Scholarship on marriage migrants has examined the impact of class and gender ideology of receiving countries on their marital satisfaction. However, little is known about the role of transnational background in explaining women’s feelings of gratitude for husbands. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with marriage migrant women residing in the eastern side of Seoul, Korea, this article explores the micro-level cognitive processes in understanding women’s gratitude for their husbands. Categorizing marriage migrants into two groups, ‘gratified’ and ‘ungratified’ wives, the author demonstrates how the gratified wives’ feelings of contentment is mediated by their active comparison of Korean husbands with local men in their homelands, and how these viewpoints conversely affect their aspirations for return. Bringing the sociology of emotion into an explanation of marriage migrants’ marital satisfaction, this study aims to develop a transnational frame of reference as an underlying dynamic for comprehending marriage migrants’ (in)gratitude.

婚姻移民奖学金研究了接收国的阶级和性别意识形态对其婚姻满意度的影响。然而，关于跨国背景在解释女性对丈夫的感激之情方面的作用知之甚少。本文通过对居住在韩国首尔东部的结婚移民女性的定性深度访谈，探讨了理解女性对丈夫感激之情的微观认知过程。作者将婚姻移民分为“满意”和“不满意”的妻子两类，作者展示了满意的妻子的满足感是如何通过他们对韩国丈夫与家乡当地男人的积极比较来调节的，以及这些观点如何反过来影响他们回归的愿望。