• Journal of Korean language education
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2018

This study aims to analyze words and phrases which are frequently used in newsletters from Korean elementary schools. In order to achieve this goal, high frequent words from school newsletters were selected and classified into content and function words, and the domains of the words were looked up. For this study 1,000 school newsletters were collected in the areas of Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam. In terms of parts of speech, nouns, especially common nouns, most frequently appeared in the school newsletters followed by verbs and adjectives. This result shows that for immigrant women who have basic knowledge on Korean language, it is useful to give translated words to get the message of school letters. Furthermore, school related terms such as facilities, regulations and activities of school and Chinese-based vocabularies are found in school newsletters. In case of verbs, the words which contain the meaning of requests and suggestions are used the most. Adjectives which are related to positive value and evaluation, and describing weather and season is frequently used as well.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.432-447
• /
• 1994

Koreans are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in America. Adjsting to life in foreign country produces a great deal of stress. Differences in culture, language, expectation and social behavior can lead to misunderstandings. The pregnancy and delivery event is one of maturational crisis in life cycle. The purpose of this research was to understand the structure of the lived experience of pregnant women and postpartum mothers who had immigrated to the United States. The research question was "What is the structure of the experience of pregnant women and postpartal mothers?" The sample consisted of 16 women registrated at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of one local clinic in Hawaii. The unstructured interviews were carried out from Jnuary 5, through January, 30, 1994. They were audio-recorded and analyzed using Van Kaam's method. There are different views on the causative factors of stress. Maladjustement to the immigrant life, spousal conflicts, anxiety related to bringing up the bay and conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are considered to be related factors. The experiences of pregnant women over the period of the pregnancy can be varied and can include change of body image, emotional and physical change. The experiences of postpartum mothers over the postpartum period can be varied and can include postpartum depression emotional irritability, fear related to bringing up the baby and disappointment with husband. Positive experiences over the period of pregnancy and postpartum were the strengthen-ing beliefs. Sources of support were, first, spouse then mother and faith. Support was also received from the physician in charge and through self-control. The nurse, by providing empathetic support, should be a person with whom they can express their feelings and share their experiences.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.171-194
• /
• 2012

This study focuses on immigrant women who are married to Korean men and who live in a multicultural family situation in Gyeonggi-do. These women experience acculturative stress and marital conflict and this study aims to determine how social support seeks to mediate the effects of those stressors. The women in this study participated in activities and received services from one of Gyeonggi-do Province's civic organizations, religious organizations, or social service organizations, such as the Social Welfare Agency and the Multicultural Family Support Center. In order to verify the study's hypothesis, the researchers used the following statistical analytical methods : t-test, two-way ANOVA and multi-regression analysis. Analysis of the study's results showed that the highest degree of marital conflict was found in the sub-zones and variables that were personal. Those variable were : the difference in mindset and values (personal domain), economic problems (communal living area), a child's upbringing and education issues (third party area), and the participant's sex life (in the marital relationship). The hypothesis was tested using the research model validation and the results are summarized as follows. First, in order to analyze the relationship between the marriage migration females' acculturative stress and the impact of that stress on marriage conflict, the hierarchical regression analysis was used. It identified that a direct correlation existed between acculturative stress and marriage conflict; where a higher degree of acculturative stress was present, a higher degree of marriage conflict was found. Second, the study found a statistical significance in the correlation and relationship (${\beta}$=.208, p<0.05) between the acculturative stress of the marriage migration female and material support. In other words, the material support can be seen as having a moderating effect on the acculturative stress, which is the independent variable, and the marital conflict, which is the dependent variable.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.121-145
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand married female immigrants' life adjustment process in Korea by explaining the resources to which they have access and how they use them. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with ten female participants who have more than one child, have participated in programs of the multicultural family support center, have work experience, can communicate with Koreans, and live in Daegu. The major findings are as follows. The participants' personal resources differed. English language skills were very useful resources for making money and for earning the respect of family members and others. However, the participants without English language skills had sincerely and actively tried to learn the Korean language and gain bilingual competence. The participants obtained diverse family resources from their husbands and parents-in-law after adapting themselves to perform their gender role. Further, the participants used the social resources offered by public support systems as a starting point for learning the Korean language in their early adaptation process, and formed personal networks with staff members at the multicultural family support center. The results show that the participants used many kinds of resources for acculturation by interacting positively with their environment. Moreover, the resources from diverse levels of their environments affected their acculturation process.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.972-986
• /
• 2015

This study seeks to explore the relationship between clothing adaptation and acculturation for married Chinese immigrant women. In addition, it aims to analyze the differences in their clothing consumption behaviors according to acculturation level. To achieve these purposes, a quantitative research study was conducted on 291 wives of Korean-Chinese multicultural families in Seoul and Gyeonggi. The data was analyzed using factor analysis, cluster analysis, ANOVA, and the Duncun test. The findings were as follows. First, the women were divided into three groups based on their level of acculturation, which was defined as 'assimilated', 'marginalized' and 'segregated'. Second, the relationship between their acculturation level and their clothing adaptation was identified. The marginalized group had the lowest level of clothing adaptation. Third, the groups' differences in clothing selection criteria were analyzed. The segregated group considered the practical aspects (price, color, quality) of clothing to be more important than the other groups. The marginalized group scored the lowest in valuing the aesthetic factors (design, style, trendiness) of clothing. Finally, conformity of clothing consumption varied significantly based on acculturation level. The assimilated and marginalized groups showed higher levels conformity than did the segregated group. Clothing purchase location also varied significantly between the three groups. The assimilated and marginalized groups preferred online shopping, but members of the segregated group preferred to carry out their shopping off-line. This study showed that clothing adaptation and clothing consumption behaviors play key roles in understanding the acculturation of multicultural families.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.319-326
• /
• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The immigrant population has grown considerably in South Korea since the early 1990s due to international marriages. Dietary changes in immigrants are an important issue, because they are related to health and disease patterns. This study was conducted to compare changes in dietary intake between baseline and follow-up periods. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Two hundreds thirty three Vietnamese female married immigrants. Baseline data were collected during 2006-2009, and the follow-up data were collected during 2008 and 2010. Food consumption was assessed using a 1-day 24-hour recall. RESULTS: The amount of the total food consumed (P < 0.001) including that of cereals (P = 0.004), vegetables (P = 0.003), and fruits (P = 0.002) decreased at follow-up compared to that at baseline, whereas consumption of milk and dairy products increased (P = 0.004). Accordingly, the overall energy and nutrient intake decreased at follow-up, including carbohydrates (P = 0.012), protein (P = 0.021), fiber (P = 0.008), iron (P = 0.009), zinc (P = 0.006), and folate (P = 0.002). Among various anthropometric and biochemical variables, mean skeletal muscle mass decreased (P = 0.012), plasma high density lipoprotein-cholesterol increased, (P = 0.020) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein decreased at follow-up (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A long-term follow-up study is needed to investigate the association between changes in food and nutrient intake and anthropometric and biochemical variables in these Vietnamese female marriage immigrants.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.305-326
• /
• 2010

This study aimed to investigate couple relationship and related variables of women immigrants. Especially, the study focused on curve term between couple relationship and related variables. The data were collected from a sample of 346 women immigrants living in S city, Chungnam province. First, the study indicated that there was some curve relationship between couple satisfaction and period of residence in Korea. Namely, the couple satisfaction of women immigrants was likely to decrease at the early period of residence, but the longer the period of residence was, the higher the couple satisfaction was. Second, the result revealed that there was no significant relationship between couple satisfaction and level of Korean proficiency. Third, there was some curve relationship between couple satisfaction and satisfaction of life. The couple satisfaction was likely to increase in a shape of curve according to the increase of life satisfaction.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.393-408
• /
• 2018

This study aims to raise our understanding of how memory of a social group is transnationally appropriated and utilized by other subjects. A collective sense of justice for comfort women has been handed to many Koreans either in Korea or in overseas countries since the early 1990s. In the U.S., the first comfort women monument was established in Palisades Park, New Jersey by Korean-Americans and local politicians as they wanted to strengthen the common sense of Korean ethnicity with the symbolic power of the memoryscape. Exploring the diffusion of comfort women memorials in the U.S., this study examines the complexity and multilayered structure of memory politics and its transnational mobility, which are connected to Korean-Americans' struggle for belonging.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.134-150
• /
• 2010

Objectives: This study was for analyzing the research about international marriage immigrant women and a trial to find the right direction for future research. Methods: Sixty articles published from June, 2004 to June, 2009 were reviewed and analyzed according to the general characteristics, major of author, and theme of health domains. Results: Most of them were master's thesis(71.7%) and journals(21.7%) and doctoral dissertation(6.7%) have been published mostly after thesis. Among 83.3% for quantitative research, descriptive(33.3%) and descriptive correlation(41.7%) methods were the most used and there were some qualitative researches(16.7%). The most frequently used data gathering method was questionnaire(81.7%) and the next was interview(16.7%). The major rates of the author were 61.7% for social welfare and 2.1% for nursing. The investigated variables in social health domain were adaptation(28.3%), and communication(1.7%). In psychological health domain, marriage satisfaction(16.7%), life satisfaction(11.7%), and depression(10.0%) were most researched. Utilization of medical center(5.0%) and health promotion behavior(1.7%) were investigated in physical health domain. Conclusions: Above this, most articles were researched about the adaptation of international marriage immigrant women. But the life in foreign countries can cause physical and psychosocial unhealthy conditions, so many-sided health related researches are supposed to be conducted for adaptation and prevention health problems of international marriage immigrant women.

• Anxiety and mood
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.26-32
• /
• 2015

Objective : The objective of this study was to examine the mental health status and its correlates of the marriage-migrant women in Seoul, Korea. Methods : One hundred and seventy marriage-migrant women and one hundred and sixteen married Korean women were recruited from community to complete Symptom Check List-90-Revision (SCL-90-R). Marriage-migrant women were also asked for their socio-demographic factors, acculturative stress, family-relationship stress, and social support. The scores on the SCL-90-R were compared between marriage-migrant women and married Korean women, and the correlates of marriage-migrant women's mental health were investigated. Results : Compared to married Korean women, marriage-migrant women showed lower levels of mental health problems including somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Longer length of residence in Korea, lower family income, social support, higher acculturation stress, and family relationship stress were all associated with mental health problems of marriage-migrant women Results : Our results suggest that mental health of marriage-migrant women is not necessarily bad, and several factors may affect their mental health. However, further studies are required in a larger representative sample to confirm the study findings.