Comparison of Marital Satisfaction between Immigrant Wives and Korean Wives of Korean Men

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to marital satisfaction among immigrant wives compared to Korean wives of Korean men. Participants included 409 immigrant wives married to Korean men and 474 Korean wives married to Korean men, both currently living in Korea. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that there were different sets of variables that predicted marital satisfaction for each group. Egalitarian decision-making was a significant predictor of marital satisfaction for immigrant wives only, whereas for Korean wives, it was the level of their depressive symptoms that was significantly but negatively associated with marital satisfaction. A wife's positive perception of her husband's communication style emerged as the strongest predictor of marital satisfaction for both Korean and immigrant wives. In addition, indicators of the cultural context of immigrant women (i.e., longer stay in Korea and greater frequency of experiencing discrimination in the past year due to their foreign appearance or status) emerged as significant predictors of immigrant wives' marital satisfaction even after taking demographic factors, depressive symptoms, and couple-level factors into account. The findings of this study contribute to existing

Ethnic Variations in Factors Contributing to the Life Satisfaction of Migrant Wives in South Korea

“…Research on migrant wives has mainly focused on negative aspects such as marital conflict (O. Kim, ) and depression (Lim, ). In the early phase of acculturation, migrant wives are more likely to face adjustment difficulties because of their language barriers, culture shock, disconnection with their previous social networks, lack of information, unfamiliarity with Korean culture, and discrimination from Koreans (G. H. Chung & Lim, ; Y.‐H. Kim & Anh, ).…”

“…For example, migrant wives tend to have positive experiences despite their adjustment difficulties when they have good relationships with their husbands, receive appropriate support, and develop positive coping skills (Yoo, Hong, & Kim, ). Research has also shown that, in general, migrant wives have the following characteristics: They are optimistic about their future in Korea, their depression level is low (G. H. Chung & Lim, ; Lee & Kim, ; Lim, ), their self‐esteem or life satisfaction is relatively high (Kye, Kang, & Jeong, ; Lee & Kim, ), their marital conflict is relatively low, and their marital satisfaction is not particularly low (Seol, Lee, & Cho, ).…”

“…Kim, 2006) and depression (Lim, 2010). In the early phase of acculturation, migrant wives are more likely to face adjustment difficulties because of their language barriers, culture shock, disconnection with their previous social networks, lack of information, unfamiliarity with Korean culture, and discrimination from Koreans (G. H. Chung & Lim, 2011;Y.-H. Kim & Anh, 2010). Clearly, researchers have been more interested in studying difficulties in adjustment and the negative impacts on psychological well-being.…”

Development of Immigrant Couple Relations in Germany

“…No differences in marital satisfaction were found in a national sample of African Americans and Black Caribbean immigrants, but follow‐up analyses showed higher marital satisfaction in Black Caribbean immigrant women than African American women (no differences among men; Bryant, Taylor, Lincoln, Chatters, & Jackson, ). A study of native‐born Korean wives and immigrant wives married to Korean men found no differences in marital satisfaction between these groups (Chung & Lim, ).…”

“…This study provides critical insight into the strength and vulnerabilities of immigrant couple intimate ties by comparing trajectories of immigrant and native‐born couples' relationship satisfaction, conflict frequency, and self‐disclosure. We focus on these constructs because prior work has shown that they are distinct relationship processes commonly examined in relationship science (see Karney & Bradbury, ) that have been used in prior research comparing native‐born and immigrant couples (Bryant et al, ; Chung & Lim, ; Rehman & Holtzworth‐Munroe, , ). A second important aim of our work is to examine covariates that might account for variation in immigrant couple trajectories.…”