• 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.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.179-188
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• 2016

Purpose: This cross-sectional study aimed to document the dietary behaviors, dietary changes, and health status of female marriage immigrants residing in Gwangju, Korea. Methods: The survey included 92 female immigrants attending Korean language class at a multi-cultural family support center. General characteristics, health status, anthropometric data, dietary behaviors, and dietary changes were collected. Results: Mean age of subjects was 31.3 years, and home countries of subjects were Vietnam (50.0%), China (26.0%), Philippines (12.0%), and others (12.0%). Frequently reported chronic diseases were digestive diseases (13.2%), anemia (12.1%), and neuropsychiatry disorder (8.9%). Seventeen percent of the subjects was obese ($BMI{\geq}25kg/m^2$). Dietary score by Mini Dietary Assessment was 3.45 out of 5 points. Dietary scores for dairy foods, meat/fish/egg/bean intake, meal regularity, and food variety were low, and those for fried foods and high fat meat intake were also low. Thirty-three percent of subjects answered that they have changed their diet and increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables after immigration. Length of residence in Korea was positively associated with BMI and waist circumference. Length of residence tends to be positively associated with dietary changes and obesity as well as inversely associated with disease prevalence. Conclusion: The study shows that length of residence is inversely related to disease prevalence. However, this association is thought to be due to the relatively short period of residence in Korea and thus the transitional phase to adapting to dietary practices. As the length of residence increases, disease patterns related to obesity are subject to change. Healthy dietary behaviors and adaptation to dietary practices in Korea in female marriage immigrants will not only benefit individuals but also their families and social structure. Therefore, varied, long-term, and target-specific studies on female marriage immigrants are highly needed.

• (The)Korea Educational Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.157-182
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• 2012

As more migrants stay for a longer term or settle in Korea through marriage, labor contract, defeat of North Korea, etc, the discourse on the migration policies gets more complicated and expands further beyond the issue of their adaptation to the Korean culture and their rights to encompass their families and children. The social integration policies for children of migrant families in Korea have been mainly led by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. This paper will look at the challenges that children with migrant background face and their problems while reviewing the policies on children with migrant background in a critical perspective. In conclusion, it gives some suggestions to help establish more open society with multi-cultural values espoused.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.275-294
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• 2010

In recent years, international migration of professional workers is significantly increasing as globalization has been deepened more and more. South Korea is not an exception for this case. Immigration of professional workers have steadily increased since 2000 in Korea, and the number reached approximately to 50,000 in 2009. In addition, it is a major trend that immigrants of short-sojourn are decreasing and ones of long-sojourn increasing. Our research shows that foreign language instructor has the greatest number of foreign professional immigrants. The next is professional immigrants related to business-activities. There are considerably entertainers, but they have greatly decreased since 2003. Majority of foreign professional immigrants settle down in a few metropolises. Especially, they reside in Seoul Metropolitan Area and Southeast coastal region. Professional immigrants trend to do with Korean on the base of their offices rather than residental communities in terms of adaptation, and they do not have strong will to reside permanently in Korea. Moreover, they are located at a blind spot of Korean government's foreign immigrant policy, comparing to foreign workers and female marriage immigrants.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.389-402
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• 2018

This study investigated the influence of parenting attitudes and parenting efficacy on parents' educational needs to establish basic data for educational programs and intervention strategies to promote parenting attitudes and parenting efficacy among married immigrant women. This was a study of descriptive correlation among 154 married immigrant women with adolescent children. The results showed that family support and spousal support influenced parenting behavior and stress associated with childcare. Specifically, spousal support and family support were negatively correlated (r = 0.046, F = 3.629 p < 0.05) with parenting attitude (r = 0.046, F = 3.629 p < 0.05). Only spousal support was negatively correlated (r =0.227, F = 7.11 .<.01) with stress from children. Moreover, higher support from the spouse and family was associated with lower parenting stress and higher spousal support was associated with lower stress associated with the relationship with the child. The results of this study will facilitate development of a structured education program for married immigrant women to enhance parenting attitudes, as well as to reduce parenting stress.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.381-388
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• 2019

In South Korea nowadays, Among the married immigrant women in Korea, the proportion of long-term residents living in Korea for more than 10 years is increasing continuously(48%), while the proportion of short-term residents who are under 5 years is decreasing(16%). However, Korean language education and related research in the Marriage and Immigration Women's Center are still focused on the initial immigrants. Therefore, we should classify married immigrant women according to their stay time in Korea, so that Korean language education and teaching materials need to be more diversified. This study focuses on married immigrant women with intermediate and advanced Korean proficiency and chooses a catalogue of Chinese characters idioms to explore the possibility and educational value of using Chinese characters Idioms in Korean education. According to the research results, Chinese characters idiom education can help married immigrant women in Korean language learning and information acquisition, interpersonal relationships and life attitudes, cultural understanding and social adaptation, child rearing and learning guidance. This is the important part of Korean language education that needs to be guided by married immigrant women. Based on this, 130 Chinese characters idioms in Korean language education and textbook development centered on married immigrant women were selected and catalogue edited in four stages. It is hoped that the results of this study will serve as a reference for Korean language education research and textbook development for married immigrant women in the future.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.277-308
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• 2010

Since the globalization, many changes are occurring in our society. Multicultural phenonmenon in the society is becoming one of our major concern in the Korean society. Thus, this study is focusing on the multicultural phenomenon that we are facing since the globalization in Korea. No doubt that immigration is a growing force influencing the demographics of Korea. Since the mid-1990s, immigrant children and children from mixed marriage have become the fastest growing and the most extraordinarily diverse segment of Korea's child population. Until the recent past, Korea's major social attention has focused on adult immigrants to the neglect of their offspring, creating a profound gap between the strategic importance of the new second generation and the knowledge about its socioeconomic circumstances. In other words, there is a significant lack of studies on children of migrant, particularly from the Muslim background living in Korea. International marriage has grown rapidly in Korea since the late 1990s, and this phenomenon is especially common in rural farming communities. Most brides come from China, followed by Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries. However, there are certain number of Muslim bride coming to Korea. There are about 100 thousand muslim peoples living in Korean society. Among them 2.92% are Muslim immigrants' intermarriage with the Koreans. As a result, there are growing number of muslim brides and bridegroom settling in Korea, which would eventually create muslim families in growing korean multicultural societies. This study specify its research on the muslim mixed family by focusing on the offsprings of the muslim background. Our research team has created the new term on such research subject by using Koslim. Koslim is a 1.5 and 2^nd generation from the Muslim back ground family living in Korea. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the awareness and the perception of Koslim by the Korean mainstream people. By doing so, it can analyze the general attitude of Koreans towards the Koslim people. In this sense this study intends to play a groundwork to promote successful coexistence between Korean and Koslim. It is anticipated that this research can lay the basis for Koreans to have more open and tolerant attitude towards our new members of society that is increasing everyday.