• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2009

This study examined academic achievement of children in female marriage immigrant families (MIF) and children in general families (GF). Subjects were 78 MIF and 82 GF children recruited from Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces. Academic achievement was determined by questionnaires completed by their teachers; intelligence was measured with standardized intelligence tests. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and ANCOVA. Results showed that (1) academic achievement of MIF children was lower than that of GF children in overall academic achievement and individual subject achievement. (2) The difference in academic achievement between the two groups remained after controlling for intelligence. Results of this study illustrate the urgent need for supportive policy to enhance the academic achievement of MIF children.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.69-90
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• 2014

This study focused on the adjustment of family living culture in relation to women who have immigrated for marriage. Specifically, it sought to determine how Vietnamese immigrant women understand and adapt to the culture of family life in Seoul, Korea. The investigation was conducted from 2 May to 30 May 2014, with 28 Vietnamese immigrant women as participants. Personal, family, social, and cultural factors affecting family life and culture were considered. It was determined that Vietnamese women can easily adapt to life in Korea to provide; the results of the material analysis are described below. First, Vietnamese immigrant women are satisfied with their economic life in Korea. In Vietnam, women have the right to marry Korean men if they want to. Vietnamese women are encouraged to marry want to marry a Korean man. Because they are satisfied with the present marriage. Second, migrant women learn to adapt to South Korean culture and food. However, cultural differences between a woman's husband and mother-in-law can become a source of conflict. Third, children of multicultural families easily accept Vietnamese people, since they are educated to do so through their Vietnamese mothers Vietnamese woman wants to teach their children the Vietnamese food and culture. Fourth, the Vietnamese immigrant women also participate in multicultural family support centers and communities. They want to become productive members of society through employment opportunities in South Korea. Fifth, the cultural and welfare policies of the government should be carried on so that migrant women are able to study cultural adaptation. This case study examined difficulties that Vietnamese immigrant women have in adjusting to life and culture in Korea. The findings could be used as a resource to help Vietnamese women living in Korea.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.107-127
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to explore how married female immigrants adjust to their lives in Korea. A total of 15 women from three different countries participated in the study. The major issues that these women faced included communication breakdowns with their husband and other family members, financial problems as well as problems with raising children in a different culture. The findings showed that such problems were usually rooted in a lack of Korean cultural knowledge and skills. Additionally, the inaccurate use of the language by married female immigrants who have lived in Korea for longer than six months was often fossilized. For instance, because they usually learned the language in a local dialect, it took them longer to distinguish the dialect from standard Korean. The results found that married female immigrants who received both Korean lessons and family life education instructions overcame their culture shock and adapted to Korean culture more easily than those who did not receive such instructions.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1151-1165
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• 2008

This study examined the current status of consumer competency such as consumer knowledge, consumer role attitude, and consumer skill and the related factors among female marriage immigrants. The data were collected from 220 female marriage immigrants living in Yeungnam region. The results of this study were as follows. First, the mean for consumer knowledge was 5.555, the mean for consumer role attitude was 4.067, and the mean for consumer skill was 3.841. Second, the results of t-tests and ANOVA showed that there were differences in the category of consumer knowledge according to age, educational level, marriage duration period, and Internet contact frequency. And the differences were found in age, educational level. communication with family about consumption and TV contact frequency for consumer role attitude, whereas in age, educational level, marriage duration period, employment status, communication with family about consumption and communication with friends about consumption for consumer skill. Third, according to the regression analyses, educational level was significant for consumer knowledge. Additionally, communication with family about consumption and TV contact frequency were significant for consumer role attitude, and age, educational level, communication with family about consumption and communication with friends about consumption were significant for consumer skill.

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

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.1-13
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• 2010

This study investigated how the characteristics of female international marriage immigrants, their husbands, their children, and their families affected their parenting self-efficacy, using a sample of 187 female international marriage immigrants, from China, the Philippines, or Vietnam, now living in Pusan and Gyungnam, Korea. We used questionnaires were based on the studies by Choe & Chung (2001), Shin (1997), Lee (1996), and Lee & Song (1991), and with the addition of demographic characteristics. Analysis results showed that the mother's parenting self-efficacy subscales correlated positively with mother's educational level, social support, and Korean language level; husband's educational level; and family income, and negatively with mother's depression, husband's age, and mother's acculturative stress. Multiple regressions indicated that husband's support was the strongest predictor of female international marriage immigrants' parenting self-efficacy.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.40-50
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• 2018

This study is intended to develop a fashion styling training program for female international marriage immigrants. To collect basic data for program development, a total of ten female international marriage immigrants living in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do, were interviewed on relevant subjects, such as clothing life and their interest in fashion and fashion training programs. According to the interviews, they prefer Korean fashions, have difficulty purchasing and coordinating clothes while living in Korea, and felt that others were staring at them because of their appearance and fashion styles. For the question about interest in fashion, most respondents answered that they have great interest in fashion and managing their appearance. For the question about the need for a training program in fashion styling for female international marriage immigrants, most respondents answered that it is necessary, and most respondents also answered that they would participate in such a program if it were available. The contents of the training program for fashion styling for female international marriage immigrants was composed of the following sections: Understanding of Fashion Styling, Variety of Fashion Styling, and Fashion Styling Practice. The section on the understanding of fashion styling is composed of the concept of fashion styling and the elements of fashion styling. The section on variety in fashion styling is composed of styling based on fashion image, face type, body type, and TPO. The section on fashion styling practice is composed of the practice of fashion styling on an actual person based on the knowledge obtained through the program.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.30-42
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials and assistance for developing a nutritional education program targeting marriage immigrant women, and it was carried out on 86 female marriage immigrants living in the Gyeongbuk region. An average age of the female marriage immigrants who participated in this survey were 28.6 years, and their home countries were the Philippines (32.6%), Vietnam (29.1%), and so on. Exactly 59.3% of subjects had been married for 1~5 years, and 40.7% of the subjects had an education status of less than middle school graduation. The majority of them (65.1%) had one more children, and 51.2% of subjects were a part of a nuclear-family, with the husband's age between 40~49 years old (58.1%). Concern for nutrition label was significantly different according to number of children (P<0.01), period of marriage (P<0.001), and education level (P<0.05). It was demonstrated that a higher level of education was associated with a higher need to learn about nutritional information. Understanding nutritional facts and knowledge was significantly higher among the women with two children than no child (P<0.05), period of marriage >10 years than <1 year (P<0.01), and education level of college & university graduation than less than middle school (P<0.05). Sixty percent of the women surveyed participated in the education program of 'Korean language' as they were in their country, and the most preferred education program was 'Korean dietary life and culture' (39.5%). Regarding participation and educational method, the majority of subjects responded that they wanted to learn nutritional education in a cooking academy or school (52.9%) and public health center (34.1%).

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.63-77
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• 2008

This study was performed to develop the basic framework of multicultural art education programs for female foreign immigrants married to Korean males. First, these programs aim to lessen their cultural variance in acculturizing in Korea, and thereafter enhance their emotional stability and improve their creative ability to integrate cultural diversity into family life. The primary objective of this study was to offer a suitable education program and evaluation criteria for the program; the research has been done through person-to person interviews with 53 subjects using a series of questionnaires composed of 8 five-point Likert-Scaled items. As for the process of the interview, the subjects were asked about their satisfaction with each program item twice in order to comparetheir impressions before and after program participation. The satisfaction scores were analyzed using frequency distribution. In addition, the program effects were also evaluated by coordinators and developers from their subjective comments through periodical evaluation meetings. From the results, it is observed that art education programs are beneficial for improving female immigrants' emotionaland cultural integration. In addition, experts determined that the programs were helpful for improving their human relationship and acculturization in Korea. Finally, it is concluded that multicultural education programs are a primary fundamental infra-structural way of integrating diverse cultures and improving communication exchanges, and therefore, improve family stability among the multicultural families in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.127-157
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• 2014

The multicultural family support project provides support services to female marriage immigrants to promote their settlement in Korea and their adaptation to marital life. This study thus investigated whether utilization of such support services is indeed related to positive changes perceived among these female marriage immigrants, and these changes, in turn, contribute to less marital conflict, marital well-being, and hope. Data were drawn from a self-administered questionnaire study in which 558 female marriage immigrants participated through the 36 centers across the nation that provided multicultural family support services based on cultural relativism and a strengths perspective. Results of structural equation modeling analyses revealed that utilization of support services, as predicted, contributed to positive changes, and such changes, in turn, were directly related to less marital conflict, higher marital well-being, and hope. As expected, marital conflict was negatively associated with marital well-being, which, in turn, promoted hope. Thus, through these paths positive changes also contributed positively to both marital well-being and hope. However, when the effects of length of residence in Korea and an ability to command Korean language were controlled for, a positive significant relationship between service utilization and marital conflict was revealed. Therefore this paper discussed the ways in which positive functions of such service utilization can be strengthened while at the same time actively addressing the dysfunctional components of such support services.