ABSTRACT

Many Korean women married to American men have experienced marital conflict and psychological distress. Although some studies examined acculturative distress and marital satisfaction among Korean/American intercultural couples, there is little evidence on the strategies for coping with marital conflict and psychological distress from immigrant women’s perspectives. Thus, this qualitative study aims to explore marital conflict, psychological distress, and coping strategies among Korean women who married American men. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven Korean wives, 20 years or older, married two or more years with their American husbands. The researchers used grounded theory methods – open, selective, and axial coding – for data analysis. The results show that Korean women adopted four strategies for coping with their marital distress, frustration, resentment, and isolation: (a) accepting differences with husbands and finding good things in the differences, (b) focusing on similar values, (c) participating in religious activities, and (d) focusing on work. The study concludes with implications for intercultural marriage, especially marriages involving immigrant women.

摘要

许多嫁给美国男人的韩国女人都经历过婚姻冲突和心理困扰。尽管一些研究调查了韩国/美国跨文化夫妇的文化困境和婚姻满意度，但几乎没有证据表明从移民女性的角度应对婚姻冲突和心理困扰的策略。因此，这项定性研究旨在探讨与美国男性结婚的韩国女性的婚姻冲突、心理困扰和应对策略。对 11 位 20 岁或以上、与美国丈夫结婚两年或以上的韩国妻子进行了深入访谈。研究人员使用扎根理论方法——开放式、选择性和轴向编码——进行数据分析。结果表明，韩国女性应对婚姻困境采取了四种策略，挫折、怨恨和孤立：(a) 接受与丈夫的差异并在差异中找到好的东西，(b) 专注于相似的价值观，(c) 参与宗教活动，以及 (d) 专注于工作。该研究的结论是对跨文化婚姻的影响，尤其是涉及移民妇女的婚姻。