In our society these days, a considerable change was shown even in social structure as well as population composition along with a rise in international marriage. This change increased social recognition on multi-cultural phenomenon. In the government...
In our society these days, a considerable change was shown even in social structure as well as population composition along with a rise in international marriage. This change increased social recognition on multi-cultural phenomenon. In the governmental, academic and private dimension, diverse policy-based approaches as well as academic researches are being attempted. However, the approach in various dimensions on international marriage is mainly concentrated on female marriage immigrants. The difficulties and actual circumstances, from which female marriage immigrants suffer, were known much to our society, through diverse routes such as press release and newspaper article. This is implicitly because female marriage immigrants are the weak while Korean men, who are their spouses, are recognized as the strong. Consequently, a social interest and discussion were slightly short about Korean men in international marriage.
Unlike the existing researches related to international marriage with the focus on female marriage immigrants, this researcher approached with the ground theory suggested by Strauss and Corbin(1998), in order to understand about the marriage adjustment process that these people experience, targeting Korean men in international marriage, whom had been a little moved back from researches subjects. This study selected research participants as 12 Korean men in international marriage who understand the objective of research, and whose marriage period is from minimally over 2 years to under 5 years. For data collection, the individual interview was carried out with research participants. In the process of individual interview, it deposited and recorded cases and stories in diverse forms that research participants experienced in their marriage life. The recorded materials were used as the data for analyzing the marriage adjustment process in Korean men with international marriage. Summarizing the results that were discovered through this study, they are as follows.
First, as the central phenomenon that is experienced by Korean men in international marriage, ‘walking on thin ice' was elicited. Second, as the marriage adjustment process in Korean men with international marriage, ‘stage of frustration and abandonment in domestic marriage,’ ‘stage of adventure,’ ‘stage of conflict and repent,’ ‘stage of acceptance and compromise,’ and ‘stage of entering the adjustment period’ were elicited. Third, as the core category in the marriage adjustment process, ‘dropping anchor in the adjustment amid the conflict and crisis' was elicited. Finally, the marriage adjustment types in Korean men with international marriage were, respectively, elicited ‘growth-pursuit type,’ ‘reality-acceptance type,’ and ‘de-motivation type.’ The following are the theoretical implication and practical implication, which were suggested on the basis of these results.
First, it is theoretical implication. This study is differentiated from a prior research in a point that the essential approach could be made to the individually inner conflict and psychological action in the research participants based on voluntary statements, in a point that diverse materials were utilized in order to compare and analyze research participants' experience, and in a point that the victims' perspective of international marriage could proceed with being expanded into Korean men from female marriage immigrants.
Second, it is practical implication. This study can suggest diversely practical intervention strategies centering on the findings. Its intervention strategies include a point that even Korean men in international marriage need useful information on spouses, a point that there is necessity for reestablishing the stature of Korean men who are in the position of a passive and instrumentalized means in the international marriage, a point that the pre-intervention is more important than post-intervention in order to help adjustment in Korean men and foreign spouses, and a point that diverse marriage adjustment programs need to be offered even to Korean men in the beginning as the prior intervention. Also, there is necessity for fostering experts in multi-cultural family intervention who can give help to solving diverse conflicts and difficulties that Korean men experience in marriage life, and for vitalizing emotional community so that Korean men in international marriage can play a subjective role in marriage life based on homogeneity.
Finally, this study suggests follow-up researches to be vitalized that use more diversely qualitative research methods with the aim at solving the limitation, which all the qualitative researches have, namely, an issue of representative characteristic and generalization, and at securing objectivity in qualitative research.