number of multicultural families through international marriages since 1990s. This study investigated the differences between multicultural families and Korean families in three areas related to dietary behaviors: diet-related behaviors and perception, and food preferences. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 500 Koreans from Korean families and 104 couples from the multicultural families with Vietnamese wives. More subjects from multicultural families grew up in the countryside, received less education and also had lower income than the subjects from Korean families. Multicultural families ate traditional Korean meals more often at home and dined out less often than Korean families. The multicultural families focused more attention on nutritional aspects of their diets than Korean families. The Vietnamese wives in multicultural families favored Vietnamese foods but they rarely ate those foods in Korea despite an easy accessibility to Vietnamese ingredients. In conclusion, the multicultural families had more traditional Korean dietary patterns than Korean families, which could have been influenced by their socioeconomic factors. Further research with a quantitative analysis is needed in future studies to understand the effect of dietary patterns on nutritional status and quality of life in multicultural and Korean families.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2016

Objectives: In South Korea (hereafter Korea), the number of adolescent offspring of immigrants has rapidly increased since the early 1990s, mainly due to international marriage. This research sought to examine the association between the experience of school violence and mental health outcomes, and the role of help-seeking behaviors in the association, among biethnic adolescents in Korea. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data of 3627 biethnic adolescents in Korea from the 2012 National Survey of Multicultural Families. Based on the victim's help-seeking behavior, adolescents who experienced school violence were classified into three groups: 'seeking help' group; 'feeling nothing' group; 'not seeking help' group. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to examine the associations between the experience of school violence and depressive symptoms for males and females separately. Results: In the gender-stratified analysis, school violence was associated with depressive symptoms in the 'not seeking help' (odds ratio [OR], 7.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.76 to 13.23) and the 'seeking help' group (OR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.73 to 4.44) among male adolescents after adjusting for potential confounders, including the nationality of the immigrant parent and Korean language fluency. Similar associations were observed in the female groups. However, in the 'feeling nothing' group, the association was only significant for males (OR, 8.34; 95% CI, 2.82 to 24.69), but not females (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.18 to 3.28). Conclusions: This study suggests that experience of school violence is associated with depressive symptoms and that the role of victims' help-seeking behaviors in the association may differ by gender among biethnic adolescents in Korea.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2010

Objective : The purpose of the study is to investigate and compare multi-cultural families in terms of mother' s attitude on child-rearing and their children's sensory processing ability. Methods : 19 multi-cultural families and 38 ordinary families were investigated and all the targeted families had children aged 3 to 7 years. Data were collected by a questionnaire asking general characteristics of mother-child; mother's attitude on rearing; and child's sensory processing ability, the Korean-translated version of Short Sensory Profile [SSP], and the Mother nurturing attitude. Data analysis has been done by Descriptive Statistics for subject characteristics and by Mean-Whitney U test for comparison between multi-cultural family group and ordinary family group. Results : There are significant differences between the two family groups in terms of the rearing attitude, especially in sub-item 'refusing(p=.000)'and 'autonomous(p=.000)'. Result of the SSP also indicate significant differences between the two groups in total score(p=.002) and sub-items such as taste/smell sensitivity(p=.004), movement sensitivity(p=.021), underresponsive/seeks sensation(p=.010), auditory filtering(p=.016), low energy/weak(p=.003), visual/auditory sensitivity(p=.029). Conclusion : The results of this study well describe differences between multi-cultural families and ordinary families in maternal child-rearing attitude and sensory processing ability of the children. It is suggested to collect data regarding adaptation of multi-cultural families and their child development through more profound qualitative studies in further.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.12-24
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• 2017

This paper analyzed the representation of migrants in television with the example of KBS's My Neighbor, Charles. This primetime TV show with consistent popularity has showcased different types of migrants from other Korean television shows in terms of gender and race, and, partly the difference brought popularity to it. This study finds the major reason of the difference from changed migration patterns in Korea. Until recently, the main population of immigrants in Korea was composed of female brides and workers, but it became diversified to include male and the West migrants. This triggered the changes in media representation, but not thoroughly. Though the faces of migrant protagonists have been diversified, the remaining ideology of nation-centric that has been the main frame to regard migrants as someone to be integrated through traditional values persists. This study finds a few conflicts between the traditional and the change. For example, represented realities of migrants are extends to include their activities in public domain, disputes of multicultural society such as social differentiation and bias, and the criticism of Korean traditional culture. In a gender perspective, while all the marriages represented showed different kinds of vulnerability, discourses of traditional familialism were also clearly presented through different tools of representation. This study aims at contributing existing studies of media representations of migrants with a more complicated pictures in the context of social changes and migration population changes.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.197-206
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• 2014

This research intends to explore services, programs or policies for supporting married immigrant women to qualify themselves for being employed from the professional point of view on the assumption that their desire to get a job is high. To achieve this purpose, a delphi survey was conducted with a panel of 13 experts related to multi cultural family support in three sessions from December 20, 2013 to June 5, 2014. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, the mean, and standard deviation, were implemented, and Kendall's W for the internal reliability test on the survey instrument was carried out for statistical processing. The results are as follows : from the first session, services, programs, and policies in the level of married immigrant women themselves, children, parents in law and/or husband, organizations, and government were suggested. The highest item in average is systematization of levelwise Korean teaching program. The next higher items in average are daycare service during job training, parents in law and/or husband's consideration, parenting support services, program development of the organizations, linkage and integration system among the government ministries. As a result of the Kendall's W performed for the internal reliability test of the Delphi research, it has been concluded that the professionals' view on the supportive measures' important contents was statistically identical. According to the results of the Delphi research, systematization of levelwise Korean teaching program most required for the furtherance of the married immigrant women's entering the workforce, followed by provision of the services to draw family support, a grounding teaching of Korean corporate culture, and reconsideration of the policies.