• Journal of Family Relations
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.97-127
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• 2016

Objective: This study explored benefits of a relationship-focused intervention to enhance marriage communication designed for multicultural married couples and changes that occurred in the way the program's participants communicated with one another. Method: The intervention program was implemented on six married multicultural couples (and six other couples as a control group), and their communication, conflict resolution, and adaptation before and after the intervention were examined. In addition, the researchers kept observation journals to understand the changes in the manner in which the married multicultural couples communicated with their spouse and examine their perception about participating in the program; further, we conducted post-program interviews with the participants after the completion of the program. Results: The results of this study are as follows: (1) the experiment group made more progress in improving couple communication, resolving marriage conflicts, and adapting as a married couple than the control group in a statistically significant manner in both preand post-program tests, and (2) the study confirmed through qualitative analysis that the program made positive contributions to improving the couples' abilities to have conversations and resolve conflicts, as well as their intimacy. Conclusion: Based on these results, implications for further research and practices were discussed.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of marriage education programs for multicultural couples based on their socio-demographic characteristics. A total of 816 multicultural families (247 Korean husbands and 569 foreign wives) were recruited through 99 Multicultural Family Support Centers across Korea. Descriptive statistics and multiple regressions were conducted. The program needs that were relatively higher than other areas included the need to develop education on "understanding the culture and language of partner," "increased intimacy of the couple," "multicultural awareness," and "set goals for life." We also found that each participant's gender, foreign wife's country of origin, participant's education level, and marriage duration were significantly related to the needs of marriage education programs. These findings suggest that family life education for multicultural couples should be based on the characteristics of the program participants such as socio-demographic characteristics and family life cycle instead of providing a universal program for all multicultural couples.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.202-214
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• 2015

This study aims to develop and apply communication and relationship enrichment programs for married multicultural couples and verify its effects. This preliminary program was developed based on results from reviews of existing intervention programs, participants' interview for their needs and professionals' feedback on program. The program includes 11 sessions(once a week; 2 hours per session) focusing on communication strategies and related activities using marital counseling. Four multicultural couples participated in the intervention program. Qualitative data was collected during the program, including voice recording files, activity sheets, and filed notes conducted by researchers. Based on the results from the data analysis, we could find the intervention program had an positive effect on the communication between multicultural couples. Specifically, the intervention program could (1) enhanced intimacy in the couples, (2) started conversation and improved communication patterns between the couples. And also (3) modes of communication were changed to more collaborative communication through this program. The marital communication program developed in this study is significant in that it played a catalytic role for marital conversation in multicultural couples and used professional counseling techniques and strategies in solving and managing marital conflict.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.305-312
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• 2013

The purpose of this qualitative study is to analyze the experience of multicultural couples who participated in the movie making educational activity within the program "Communication Development among Multicultural and Indigenous Couples Through Intercultural Praxis." This program was held for 8 months from March 10, 2012 to November 11, 2012. Among the participants, 4 couples agreed for both individual and group interviews and provided data for this paper. The interview result can be categorized into the following four: quality relationship, acceptance and support, positive thinking, and accomplishment.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.31-57
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors affect the marital life of multicultural families. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 immigrated females and their husbands living in Yongsan-Gu, Seoul, Korea, by open-ended questionnaire. The interviews took place on September 11, 2008, and October 11, 2008. The major findings can be summarized as follows: Through the content analysis of the informants' responses, three major factors were found to influence the successful adjustment of the married female immigrants: personal factors, familial support, and social support systems. Among the personal factors, the self-esteem of the married couples is relatively high. However, the factor of the economic living conditions of the multicultural families indicates some difficulty. Finally, considering the level of self-development of the female immigrants' husbands, an older husband was viewed more negatively than a younger one. In terms of familial support, the most important factor affecting the adjustment of a foreign wife is the trust of her husband and her relationship with the husband's family. Accordingly, educational programs are necessary to promote multicultural understanding and the couples' relations. In social support systems, the female immigrants experienced neglect, as far as multicultural prejudice in society. Therefore, in order to revitalize the self-esteem of immigrants, we need to reach out to multicultural families. The center for support of multicultural families provides opportunities to find training, upgrade education for employment, and expand their social network. In addition, it is necessary for the national public relations industry to recognize improvements regarding the adjustment of multicultural families.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.101-117
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• 2011

This research is intended to explore the adaptation process for immigrant women and their Korean spouses through a qualitative method. It is aimed at understanding how immigrant women and their Korean spouses have adjusted to their lives in Korea over the last 10 years and how they have dealt with difficulties in the adaptation process. The participants were 15 intermarried couples consisting of a Southeast Asian wife and a Korean husband. They got married through matchmakers and have children between the ages of 8 and 13. The study carried out in-depth interviews. To analyze the interview data, the qualitative software program Nvivo8 was used. The results showed that immigrant women and their Korean spouses experienced confusion at first. They struggled adapting to each other's lifestyles and made efforts to establish harmony. In the end, they made their own family identity as a multicultural family. The study widens the understanding of multicultural families by focusing on both wives and husbands. Also, the use of the Nvivo8 software strengthens the reliability of the data analysis. The results will contribute to providing interracial couples with the adaptive strategies.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.123-136
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the marital satisfaction of husbands in multicultural families. This study will provide basic data to develop the policies and services related to multicultural families. Data were collected through the questionnaire method from 99 multicultural couples. Analysis of the data consisted of t-tests to compare the psychological characters of the couple and multiple regression to analyze the independent effects of the related variables. The results can be summarized as follows: First, self-esteem, depression, and multicultural acceptance attitude are significantly higher for the wife than for the husband. Second, regarding the influence of the relevant factors on the husband's marital satisfaction, the most significant factors include the gap in the couple's ages, the husband's self-esteem and sex role attitude, and the wife's sex role attitude, godiness, and marital satisfaction.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.589-602
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• 2012

The Korean society has gone through a dramatic change in its population, with rapidly increasing number of multicultural families through international marriages since 1990s. This study investigated the differences between multicultural families and Korean families in three areas related to dietary behaviors: diet-related behaviors and perception, and food preferences. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 500 Koreans from Korean families and 104 couples from the multicultural families with Vietnamese wives. More subjects from multicultural families grew up in the countryside, received less education and also had lower income than the subjects from Korean families. Multicultural families ate traditional Korean meals more often at home and dined out less often than Korean families. The multicultural families focused more attention on nutritional aspects of their diets than Korean families. The Vietnamese wives in multicultural families favored Vietnamese foods but they rarely ate those foods in Korea despite an easy accessibility to Vietnamese ingredients. In conclusion, the multicultural families had more traditional Korean dietary patterns than Korean families, which could have been influenced by their socioeconomic factors. Further research with a quantitative analysis is needed in future studies to understand the effect of dietary patterns on nutritional status and quality of life in multicultural and Korean families.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2011

In Korea, the number of foreigners reached about 1,260,000. So we are now living in a multicultural society. There are more than 36,000 multicultural students in kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school(2010's standards). In other words, Still more multicultural students are expected to increase in the future. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest problems which mixed couples and immigrants from other countries have had is most concerned about possible bias and discrimination of their children. Study has shown that multicultural students are alienated from the others at school, because of their skin colours, the pronunciation they speak Korean, and maladjustment in their school life. Actually, multi-cultural education program should be applied to the first grade in elementary school. Besides, teachers have to direct multicultural and general students with integrated education. Study also found that it is necessary to use more visuals and pictures as the main multi-cultural education. And books and CDs should be used as guide materials. It's desirable that the appropriate time to teach relate to lesson.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.147-163
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• 2016

Multicultural Family Support Centers (MFSC) have provided five program areas including family, gender equality, human rights, social integration, and counseling since 2015. It is important to examine the MFSC staff's perceptions of the family programs and program needs for multicultural families to improve the effectiveness of these programs. In this study, we aim to explore the staff's perceptions of the family programs and to assess multicultural family program needs based on the family life cycle. A total of 130 MFSC staff were recruited through 128 MFSCs across Korea. Descriptive statistics were conducted for data analysis. Our findings revealed that MFSC staff have increasingly recognized that their target audiences are not only marriage immigrants and their families but also foreign workers' families and families from North Korea. In addition, the MFSC staff identified the importance of family programs instead of only programs for individual family members and multicultural families' different program needs based on their family life cycle. Contrary to the positive perception of the family programs, they described challenges of the family programs including a shortage of funds, difficulty recruiting family member combinations (e.g., couples, parent-child) for family programs, a lack of a program manual, and a heavy workload. This study provides insights into the family programs including their development and delivery.