Article

A Study on the Development and Adaptation of Immigrant Women by Marriage Living in Rural Areas

Author

최연실,이순형,문무경

Information

pp. 225~248 / 2008 Vol.15 No.3

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze development and adaptation of immigrant women by marriage living in rural areas from a developmental perspective. The subjects were 12 immigrant women living in the Kangwon, Chungnam, Kyungsang areas. In depth personal interviews were conducted. The major findings were as follows; First, from the developmental perspective, immigrant women were found to be in the period of late youth or early adulthood in terms of their individual development, and were also in the period in which the shaping or extension of their family development is occurring. Second, the immigrant women were found to be dealing with certain developmental tasks such as the establishment of identity, intimacy, their conjugal systems and their parent-child systems, as well as their adjustment to extended family system. Third, these immigrant women experienced developmental crises and problems such as vulnerability of their family system, gaps in causes and awareness of marriage related issues between husbands and wives, a deficiency of performance in developmental tasks due to cultural maladjustment, deviation of age norms, and generation gaps which existed between couples. Fourth, in adaptation to marital life among immigrant women, various related variables were found to be in operation and, social supports and social convoys were found to be in operation as part of an adjustment mechanism. Fifth, the immigrant women experienced the stress of cultural adaptation, and have gone through the various stages of adaptation over time.

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