The purpose of this study was to identify factors for the effects of self-differentiation on marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant and conduct an empirical research to see how these factors were related to marital satisfaction. As women ...
The purpose of this study was to identify factors for the effects of self-differentiation on marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant and conduct an empirical research to see how these factors were related to marital satisfaction. As women marriage immigrant' self-differentiation, acculturation, and social support in this study were factors affecting marital satisfaction, an attempt was made to test for direct and indirect effects among these factors to connect self-differentiation formed within family of origin with marital life. The results would provide an important practical strategy in supporting and intervening in women marriage immigrant in social welfare practice.
This study, first, examined the factors affecting marital satisfaction directly and indirectly among women marriage immigrant. Second, it examined association between self-differentiation and marital satisfaction and between social support and acculturation and marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant and confirmed direct and indirect effects on the association.
The results can be summarized as follows:
First, as for the effects of self-differentiation on marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant, self-differentiation had positive effects on marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant: the higher self-differentiation women marriage immigrant had, the higher marital satisfaction they showed.
Second, as for the effects of self-differentiation on social support and acculturation among women marriage immigrant, self-differentiation had positive effects on social support and acculturation among women marriage immigrant. That is, the higher self-differentiation women marriage immigrant had, the better social support and acculturation they had.
Third, as for the effects of social support and acculturation on marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant, social support for women marriage immigrant had positive effects on their marital satisfaction and their acculturation had positive effects on their marital satisfaction. That is, the greater social support for women marriage immigrant, the higher marital satisfaction; the better acculturation, the higher marital satisfaction.
Fourth, as for the effects of self-differentiation on marital satisfaction and the indirect effects of social support and acculturation as mediating variables among women marriage immigrant, self-differentiation had positive effects on marital satisfaction. As for the multiple mediating effects, followed by each indirect effect, social support for women marriage immigrant had positive effects on their acculturation. Therefore, acculturation and social support for women marriage immigrant were both found to have mediating effects, and both social support and acculturation had indirect effects. That is, since acculturation and social support for women marriage immigrant just played a partial mediating role, women marriage immigrant were found to have marital satisfaction affected by various factors, such as social support and acculturation, as well as by self-differentiation.
These results had the following implications for social welfare.
First, self-differentiation, which is a psychological or interpersonal relationship aspect of individual women marriage immigrant, is a very important factor for marital satisfaction. It is therefore necessary to develop a program for these women and conduct researches continuously to improve their self-differentiation and marital satisfaction. Second, support by family took the largest part for women marriage immigrant among sub-areas of social support. This implies that roles of family are most of all important for women marriage immigrant' life in Korea. Third, women marriage immigrant were shown to accept their own culture and Korean culture properly in the process of acculturation. However, the fact that a considerable number of women become marginalized cannot be neglected, and these women need to be given opportunities to internalize Korean culture by meeting Korean people frequently through self-help gathering, cultural events, and so on. Fourth, support is necessary for efficient communication and conflict resolution in pursuit of marital satisfaction among women marriage immigrant. Fifth, intervention in marital life for women marriage immigrant needs to be performed along with personal counseling and family therapy. Tracing, decoding, and reconstructing the pattern of multi-generation family through interpretation of the family tree to clarify the family pattern needs to be implemented within family therapy. Sixth, the Koreans' social awareness of multi-cultural family needs to be changed.