Marriage migrants’ use of social media

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed the role and impact of social media use on the daily lives of marriage migrants. We empirically examined a moderated mediation model by surveying 201 marriage migrants. This study focused on four key concepts: social stigma, empowerment, self-stigma, and social networks forged via social media such as Facebook, Kakao Talk, LINE, and Viber. The results confirmed that the detrimental effect of social stigma can be mitigated by robust social networks, and a greater feeling of empowerment resulted in less self-stigma. Consequently, social networks through social media acted as a buffer against negative public opinion or any belittling views. Furthermore, solid social networks were linked to feelings of support and empowerment.

KEYWORDS:

• Marriage migrants
• social media
• social network
• empowerment
• social stigma
• self-Stigma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Soontae An (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) is a Professor in the Division of Communication and Media at Ewha Womans University. Her research expertise is in the area of health communication and social marketing. Studies on vulnerable populations such as children, youth, minority women, and seniors have been of her research interest. She has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles in journals including Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Psychology and Marketing, Psychiatry Research, Archives of Suicide Research, International Journal of Advertising, Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Health Marketing Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Media Economics, and Communication Law and Policy.

Sun Sun Lim (Ph.D., London School of Economics) is a Professor of Communication and Technology and Head of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Her recent research has focused on understudied and marginalized populations including young children, youths-at-risk and migrant workers. She also conducts research on new media literacies, with a special focus on literacy challenges in parental mediation and young people's Internet skills. She has published more than 70 book chapters and articles in notable edited volumes and international journals including the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Computers in Human Behaviour, Communications of the ACM, Telematics & Informatics, and the Asian Journal of Communication. She serves on the editorial board of 10 journals.

Hannah Lee is a doctoral student in the Division of Communication and Media at Ewha Womans University. She has studied stigma towards social minorities such as suicidal people, migrant women and young children. Her recent research focuses on the relationship between culture and stigma.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea-Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2014K2A1A2048495).