Search

Depressive symptoms are one of the mental health problems among Korean American (KA) youth. Although several studies examined mental distress among KA youth, few have examined the associations between different familial factors, negative emotionality, and depressive symptoms among them, especially using longitudinal data. Drawing on the Triadic Model of Family Process (TMFP), this study examined the longitudinal associations between Korean‐specific aspects of familial factors and depressive symptoms among KA youth and the mediation role of negative emotionality in the relationships. Using KA youth and parent data from the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families (MLSAAF) project, path analyses revealed that family enmeshment and youth‐reported intergenerational conflict were associated with youth depressive symptoms, with negative emotionality serving as a mediator. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing negative emotionality and improving parent–youth relationship quality and family boundaries could be helpful in reducing youth depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs responsible fathering as a theoretical framework and explores the transnational fathering practices of wild geese fathers – middle-class Korean fathers who remained alone in their home country while sending their wives and children abroad for their children's education. Based on in-depth interviews with 64 wild geese parents in the United States, Canada, and South Korea, it analyses how wild geese fathers strived to fulfil components of responsible fathering – providing economic support and emotional/physical care for children – in the transnational context by utilising three tools of transnational fathering: remittances, transnational communication, and face-to-face encounters. It revisits the one-dimensional and economically-oriented portrait of transnational fatherhood by documenting wild geese fathers who actively renegotiated the gendered boundary of parenting and practiced more affectionate, expressive, and involved fatherhood from a distance. It highlights the significance of social class, legal status and technology as critical resources of transnational father-child intimacy. In sum, its analysis of middle-class Asian transnational fathering contributes to better understanding the growing diversity of transnational fatherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case studies of three Korean American families examined the directives and honorifics used by families to analyze how family members socialized each other into culturally appropriate ways of directing. Drawing from audio- and visual-recordings of interactions, interviews of parents and children, field notes, and artifacts, this study found that family members used honorifics for multiple purposes. Specifically, findings show that honorifics were used to obtain compliance, model culturally appropriate ways of directing, and to practice culturally appropriate directives. Findings also reveal that family members used honorifics with the intention of supporting language development in the native language. The article concludes with implications for parents of heritage language speakers and teachers of bilingual children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the cultural context of family religiosity/spirituality among Korean-American elderly families, and how this changed after families immigrated to the USA. Fifty one first-generation Korean-Americans participated in one or two hour, in-depth interviews in Korean at a participant's home or church. These included 27 older adults and 24 family members living together or within a radius of one-hour transit time from their elders, residing in the Southeastern United States. A thematic and interpretive method was used to analyze transcribed interviews. Three themes were identified that explained the cultural context of family religiosity/spirituality: (a) traditional family religious rituals, (b) church oriented routines, and (c) family collectivism. The participants did not distinguish 'religiosity' and 'spirituality' during the interviews. The findings suggest that the family religiosity/spirituality of the participants was influenced by the traditional family religious values, which were shaped by Korean culture. The traditional religions of Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are prevalent in Asian countries. Thus, the findings of this study may help healthcare professionals identify the cultural contexts of spirituality/religiosity of Asian immigrant families in order to provide holistic care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study examined how cultural orientations influence youth perception of family processes in Korean American families and how these family processes, in turn, predict depressive symptoms and antisocial behaviors among youth. Family processes were examined separately for maternal and paternal variables.Method: This study used survey data from Korean American families living in the Midwest (256 youth and their parents) across 2 time periods, spanned over a year. At the time of the first interview, the average age of youth was 13 (SD = 1.00). Using structural equation modeling, this study tested the hypothesized associations concurrently, longitudinally, and accounting for earlier outcomes.Results and Conclusion: Results show that identity and behavioral enculturation in one's heritage culture are predictors of bonding with parents, which is notably protective for youth. The results highlight the critical effect of enculturation in enhancing youth perception of the parent-child relationship. Behavioral acculturation to mainstream culture, in contrast, predicts youth problems, although the effect may not necessarily always be via family processes. Similarly, Korean and English language proficiencies predict fewer youth problems, but not always by way of family processes. A few differences emerged across maternal and paternal variables, although there was much commonality in the hypothesized relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korean-American immigrant parents participated in one of four focus groups addressing their parental expectations and challenges. While Korean-immigrant parents differed in level of identification with U.S. culture, they retained much of their Korean cultural identities. Findings demonstrate the complex nature of parental expectations and challenges. Challenges went beyond the obvious difficulties with a new language, as feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness were prevalent. There were concerns about cultural differences, a lack of knowledge about those differences, and how they might negotiate important life venues. Community practitioners need to learn culturally competent ways of implementing services to this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the beliefs and attitudes that Korean immigrant parents and their children in the USA hold about their heritage language. Data were collected through interviews. This study addresses how parents' perspectives and their actual heritage language practices with their children influence their children's cultural identity and heritage language maintenance. Findings suggest that immigrant children's peers and teachers at school who are not from the same ethnic group (co-ethnics) might play a crucial role in helping children to have positive attitudes regarding learning their heritage language, ultimately influencing their positive cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although the acculturation gap generally has been associated with poor mental health outcomes among Asian American children, some studies have failed to find a significant relationship between the gap and distress. Using two different methods of operationalizing the gap between mothers and their children, the current study addressed this tension in the literature by testing the following hypotheses in a sample of Korean American families. It was hypothesized that mother-adolescent discrepancies in acculturation and enculturation levels would be associated with youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms and that parent-adolescent communication would moderate the gap-distress relationship. Multi-informant questionnaires were administered to 77 Korean American mother-adolescent dyads from the Midwest. Surprisingly, results indicated that consonance in low levels of mother-adolescent enculturation was associated with the highest levels of externalizing symptoms (interaction term method). Adolescents' perception of communication with their fathers significantly moderated the relationship between the enculturation gap and internalizing symptoms, such that in dyads with a greater enculturation gap, less perceived open communication with fathers was associated with more internalizing symptoms (difference score method). Clinically, the findings indicate a potential target (i.e., parent-adolescent communication) for treatment programs that aim to improve family relations and youth adjustment in immigrant families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korean immigration peaked in the mid-1980s, so that large cohorts of post-1965 immigrants are now approaching or entering retirement. As the baby boomer generation ages, few studies have examined how the lack of retirement savings and eldercare plans combined with cultural expectations such as filial piety may pose challenges for aging Korean immigrants and their adult children. This exploratory study examines attitudes and beliefs among 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean American adults regarding filial expectations and support for aging immigrant parents. In-depth interviews conducted with 124 adult children of immigrants show that their attitudes and beliefs around filial care were primarily motivated by feelings of gratitude and a strong sense of responsibility toward their parents. In addition, because Korean immigrant parents often face language and financial barriers, adult children were preparing themselves for future support of their parents’ finances, health care and long-term care needs. Although both adult sons and daughters expressed a desire to care for their parents, adult daughters often discussed in detail their concerns and worries about future care of their parents. The findings of this paper illustrate how the intersections of gender, culture, and class inform attitudes and beliefs regarding aging and family support among Korean American families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on transnational and transracial adoption. The author analyzes Deann Borshay Liem's documentary film "First Person Plural" about a transracial Korean adoptee and a made-for-television documentary titled "Daughter from Danang" about the Vietnamese "Babylift" and a transracial adoptee. The author argues that these films constitute knowledge production and representation. The author also states that these films examine imperialist and gendered racial logics of the U.S. cold war in Asia by portraying the psychic and material complexities of transnational, transracial and gendered adoptions.

The present study examined the relationship between parental care and control perceived by Korean–American adolescents, and further investigated the relationships between parental attachment styles and mental health measures including self-esteem, depression, and social support. The relationship between parental care and parental control resulted in a significantly negative correlation. Parental care showed significantly positive correlations with self-esteem and social support, and a negative correlation with depression. Parental control showed a significantly negative correlation with self-esteem, and a significantly positive correlation with depression. The analysis demonstrated that optimal parenting showed significantly higher self-esteem, lower depression, and higher social support than the other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on ethnic varieties of American English has found that listeners can identify speaker ethnicity from voice alone at above-chance rates. This study aims to extend this research by focusing on the perception of race and ethnicity in the voices of ethnically Korean speakers of English. Bilingual Korean Americans in California provided samples of English speech that were rated by 105 listeners. Listeners rated the speakers on their likelihood of being a certain race or ethnicity (including Asian and White). Listeners who were Korean themselves rated the speakers as more likely to be Asian and Korean, whereas non-Asian listeners rated the speakers as more likely to be White. Non-Asian listeners also demonstrated a negative correlation between rating a voice as Asian and rating a voice as belonging to a native-born American, while Asian listeners did not. Finally, a positive correlation between pitch and perceived Asianness was found for female speakers, corresponding to listeners' metalinguistic commentary about the hallmarks and stereotypes of Asian or Asian American speech. The findings implicate the listener's own ethnic identity and familiarity with a speech variety as an important factor in sociolinguistic perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this cross-sectional study was to describe acculturation and characteristics of Korean American families. Self-reports were gathered from 106 families (105 mothers, 98 fathers, 106 adolescents) in the Midwest. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents maintained Korean cultural and linguistic characteristics while adopting some American cultural and linguistic features. The adoption of American culture and English was more evident among adolescents than their parents. The association between Korean American parents' acculturation attitudes and their characteristics were consistent with the acculturation framework. This information may provide basic understanding for health care providers who care for Korean American families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. This paper is a report of a study designed to explore the caregiving experiences of Korean Americans. Background. Increasing numbers of older people in the Asian population place important long-term care demands on Asian caregivers, yet minimal attention has been given to the issue of caregiving in this group. The current study attempts to fill the gap by describing Korean American caregivers' unique caregiving experiences from their perspectives. Method. A qualitative research design using a focus group approach was employed to discuss caregiving experiences in a cultural context. Data were collected over an 8-month period in 2005. Twenty-four informants, mostly women, at varying points surrounding caregiving participated in a focus group interview. Each focus group lasted about 1 ½-2 hours. Thematic analysis was conducted by two bilingual researchers. Findings. Three key themes were identified: the caregiver role - competing priorities and beliefs, the extent and impact of caregiving, and the need for education and culturally-tailored support systems. Ten subthemes were identified within the three major themes: (1) facing double challenges; (2) changing attitudes about filial piety ( Hyo); (3) providing care; (4) feeling out of control; (5) going through changing family dynamics; (6) being connected vs. providing connection; (7) paying back; (8) learning by themselves; (9) recognizing differences and (10) reconsidering geriatric care systems. Conclusion. The caregiving experiences described by Korean American families point to the need to identify and develop more focused outreach programmes as well as more culturally appropriate support services for this rapidly increasing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PROBLEM: Maintaining healthy psychological adjustment may be more complicated for Korean American young adolescents than for their European American counterparts. Korean American families live in two cultures and the issue of acculturation challenges their parenting, which is a critical factor for young adolescents’ psychological adjustment. METHODS: Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to analyze 106 family data (young adolescents, mothers, and fathers) on parenting (acceptance–rejection and behavioral control), acculturation (integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization), and young adolescents’ psychological adjustment. FINDINGS: Only young adolescents’ reports of maternal and paternal acceptance–rejection were related to their report of psychological adjustment. However, maternal acculturation moderated the relation between mothers’ reports of maternal acceptance–rejection and behavioral control and young adolescents’ report of their psychological adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Parental acceptance–rejection is related to young adolescents’ psychological adjustment when adolescents perceive themselves as accepted or rejected by parents. The relation between mothers’ report of maternal acceptance–rejection and behavioral control and adolescents’ psychological adjustment needs to be considered within the context of maternal acculturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicultural hermeneutics is introduced as a method of understanding and dealing with marital domestic violence. The brief review of literature covers four categories of hermeneutic tradition: (1) philosophical hermeneutics, (2) psychological hermeneutics, (3) narrative hermeneutics, and (4) multicultural hermeneutics. This paper proposes that multiple perspectives or an interdisciplinary scheme of hermeneutics help to understand the central issues of marital domestic violence. Korean women are vulnerable to Hwabyung (an anger syndrome), in the patriarchal and oppressive family context. Korean-American families are experiencing a certain degree of acculturation stress in transition as well as intergenerational conflict between first and second generations due to explicit and implicit cultural differences in the United States. One Korean-American family case is presented to show how marital domestic violence can be evaluated and treated better from the perspective of multicultural hermeneutics. A number of recommendations are also suggested to change the social and political context in which marital domestic violence occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes and interprets the Korean American Families' caregiving experiences for their mentally ill grown children. Realization of children's illness; Caregivers' changed concept of mental illness; Poignant processes of care-giving; Korean value orientation reflecting Taoist acceptance of suffering as a way of life.

The study explored the incidence of spouse abuse in Korean American families and interrelations between conjugal violence, marital power structure, stress, and socioeconomic and cultural factors. Rate of conjugal violence in these families is higher than those for other Asian American families. Data were collected from 256 families selected at random. In male dominant couples, rate of severe violence, wife beating, was four times higher than that of egalitarian couples. Husbands who experienced higher levels of stress had a greater rate of assaulting their wives. Wives in egalitarian and female dominant couples experienced a lower amount of stress and shared more decision-making power than did those in the male dominant couples. The longer the couples had been in the United States and the more American education they had received, the more egalitarian and female-dominant marital relations they tended to have. The residual influence of the traditional culture, in which they lived prior to immigration, is a factor suggesting why men were more abusive than women. Cultural differences associated with conjugal violence and needs for services are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which described the caregiving role in the Korean American family in the United States. Structure of the stress and coping model for caregiving; Characteristics of the caregivers and care receivers; History of caregiving in Korean American families.

An abstract of the article "Working with Korean American Families: Challenges and Limitations" by Jang Cho is presented.