• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.47-64
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• 2013

This study aimed to explore the social networks which married immigrant women have in Korea. Special attention was paid to factors such as individual, family, and migrant characteristics contributing to the different patterns of social networks. I drew upon the nationally representative data on 60,719 immigrant women married to Korean men from the '2009 Survey on Korean National Survey on Multicultural Families.' Results showed that the foreign wives tended to maintain a connection with our society through contact with their neighbors and participation in social gatherings. Findings also showed that the types of social networks by the number of trusted neighbors and meetings were diverse among the immigrant women. In addition, the factors differentiating the types were mostly associated with socioeconomic resources or Korean proficiency. More interestingly, the immigrant women's contacts with their family members in their homeland contributed to their maintenance of more active social networks. These results provided a useful outlook on the relationship between patterns of social networks and the characteristics of the married immigrant women, which eventually showed a heterogeneous nature among them. At the societal level, supportive systems for enriching immigrant women's social networks should be developed particularly in terms of not their dependency, but their potential contributions to our society.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.31-40
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• 2018

This paper studies how marriage migrants are being depicted in Korean Cinema. In the recent years, the foreign population in South Korea has been increasing and so has done the presence of migrant minorities in media, including cinema. This study discusses that korean cinema shows dominant ideologies of power in Korean society where marriage migrants are located at the bottom. Five films were analyzed and from this analysis five frames were extracted. Marriage migrants are frequently depicted as subordinated or powerless, they are usually women in the role of wives, mothers, and daughters-in-law, they are treated as ethnic others, sexualized others or commodities. Consequently, their relationships with Korean nationals are formed by power relations. Moreover, Korean national who do establish some sort of intimate relationship with the marriage migrants are represented as people in the margins of Korean society. In this way, it is reinforced the social position of marriage migrants as outsiders in the Korean society.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.451-484
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• 2013

This study investigated the factors that influence subjective well-being of immigrant wives in Korea. We initially grouped the factors into 3 categories: personal, domestic, and social. For personal factors, we included couple's age difference, reason for entry, religion, marital duration, employment status, economical status, acculturation to Korean culture, acquisition of Korean language, and ego-resiliency. For domestic factors we included marriage process, reason for marriage, husbands' understanding of wife's native language, husbands' understanding of wife's culture, marital satisfaction, existence of children, head of the household, and parenting efficacy. Finally for social factors, awareness of welfare services and systems, use of public institutions and civil organizations, and participation in social groups were included. We recruited 256 immigrant wives who live in Asan City, Chungnam Province and the data were analyzed by multiple linear regression. The factors that statistically significant were: ego-resiliency, marital duration, acculturation to Korean culture and economic status among personal factors; parenting efficacy, marital satisfaction and marriage process (married without a matchmaker) among domestic factors; participation in self-help group of women from the same mother country, awareness of welfare services and systems, participation in hobby club, and participation in fraternal/religious society among social factors. It is hoped that this paper will yield general insights into subjective well-being of immigrant wives and may help them to develop inner talent and strength.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.89-101
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• 2010

Increased multi-cultural families over the recent decade have led to more studies on the current situations and problems they face. Fathers in multi-cultural families are supporters who can help their migrant wives adapt their new surroundings; however, it is difficult to find studies on them as their roles as fathers in multi-cultural families have been overlooked. This study develops educational programs for fathers in multi-cultural families and analyzes the effect of the educational programs. The educational program development for fathers in multi-cultural families was based on consideration of related articles, studies, and reports. The effect analysis for the educational program for fathers in multi-cultural families was performed through the investigation of 'self-esteem' and 'parent self-confidence' about educated fathers in multi-cultural families. The educational program for fathers in multi-cultural families was composed of 5 themes which can improve their self-esteem, understand the father's role and function, learn the skills of playing and conversation with their children and express the father's thoughts for his own family using positive methods. We educated 12 fathers in multi-cultural families through the development of the program over 5 weeks to verify the effect of educational programs for fathers in multi-cultural families. The results showed the following : The level of father's self-esteem in multi-cultural family increased 124% and the level of parent self-confidence increased 141%. In conclusion, the educational effect for fathers in multi-cultural family exists and their desire for a successful multi-cultural family increased through the educational programs.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.159-183
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• 2012

This study intends to explore structural characteristics of social networks for female immigrants married to Korean men, and to analyze the relationship between the characteristics and types of social supports provided by their social networks and the differences between support-giving and support-receiving networks. Ego-centered network analysis is used for collecting network data on fifty-three migrant wives selected by a snowball sampling method. Results show that social support receiving and giving networks of female immigrants have similarities rather than differences, which implied that they play roles not only as support receivers, but also as support givers in their social networks. Also the study suggests that there are correlations between networks' characteristics, such as density and effective size of ego network, and types of supports. The result indicates that the less cohesive and less redundant ties female immigrants had, the more diverse and more informational and emotional supports they obtained from their social networks. Due to the sampling method and size, this study has a limitation to generalize the results for the whole population of female immigrants in Korea. However, it provides a basic understanding of female immigrants' social networks.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.217-248
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• 2011

이 글은 싱가포르에 거주하는 한국인 기혼 여성을 대상으로 영구 이민이 아닌 체류이주 맥락에서 일과 가족 양립 문제의 어려움과 그 대응전략을 살펴보는 탐색적 질적 연구이다. 지난 십여 년간 꾸준히 증가한 해외 거주 한국인 중장기 체류자(sojourner)의 수는 2007년 기준으로 1백5십만 명을 넘어섰다. 그 중 상당수는 한국계 기업 파견 직원('주재원')이나 비한국계 다국적기업 혹은 현지기업 종사 이주자로 파악된다. 고학력 전문 기술직 이주자(highly educated professional/high skilled migrant)에 대한 연구가 매우 드문 한국의 맥락에서, 전문 기술직 체류자 중심으로 이주 한국인 사회가 구성된 싱가포르는 전문 기술직 이주자의 일과 가족 양립 문제뿐만 아니라, 체류자 사회(expatriate community) 전반적인 연구의 중요한 대상지로서의 장점이 크다. 연구 질문은 다음과 같다. 체류자로서 외국에서 일하며 살아가는 어려움은 무엇인가? 특히, 이러한 맥락에서 기혼 여성의 일은 어떠한 의미를 지니며 어떠한 대응전략을 마련하는가? 이 연구는 2006년부터 2007년 사이 수행한 전일제 전문직종 종사자, 파트타임 종사자, 전업주부 등 자녀를 둔 26명의 기혼 여성에 대한 심층면접 자료에 근거하여, 아내이자 어머니로서의 일과 가족 양립에 관한 체험적 경험(lived experience)을 탐색적으로 파악하였다. 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 전일제 전문직 종사자의 경우 가정친화적 근무 환경을 갖춘 직장으로의 이직, 남편과의 야간근무 조정 등을 포함한 다양한 전략들을 채택하였다. 파트타임 종사자의 경우 과거 한국에서 전일제 근무를 경험하고 현재 상대적으로 경제적 여유가 있는 경우는 전일제 근무로부터 벗어나는 '일시적 행복감'을 느끼는 경우가 많았다. 비교적 경제적 여유가 없는 경우, 어머니 역할 부족을 발견하는 계기가 되기도 했다. 이러한 어머니로서의 역할은 친지를 비롯한 한국어 구사를 할 수 있는 가사 보조 네트워크가 결핍된 체류이주 맥락에서 일하며 살아가는 것에서 있어, 비교적 쉽고 저렴하게 가사노동자를 고용하더라도, 어머니로서의 역할을 보조하는 데 큰 도움이 되지 않는다는 생각을 확인시켜준다.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.79-89
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• 2010

Objectives: This study aims to identify health status and health risks among female marriage immigrants to Korea and to provide a basis for public health strategies to address their health issues. Methods: The participants of the study were 3,069 immigrant wives. The health examination was conducted by the Korea Association of Health Promotion (KAHP) in 2008. The participants also completed self-administered questionnaires on demographic characteristics, health-related behaviors and mental health. Results: Patterns of immigrant women's health problems differed by age and country of origin. Behavior patterns also differed by their heritage, age, and years of residence in Korea. Generally Vietnamese women fell in lower ranges of disease prevalence and health risk factors in the participant group and Japanese women presented most healthy eating habits. Filipina women showed relatively high disease prevalence than any other group. Conclusion: Immigration to Korea by marriage is relatively a new phenomenon, thus continuing surveillance and research are needed to identify health risks, behavior patterns, and their relationships. Interventions and policies for the health of migrant wives, their children and families are required.