The purpose of this study is to understand what type of life married immigrant women experience while living in Korea, how they maintain their marriage life, and what type of lives they have lived up to the present. To achieve such objectives, in-dept...
The purpose of this study is to understand what type of life married immigrant women experience while living in Korea, how they maintain their marriage life, and what type of lives they have lived up to the present. To achieve such objectives, in-depth interviews were conducted for 7 married immigrant women aged 24 to 32 who have married Korean men for at least over 3 years and unde 10 years. Data analysis was conducted based on the theoretical methods as proposed by Strauss & Corbin (1998). The research question for this study was 'what is the process of life for married immigrant women?'
The results of data analysis conducted according to the applied theoretical method showed that 116 concepts, 36 low ranges and 15 ranges were exposed within open coding. Results of range analysis according to the paradigm showed that the causal conditions of the process of life for married immigrant women were 'forced into marriage,' 'cower,' 'nowhere to stand,' while the core phenomenon was 'to mediate and stand'.
The contextual condition responding to such phenomenon were 'responsibility towards children,' 'recognition of social prejudice' while applicable/interactive strategies to control such phenomenon were 'work hard to live,' 'get closer' and 'be active'. Mediating conditions which promote and restrain such applicable/interactive strategies were 'develop the strength to live,' 'serve as support for family,' 'assisted by regional society.' Results were shown to be 'recovery of self-esteem,' 'growth through pain', 'accept my condition.'
The process of the lives of married immigrant women were shown to be in 4 stages of 'desire and frustration stage,' 'resolution stage,' 'transformation stage,' and 'growth stage.' Within the 'desire and frustration stage,' immigrant women have no choice but to select international marriage being forced to maintain the livelihood of their family back in their native country. Additionally, they are frustrated and disappointed with their marriage life in Korean society. Within the 'resolution stage,' married immigrant women accept the life they have to live while becoming determined through their in-laws and family, particularly their children. In addition, while they must be patient and sometimes do not wish to live, they begin to understand they have no choice and recognize they must instill and go on. In the 'transformation stage,' they develop strength to live and receive support and encouragement from their surrounding people and work towards relationship recovery. Also, they put thoughts of becoming active to adjust to society into actions. In the 'growth stage,' they begin to grow by recovering their self-esteem and through painful experiences. At the same time, while the economic pressures to take care of family back home and the negative perceptions as a married immigrant women cause pain, it is within this stage they understand that such is their fate and continue to move forward in life.
The core range is the process of developing phenomenon of 'to mediate and stand' within married immigrant women while all other ranges were shown to expose 'recognize the meaning of life and continue to live by growing'.
The results of this study showed that married immigrant women are affected by 'responsibility towards children,' 'recognition of social prejudice' and work to mediate and stand. Through various applicable/interactive strategies according to 'develop strength to live,' 'family serves as support,' and 'assisted by regional society', married immigrant women 'recover self-esteem,' 'grow through pain', and 'accept one's condition to develop into 'recognizing the meaning of life and continue to live by growing'. Based on such research results, this study proposes social welfare proposals paying attention to the process of the lives of married immigrant women.