• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.250-265
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• 2014

The purpose of the phenomenological study was to explore the sense of pressure shown from the family adjustment experience according to mothers-in-law's perception and to enrich our understanding about multicultural families. In order to accomplish the purpose of research, 5 mothers-in-law with married immigrant women participated. Data were collected through in-depth interview. In addition, the data were analyzed by a Colaizzi's phenomenological analysis. The findings showed that the meaning of family adjustment experience in mothers-in-law with married immigrant women were identified as 31 themes and 7 categories. The 7 categories consisted of "The sense of pressure of son's marriage", "The sense of pressure of an unsatisfactory daughter-in-law", "The sense of pressure of unfair treatment by a daughter-in-law", "The sense of pressure of living with concerned son and his wife", "The sense of pressure of having a foreign daughter-in-law", "The sense of pressure of dependnet daughter-in-law's parents", "The sense of pressure of the future". Based on the findings, we discussed the meaning of family adjustment experience in mothers-in-law with married immigrant women. And lastly, this results made suggestions for the social welfare policies and practices for them and their families.